Pie #31: Sophisticated Palate Pie (Pear Pie)

This weekend Perry and I participated in the Piecemaker's Annual Knotting Party.  (For a description of the Piecemakers, visit Pie #7.)  The knotting party is held to involve the congregants in the comforter-making process, and to raise funds for the Piecemaker's cause.  Last year the Piecemakers set (and accomplished!) a year-long goal to finish 100 comforters with the help of all the extra knotters!  This year we decided we wanted to increase our productivity, so we set a goal of 101!  During the scheduled sessions this weekend the gathered body was able to knot around 35 comforters, which puts our yearly tally just over 60!  We're well on our way to meeting our goal!

Typically the fundriaser part of the meal has involved homemade soup and cookies.  This year (much to my delight!) we decided to trade some of the cookies for homemade pies.  Everything was delicious!  Of course I contributed the pie of the week, which happened to be Perry's favorite (EVER).  I used Kathy's recipe with the hopes of Perry being delighted.

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Pear Pie
Betty Crocker's Cookbook (circa 1969)

ingredients:
Pastry for 2-crust pie

1/2 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon ground mace (optional)
*4 cups sliced, peeled fresh pears, slightly underripe (about 7 medium)
1 tablespoon lemon juice
2 tablespoons butter or margarine


Pie Algorithm:

1. Heat the oven to 425 degrees F.

2. Stir together the sugar, flour and mace, if desired. Mix with the pears. Turn into a pastry-lined pie pan. Sprinkle with lemon juice and dot with butter.

3. Cover with the top crust which has slits cut in it; seal and flute. Cover the edge with a 2- to 3-inch strip of aluminum foil to prevent excessive browning, removing the foil the last 15 minutes of baking.

4. Bake 40-50 minutes or until crust is brown and the juice begins to bubble through the slits in the crust.

*I actually used closer to 5-6 cups of pears, and could probably used another cup.

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Everyone said that they really liked the pie.  Some people had not tasted pear pie before, but were pleasantly surprised.  Others simply liked the fact that the pie wasn't overly sweet.  As I'm sure you could have guessed though, the real test was going to rest with Perry's review!  After getting some grief about earlier pies "not being quite like Mom's," he was careful with his answer this time.  It turns out that his sense of taste is more refined than I thought; his response was that his "sophisticated palate detected something slightly different between this pie and his mother's pies."  He figured out what the difference was - his mom always uses Bartlett Pears, and I used Red D'Anjou Pears!  Even with this difference he really liked the pie.  It was another successful pie week!