Winter Time Pear with Cheesy Crust

Crumbly, cheesy crust... yum?

Just let me preface by saying that fruit pie encased in double crust causes double the anxiety of other pies.  However, a new filling AND a new crust are going to quadruple your heart palpitations.  So, learn from this experience, and only do a new filling OR a new crust at a time.  Or else you will find you anti-anxiety meds mysteriously depleted the next day.

Yes, that slice of pear is trying to escape my pie!

Personally, I both ran away from the pie and locked myself in the closet (two separate freak outs) before I was able to let anyone else see this monstrosity.  However, it was edible (and even enjoyable?) in the end.  Moral of the story: don't get in over your head and the ugliest pies are often the best-tasting.

Thank goodness for enthusiastic pie connoisseurs like Nicole!

For this pie, I used the cheese crust for fruit pies in Carole's book, and the pear pie filling in Betty (instead of mace, whatever that is supposed to be, I used ginger and cinnamon for spice).

Does cheese really make everything better?

My advice is to just melt a slice of cheddar on top of the pie and call it good, if you must have cheese involved in your fruit pie at all.  However, I just had to get all fancy and try a cheddar-incorporated crust.  I also tried the food processor (guilt over the graham cracker crust earlier, I guess) and butter, neither of which are involved in my usual pie pastry.

What I would do differently next time with the crust:

• Use only Crisco.  
• Skip the food processor and cut that s**t by hand, with a fork, the way you were meant to do!  
• Add at least five tablespoons of ice water, because it was drier than I thought.

What I would do differently next time with the pear filling:

• Ummm, remember the lemon juice and butter drops before putting on the top crust, instead of getting carried away by just wanting to close the thing up ASAP. 
• For 9" aluminum pan, just use five medium to large pears

I thought that using under-ripe pears was good, because the consistency was still a little firm, even after fifty minutes in the oven.  Unless you want squishy fruit, I guess.

So, if you have a hankering for fruit pie, don't want apple, and enjoy a good challenge, then this is a great pie for you to make.  Just make sure you have a lot of time (2+ hours) and a lot of patience (and a carton a vanilla ice cream to help you out, just in case).

Eating this pie reminded me of all the projects I've gotten frustrated by.  And anyone who knows me can tell you, I only like to do things that I'm good at.  And I wasn't very good at this pie.  However, I was able to overcome my frustration, exit the closet, and look bravely toward the pie future!

With great (pie) power comes great (pie) responsibility...