I noticed you signed both of these "Mratha". I was expecting a different signature on one of them.

I love pears, but I've never had a pear pie. That definitely is a simple recipe!

it is and good. Sometimes the simple ones are the best!

I also love pears, far more than I like apples. I make pear preserves and a pear/maple cobbler which is my favorite dessert, as well as pear mincemeat, but I've only made pear pie once. No one else was all that excited about it, which meant I got to eat it all myself, which sounds like a good thing but is actually a bad thing, LOL.

We have those same hard green pears here, grandma used to call them "winter pears". No matter what we did with them they stayed hard, but they stored well in the root cellar, giving us pears well into February and March. I have planted pear trees here, but they are still young and small and haven't gotten any fruit yet.

I need to make a pie.....

Annie

We make a similar pie around here with the local sand pears, which are related to Asian Pears but more tooth-breaking. Only major difference is a bit of lemon juice.

Those look like very nice pies!

I think my wife uses the apple pie recipe, just with pears. I look forward to it every year.

Sounds like Kieffer pears. They stay hard, more for cooking than just eating. I have two of these pear treesbut they are only 3 years old and produced only one pear this year. They should be an eexcellent choice for pies. Looks perfect Martha.

I took 6 5gal buckets of pears out of our yard. The brownish skinned ones I believe are Bartlett pears that have a crunch to them. Its that texture that makes for a good pie, Otherwise it would not be like apple but more like peaches.

Yes, the Kieffer is the traditional southern pear, but they're more common north of us. Down here Garber is more common, although they are by far the hardest, grittiest variety.

Trickyputt, Bartletts turn yellow and soft when ripe. Maybe yours are Bosc pears, which stay brown and crunchy, but with a good pear flavor?

OMG sand pears! That’s exactly what we have. Today I made pear crisp and it wasn’t bad. tomorrow I will try the pear pie posted above.

Could I assemble pie, freeze and cook as needed?

bossyvossy, I think you could easily make the pie and freeze it, I do it with apple pies regularly, as did Readinglady, and a local fundraiser sells frozen apple pies, all assembled by the Future Farmers of America and frozen unbaked.

I have a Pear Maple Cobbler recipe too, I need to make that, it's one of my all time favorite desserts.

Annie

Annie, to be clear as I’m not a baker, can I assemble, freeze and cook as needed or do I make, bake then freeze.

The epicurious pear/maple cobbler sounds really good. I always keep good maple syrup in stock but don’t have crystallized ginger.

I found your recipe, no ginger! Rather than individuals, can I make it in one pan?

If you're asking me, yes, that was what I did -- mine were not individual but two whole pies.

Sorry Martha, I meant Annie but she said she’s made a whole big one so I’m good. Martha, I’m making your pie tomorrow. The dessert prep is not too bad but the peeling spring of so many pears is a new exercise on my hands

Bossy, I make full sized pies and freeze them, unbaked. I started doing that when the girls were home so they could take a frozen pie from the freezer and bake it without intervention from me. Plus I could use up a lot of apples from our trees right at a time when we they were ripe.

I tried to use those disposable pans because that way my pie plates weren't all tied up in the freezer. Make the pie, wrap it well in a couple of layers of plastic wrap, put it in a gallon sized ziplock bag and freeze it. When you want to bake it, take it from the freezer, cut a couple of slits in the top crust and bake it at 450F for 25 minutes, turn the oven down to 350F and bake for an hour or so, until it's browned and the filling is done. Don't thaw it, or you'll get soggy pie.

As for the maple pear cobbler, it serves so nicely in individual ramekins but it's faster in a big pan, so I've done both and they are both good.

Now go rest your hands and get your tastebuds all ready for pie, yum.

Annie

They look great.

This might be the best pie recipe I have. It is so yummy and very easy! The cheese really adds something special.

Streusel Top Pear Pie

http://allrecipes.com/recipe/176269/cheddar-pear-pie/

Sorry to have hijack—are these flaws in fruit ok or sign of bad fruit? It’s an old tree and I’m a newbie to pears

I think this results as a calcium deficiency, per my research. Since I managed to peel lots of perfect, unblemished fruit, I put the spotty ones in compost pile.

Annie, can cobbler be made in advance? I’m on a roll!

bossy, I think the cobbler would freeze OK, I freeze biscuits and that's similar to the cobbler topping. However, you can't go wrong with pie!

Sorry it took me so long to get back here, I was baking. (grin)

Annie

Annie, my hesitation came b/c of the heavy cream in your recipe. I was afraid cream would not freeze well. Looking forward to trying it out in the future.

When I have a lot of pears (the hard Texas variety) I make pear mincemeat and then the pie!

(Don't know how I missed this the first time around.)

Yum! Love pears - Bartletts are my fave for eating fresh = )

I usually make pear, apple & raisin pie for the holidays & also like to use the same combo for fruit crisps - sweetened w/ maple syrup instead of sugar. I always add a bit of lemon or lime juice to balance the sweetness - it gets in there anyway, if you use it to inhibit browning while prepping the fruit.

When my dad was alive, I would always make a mincemeat pie (his fave) for Christmas & would add finely chopped pears to purchased mincemeat to make it juicier & not as strong-tasting.