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Cranberry Pear Crumb Pie on desert rose plate with white background

Cranberry Pear Crumb Pie

By Alexis
Tart, bursting cranberries.  Sweet, soft, and subtle pears.  The magic of cardamom and a crumble topping made with brown sugar and salted butter.  Cranberry Pear Crumb pie is going to be the most beautiful dessert on your holiday table this year.  
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Ingredients
  

For The Filling:

  • 5 medium pears semi-firm. Peeled and chopped into large ½ inch pieces.
  • 1 ⅓ cup cranberries. Can be fresh or frozen
  • ½ cup sugar
  • ¼ cup flour
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
  • ⅛ teaspoon nutmeg
  • ⅛ teaspoon cardamom
  • 1 tablespoon lemon juice

For The Crumb Topping:

  • 6 tablespoon salted butter melted and slightly cooled
  • ¾ cup flour
  • ½ cup packed brown sugar
  • 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
  • ⅛ teaspoon cardamom

Instructions
 

  1. Choose your pie crust.  If making it from scratch, keep it in the fridge while you make the filling.
  2. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
  3. Prepare the filling.  In a large bowl, combine chopped pears, cranberries, and lemon juice.  Toss to coat.
  4. In a small bowl, combine sugar, flour, cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg, and cardamom.
  5. Pour dry ingredients over fruit mixture and mix well to evenly coat.
  6. Pour fruit filling into pie crust and place in fridge while you assemble the crumb topping.
  7. To make the crumb topping, begin by melting the butter in the microwave and then setting it in the fridge to cool for a minute or two while you mix up the other ingredients.
  8. In a medium-sized bowl, combine the brown sugar, flour, cinnamon, and cardamom.  Pour the cooled butter in and mix well to resemble crumbs.
  9. Remove pie from fridge and top with crumble topping.  Slightly press down the crumb topping to make it all stick.
  10. Bake pie on the center rack for 50-60 minutes.  The fruit juices should be bubbly, crumb topping a nice brown, and crust edges just golden.  If the crust or crumb starts to get too dark, cover with a tent of foil.

Notes

This pie is best made with semi-firm pears.  Soft juicy pares are wonderful for eating but don't hold up well to the heat and sugar of a pie.  Firm pears will be juicy and bursting with flavor.
Make this pie the day before serving and allow it to cool and set well.  You are welcome to slice it fresh from the oven, but the filling won't be very thick yet.  Allowing the pie to cool lets the flour do it's "thickening magic"
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