Perfect All-Butter Pear Pie with Berries

This post has been sponsored by Plugrá® Butter. All thoughts and opinions are my own.

Pear Berry Pie is a stunning pear pie like none you’ve ever seen! Whole juicy pears and forest berries combine in a perfect, melt-in-your-mouth, all-butter pie crust. A drizzle of wildflower honey and a scoop of vanilla ice cream finishes this beautiful, upscale dessert.

The rustic lattice and peek-a-boo top is an eye-catching way to hint to the flavors inside, but it’s so much more than that. Whole pears are lightly poached in a sweet mixed berry and pear syrup and the result is stunning! One slice into the flaky Plugrá® Butter pie crust reveals the vibrant purple ombre beauty waiting for you within this deliciously upscale pear pie.

Pick up this coupon for a limited time and save big when shopping for Plugrá Butter at Safeway!

The PearBerry Pie

PearBerry. So much more than an iconic 90’s aroma – that memory-invoking body spray that friends and frenemies alike doused themselves in daily before junior high. Pears and berries are also an amazing and often overlooked flavor combination.

Fresh juicy pears combined with tart berries and baked until smooth in a perfect, buttery pastry shell.  Juicy pears are gently poached by the tart PearBerry filling and are baked until perfectly smooth and colored a vibrant, ombre purple shade- revealed only after slicing through the buttery pastry shell.

Speaking of pastry shell, this pie crust is my absolute favorite! Perfect for this or any other pie it’s a simple mixture of flour, sugar, and butter. The secret to it’s sturdy but tender flakiness is in using a light touch, cold hands and tools, and the best quality premium ingredients.

Plugrá Butter

Plugrá Butter is the best-of-the-best and the trusted choice of expert bakers. Made right here at home with real milk from American dairy farms, it’s 82% butterfat (instead of 80% like most butters), and slow churned, with low moisture content for the creamiest flavor and best baking and cooking performance.

Unsalted butter, sometimes called ‘sweet cream butter’, allows you to control the amount of salt when cooking and baking and is commonly called for in many recipes. Nonetheless, feel free to substitute salted butter and simply reduce the amount of salt in the recipe.

Whichever variety you choose, you can find both salted Plugrá Butter and unsalted Plugrá Butter in the refrigerated dairy section of your local Safeway.

Pears + Berries

Whether you choose blackberries, raspberries, blueberries, marionberries or a mixture of them all, this pie is packed with berry and pear flavor! With a mix of frozen forest berries like blackberries and marionberries you can make it with any berry, really! Simply adjust the recipe simply add more sugar if using a tarter variety of berry like blueberries and less sugar with sweeter berries, like raspberries.

Equal amounts of fresh berries can be substituted for frozen. Reduce overall baking time by 15-20 minutes.

The Best Pear for Pear Pie Filling

The best pears for pie are slightly firm, sturdy varieties like red or green Anjou, Bartlett or Bosc. Pear pie is a great way to reduce food waste and use up soft fruit. But for the most stunning and delicious dessert use pears that are not fully ripe and maintain their structure and texture. Cutting pears into sturdy chunks instead of slices also prevents a mushy texture.

How to Easily Peel Pears

Normally I’d advise against peeling produce for sake of ease and nutrient content but in this instance, peeling is required.

It doesn’t have to be difficult or wasteful, though. To cleanly and easily remove pear skin, simmer a large pot of water and place a large bowl of cold water with lemon juice nearby. Quickly dunk pears (10-15 seconds only!) into the hot water. Then, place immediately into the cold lemon water and the skin will rub off instantly. Lemon has the added benefit of preventing the fruit from browning before it bakes.

How to Make Pear Pie with Perfect All-Butter Pie Crust

The steps are not much different than a typical pie, but the results are out of this world!

To start ensure All-Butter Pie Crust ingredients are as cold as possible. This is the one time that having genetically-cold hands is a benefit 🙂 Keep Plugrá Butter in the fridge right up until you’re ready to use, then cut into small cubes. Alternately, freeze butter and shred with a cheese grater.

Using your hands, work butter into dry ingredients until only pea sized pieces remain. Then, slowly add ice water just until the dough comes together. Wrap in plastic and chill while you prepare the filling.

After peeling pears, measure the height and slice off the top to peak out of the lattice crust later. Cut the rest into large chunks and mix with filling ingredients.

Roll out and prepare crust then place a layer of PearBerry filling into it. Nestle the pear tops into the filling so they stand straight up.

Spoon remaining filling around pears and top with more Plugrá Butter.

Arrange pie crust strips around the pear tops in a rough lattice-type pattern. 

Brush with egg wash and a sprinkle of coarse sugar, then bake to golden perfection.

Make Ahead Dessert

The crust – make ahead and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days or in the freezer for up to 3 months. Thaw in the refrigerator and use as directed.

The pears + filling – prepare and refrigerate until ready to assemble, up to 24 hours in advance. Or freeze for up to 3 months.

The whole pie – make it one day ahead of time, cool, then cover tightly and keep at room temperature. Or bake, cool, wrap and freeze for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and allow to come to room temperature before serving.

Customize it

Enhance the peekaboo-pear look – keep the pears whole. Making them sit up taller is especially nice when you can find fresh pears with long stems. Simply cube 2 extra pears, about 3 cups total, for the filling.

Classic double crust pear pie – peel, chop and add all pears to the berries rather than reserving the tops. Then, cover the entire pie with a traditional top crust and add a few vent holes.

Geometric pattern pear pie – place the single pear standing straight up in the middle of the pie. Then, string long strands of pie dough around the pear starting on one side and working your way around, like a bicycle spoke.

Forest berry and pear pie recipe

PearBerry Pie

Whole juicy pears and forest berries combine in a perfect, melt-in-your-mouth, all-butter pie crust.

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Prep Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

resting time: 3 hours

Total Time: 3 hours

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

berries, blackberries, butter, honey, pear, pie, pies and tarts

Servings: 8 servings

Calories: 551kcal

Author: Tristin Rieken

Ingredients

9” double All-Butter Pie Crust

• 2 ½ cups all purpose flour
• 1 cup Plugrá® Butter cold, unsalted
• 1 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 8-12 tablespoons ice water

Filling

• 6 large Anjou pears red or green not too ripe
• 4 cups frozen mixed berries
• 1 medium lemon zested and juiced
• 1/3 cup granulated sugar
• 3 tablespoons cornstarch
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• ¼ teaspoon ground ginger
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 large egg

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

• Prepare All-Butter Pie Crust. Mix flour, sugar, and salt in a large bowl. Remove 2 tablespoons of butter and reserve then cube the remaining cold butter into small pieces. Cut in using fingertips or a food processor until only pea-sized pieces remain. Sprinkle with water, 3 tablespoons at a time, while tossing lightly just until dough comes together. Divide dough in half. Wrap in plastic and chill at least 30 minutes or up to 5 days.
• Zest lemon then juice, reserve 1 tablespoon lemon juice for filling and add remaining juice to a large bowl of cold water with lemon halves.
• Bring a large pot of water to a simmer of medium-high heat and place the lemon water nearby. Quickly dunk pears in hot water for 10-15 seconds only. Then, immediately place into the cold lemon water and rub skin off. Remove pears and blot dry with paper towels.
• After peeling pears, measure the height and slice the tops off five of the pears to peak out of the lattice crust later. Cut the remaining pear and the five bottoms into large chunks (will be about 4 cups) and mix with sugar, cornstarch, flour, a pinch of salt, lemon juice and zest, ground ginger and the frozen forest berries.
• On a lightly floured work surface, roll out 1 disk of dough to an 12-inch round- turning the dough about a quarter turn after every few rolls to prevent it from sticking and keep it even. Fit the dough into a 10-inch pie pan without stretching and place in fridge to chill. Then, roll the other flat and chill on a floured sheet pan.
• Place a layer of PearBerry filling into chilled pie shell. Nestle the pear tops into the filling so they stand straight up, with 1 in the middle and 4 around it.
• Spoon remaining filling around pears and dot with reserved Plugrá® Butter.
• Cut strips from chilled crust, arrange around the pear tops in a rough lattice-type pattern, and press all around the edge to seal. Trim any overhang, fold strips over the rim of the bottom crust, and make a solid seal. Crimp in a decorative pattern.
• Preheat oven to 425 degrees and place pie in the fridge to chill, up to 20 minutes.
• Beat egg with cold water then brush on crust, avoiding the outer edge and sprinkle with coarse sugar. 
• Place on baking sheet and bake in the center of preheated oven for 20 minutes.
• Drop oven temp to 375 F and continue baking until juices bubble thickly and crust is deep golden, covering with foil if edges or pear stems are browning too quickly, 45-60 minutes longer. 
• Cool on a rack, about 3 hours. Serve warm or at room temp with a drizzle of wildflower honey and vanilla bean ice cream.

Notes

Cover leftovers tightly and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days. Or wrap and freeze for up to 3 months.

Nutrition

Calories: 551kcal

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