Fresh Pecan Pear Crumble Pie

A delicious recipe for a classic American dessert – a pear crumble pie. Make this easy dessert at home using ingredients from your pantry. A perfect dessert for fall or winter holidays. Try this recipe today!

Are you a crumble lover like me? Then you have to try this pear crumple pecan pie. Because it is easy to make and it tastes so good! The secret of this recipe is to chill the dough for about 30-60 minutes and to use fresh pears.

This is a Dutch twist on the classic American crumble. I turned the classic crumble more into a crumble pie with an extra thick crust and a sweet filling. The filling is made of pears, sugar, cinnamon, and pecan nuts. It gives the filling a nice consistency without being too thick. It is perfect for dessert after dinner or even breakfast. Serve it with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

An easy dessert made from scratch that you can serve hot or cold. Results in the best pear crumble pie ever. Something we don’t want while making a fruit pie is a soggy bottom. Therefore some instructions are added to the recipe to prevent it from happening.

What Pears should you use?

Use the pears that are available at your local grocery store or market. I used Conference Pears, which were on sale at my local grocery store. This is also a great way to use up leftover pears.

The best time to make this pie is when it is pear season (fall/winter). For baking use hard not ripe pears. If the pear season is over you can also choose to make this crumble with another fruit filling.

What is a crumble pie?

A crumble pie is a type of fruit pie made with a mixture of flour, sugar, butter, eggs, milk, and sometimes nuts. It is often served warm with ice cream.

Ingredient notes & substitutions

• Butter – I love to regulate the amount of salt I use for baking, that is why I always use unsalted butter. You can use salted butter as well, but make sure that you don’t add extra salt to the dough.
• Sugar – sweetens the pie and the strawberries. For the filling brown sugar and granulated sugar are used.
• Flour – it adds structure to the crumble and the pie pastry. For the crumble, all-purpose flour is used. For the crust, self-raising flour is used. You can also substitute the self-raising flour for all-purpose flour with baking powder. The ratio is 1 cup (150 grams) of all-purpose flour mixed with 1 1/2 teaspoons of baking powder.
• Vanilla extract – gives baked goods more taste. Choose a good quality vanilla extract because that really makes a difference.
• Salt – I use kosher salt. Adding a pinch of salt enhances the natural flavors of the pie.
• Eggs – are used to add structure to baked goods. You need 1 egg at room temperature.
• Custard powder – sprinkling custard powder over the crust prevents a soggy bottom and gives a nice vanilla taste to the pie.
• Cornstarch – adding cornstarch thickens the fruit filling.
• Fresh Pears – I used conference pears. They are the best when it is pear season. For baking, hard pears are the best. They don’t have to be ripe yet.

Step-by-step instructions

Preparation

Position an oven rack in the bottom third of the oven. Preheat the oven (conventional) to 175℃ / 350 °F. Grease the springform pan with butter and place a piece of parchment paper in the bottom of the springform pan. Close the springform pan and cut off all the baking paper that sticks out with scissors.

Make the dough

In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients – self-raising flour, salt, and sugar. Cut a part of the cold unsalted butter into small cubes, about 1/2 inch (1 cm). Add this to the large mixing bowl. Make sure it is very cold. Crack an egg and add it to the large mixing bowl. Add the vanilla extract as well. Knead the ingredients with your hands into a firm dough (you should no longer see pieces of butter). Place in the fridge for 30-60 minutes to rest. To allow the gluten to relax and the flour to fully hydrate.

Make the crumble from the step below. After that and when the chill time of the dough in the fridge is over you can lightly flour a clean work surface and place your dough on top. Lightly flour your rolling pin as well. Roll out the dough with a rolling pin and cover the bottom and edges of the springform pan with it.

Make the crumble

In another mixing bowl add the all-purpose flour, granulated sugar, and unsalted butter. Knead this with your hands until a crumble forms. Place the crumble in the fridge for about 30-60 minutes to rest.

Make the pear filling

Wait until the resting time is almost over before making the pear filling. Making and mixing it too early will draw out too many juices, which will make your crust soggy!

Peel and core 8 fresh pears. Then, cut it into cubes. Place them into a mixing bowl. Mix the pears with cornflour, granulated sugar, brown sugar, cinnamon, and vanilla extract.

When the resting time of the dough is over, you can grab the springform out of the fridge. Sprinkle some custard powder on top of the dough. Custard powder and cornstarch absorb the juices of the strawberries, to prevent a soggy bottom. Add the pears on top of the dough. If the mixture has too many juices you can sieve it before putting it over the dough. After that add some custard powder on top. As last add the crumbled dough on top of the pie.

🍓 Other recipes for fruit lovers!

• The best strawberry crumble pie
• Easy Pumpkin Banana Bread Recipe
• Tiktok Banana Bread Baked Oats
• White Chocolate Strawberry Cheesecake – valentines cheesecake

🍴Equipment

• Mixing bowls – you need 3 mixing bowls. One for the dough, one for the crumble, and one for the pear filling.
• Springform pan 26 cm / 10 inch – I love to use a springform pan for baking pies because it is really easy to remove the pie from the form. You can also make this in another pie form.
• Rolling pin – You need a rolling pin for rolling the dough into the springform pan.

🔪 How do you cut pear crumble?

Remove the sides of the springform pan. Use a large kitchen knife to cut through the pear pie. Clean the knife with a paper towel every time you cut the pie for perfect slices.

👩🏼‍🍳 Expert tips

• Bake in grams – Use a kitchen scale to weigh your ingredients instead of using measurement cups. A kitchen scale is more accurate.
• Rest dough in the fridge – Let your dough rest in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes. It will allow the gluten to relax and the flour to fully hydrate. This should help to give a more tender pie crust with less shrinkage. It will result in an extra-flaky, melt-in-your-mouth crust.
• Prevent soggy bottom – things you can do to prevent a soggy bottom. First of all, bake the pie in the bottom third of the oven. Secondly, mix the filling right before adding it to the crust. Thirdly, allow the pie to cool completely before slicing it (I know this is hard!). Fourthly, use cornstarch to thicken the pear filling. Lastly, sprinkle custard powder on the bottom of the crust and the topping of the pear filling.

🍰 How long can you store pear crumble?

Out of the refrigerator

You don’t have to refrigerate your pear crumble if it contains sugar. You can store a pear crumble pie at room temperature for up to two days. Keep it from drying out by wrapping the pie with plastic or aluminum foil.

Refrigerator

After two days it is time to store the pecan pear crumble pie in the refrigerator. Where you can store it for an additional two days. So up to 4 days in total. Keeping it in the original pie pan is the easiest way to store leftover pie, but you can also portion individual slices in an airtight container or wrapped in aluminum foil.

Freezer

A freshly baked pear crumb pie can be stored in the freezer for up to 3-4 months. Make sure that the crumble has cooled down completely before freezing it. You can freeze a whole pie with his springform. Wrap it airtight with aluminum foil or cling foil and an extra plastic bag around it.

You can also freeze a slice of the pie. Place any leftovers uncovered in the freezer until they’re completely frozen. Then, wrap the frozen pie tightly in plastic wrap or aluminum foil. Thaw the pie at room temperature. After that, you can also reheat it until it’s warm in a 350°F / 175°C oven (about 30 minutes).

❓FAQ

⚖️ Baking in grams

The most accurate way to bake is by baking by weight. Measuring cups are very inaccurate and can lead to baking failures. Therefore all of my recipes are posted in grams. I always bake with a scale, so I have a recipe card that automatically converts metrics to US customary, but it can have errors. So I advise you to bake with a digital scale. You can find them on Amazon for a small price.

⭐️ Did you make this? Please leave a star rating below or a review in the comments section.

📖 Recipe

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