PEAR PIE WITH STREUSEL TOPPING RECIPES

Steps:

• Combine pear slices, sugar, lemon juice, butter, salt and mace in a saucepan. Cook over medium heat for 8 minutes.
• Lift pears out with a slotted spoon and place in pie shell.
• In a small bowl mix cornstarch and water until smooth. Add to mixture in saucepan. Cook, stirring until thick.
• Pour mixture over pears and place pie on a baking sheet. Bake 350 degrees for 30 minutes.
• Mix strusel topping with a fork until crumbly. Sprinkle on top of pie and bake an additional 10 minutes until lightly browned.

Steps:

• PREHEAT OVEN TO 375°
• FOR THE CRUST: BLEND flour and salt in medium mixing bowl. CUT chilled shortening into 1/2-inch cubes. Cut in chilled shortening cubes into flour mixture, using a pastry blender, in an up and down chopping motion, until mixture resembles coarse crumbs with some small pea-sized pieces remaining. SPRINKLE half the maximum recommended amount of ice cold water over the flour mixture. Using a fork, stir and draw flour from bottom of bowl to the top, distributing moisture evenly into flour. Press chunks down to bottom of bowl with fork. Add more water by the tablespoon, until dough is moist enough to hold together when pressed together. ROLL dough from center outward with steady pressure on a lightly floured work surface (or between two sheets of wax or parchment paper) into a circle 2-inches wider than pie plate for the bottom crust. Transfer dough to a pie plate coated with cooking spray by loosely rolling around rolling pin. Center the rolling pin over the pie plate, and then unroll, easing dough into pie plate. Trim edges of dough leaving a 3/4-inch overhang. Fold edge under. Flute dough as desired. Set aside in the refrigerator while making pie filling.
• FOR THE PIE FILLING: combine flour, sugar, cinnamon and salt in a large bowl. Add lemon juice, apples and pears to the flour mixture. Toss gently to coat. Arrange pear-apple mixture in an even layer in prepared crust.
• FOR THE STREUSEL TOPPING: combine flour and brown sugar in a medium bowl. Add cold butter and cut in with a pastry blender or 2 knives until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle evenly over pear-apple mixture. Bake for 1 hour or until lightly brown. Topping will be crunchy. Let cool for an hour before serving.