With the fall season just starting out it is the perfect time to share this crazy delicious pear fig cardamon pie. This is definitely one of the best pie combos ever! Can I really say this amid the apple season 😏 ? Oh well! It is just that good. If you recall a couple of posts back we talked about the summer fig salad I told you the story of our garden fig tree. These are the figs from that tree.
Finally, the tree is now in full swing producing nice plump and juicy fruit. We don’t get too many, but still plenty for a weekend pie and as a topping for the breakfast oatmeal or granola.
So being the pie season (when isn’t it?), I thought to combine the figs with our garden pears and some cardamon because I just love pears and cardamon.
how to …
The secret to any good pie, many people will tell you, is the crust. I would agree, of course. In the last post, the mighty apple pie, there is more information on the pie crust and general how-to, so I will not go into details in this post.
Note that, even if you have great flaky crust packed with flavor, the pie can still be a disaster if the filling is not the best.
For this reason, I tend to make pie only with the fruit from our garden or if I can find good organic fruit at the farmer’s market.
It really does make a huge difference in texture, taste, and fragrance.
To get the juices going make the filling first and let it sort of marinade while you make the pie crust. The pears and the figs will get all nice and cozy with the sugar and start releasing its juices.
There will be quite a lot of fruit-sugar juice in the bowl. But don’t worry it does come together nicely while it bakes and you will end up with a nice thin layer of fruit sauce, just enough to coat the flaky crust and the fruit inside.
After the pie bakes let it cool to room temperature. This will allow the juices to settle so that when it is cut into wedges the filling does not spread.
Enjoy the pie with a nice cup of fresh coffee or tea!
Pear fig cardamon pie
Equipment & Tools
- Food processor
- 9in pie dish
INGREDIENTS
Pie crust
- 300 g pastry flour (Note 1)
- 1 tsp salt
- 10 g powdered sugar
- 210 g butter (Kerrygold)
- 80 g water (nonchlorinated, ice-cold)
- ½ cup ice cubes
Pie filling
- 400 g pears (cleaned, cut into bite-size pieces)
- 170 g figs (Mission)
- 1 lemon (zest)
- 1 lemon (juice)
- 30 g sugar (unrefined)
- 1 tsp vanilla paste (Nielsen-Massey)
- 1 tsp cardamon (freshly ground)
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tbsp butter (small cubes)
Egg wash
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp heavy cream
Other
- 1 tbsp sugar (unrefined)
INSTRUCTIONS
- Gather all the ingredients.
- Preheat the oven to 195°C.
Prepare the filling
- In a mixing bowl add lemon zest and the juice.
- Wash the pears, peel them, cut out the core and slice into wedges, and then into bite-size pieces.Add to the bowl with lemon juice.
- Wash the figs quarter them lengthwise and cut into in half.Add to the bowl with the pears.
- Mix well so that all the pears are nicely coated with lemon to prevent browning.
- Add sugars, cardamon, vanilla paste, butter, and cornstarch to the mixing bowl. Mix well to incorporate all the ingredients.Cover with a clean cloth and set aside.
Prepare the pie crust
- Measure out the flour, salt, and powdered sugar. Add all to a mixing bowl.Place in the freezer for 15 minutes.
- Measure the butter and cut into 3cm rectangles.Place in the freezer for 15 minutes.
- Add ice cubes and water in a bowl. Place in the fridge.
- After all the ingredients are chilled mix the dry ingredients in the food processor by pulsing a couple of times. (Note 2)
- Add all the butter and pulse several times or until the butter is coarsely broken into the flour.
- Add 55g of ice water and mix the dough. If it is still dry and does not come together if squeezed add a bit more water. (Note 3)There should be some dry pieces of dough on the bottom of the food processor bowl.
- Once the majority of the dough does come together take the dough out and onto a clean work surface.Gently gather the dough and the dry pieces and knead just enough for the dough not to have and dry pieces.Roll the dough into a cylinder and cut in half.Make a disc out of the two halves and place them in a zip lock bag.Let the dough rest in the fridge for at least 1 hour. (Note 4)
Assemble the pie
- Take out one piece of pie dough from the fridge and place it on the working surface.Dust it lightly with flour.Roll out the dough, always from the middle outwards, until it is around 3mm thick. (Note 5)
- Place the rolled out pie crust on the pie dish.Gently tap the dough to even the bottom out, especially around the edges. There should not be any gaps on the bottom part of the dough. Set aside.
- Similarly, roll the top part of the dough.Using a small flower cookie cutter cut out, randomly some flowers.Set aside the cut out flowers.
- Add pie filling to the pie dish.Level the filling, but be careful not to push into the pie dough.
- Place the top pie crust.Roll in the edges, cutting out if there is too much crust or it is uneven.
- Make the egg wash by mixing the egg yolk and the heavy cream.Brush the pie with the egg wash and arrange the cutout flowers on top of the pie so that they stick on the egg wash.Sprinkle with sugar.
- Bake the pie for 30 minutes on 196°C and then the remaining 20 minutes on 185°C.
- Let the pie cool to room temperature before serving.
NOTES
- Pastry flour has less gluten than all-purpose flour which makes for a flakier pie crust.
- This will ensure the proper distribution of salt and sugar.
- The amount of water needed depends on how fine or coarse the butter is mixed with the flour. The finer it is mixed less water will be needed for the dough to come together.
- The pie dough can remain in the fridge for 3 days. You can also place the dough in the freezer and use it after the 3 day period. When needed thaw the pie dough in the fridge the night before you are planning to use it.
- If the dough is too cold and it is hard to roll the dough let it sit on the counter a bit. Applying pressure on the very cold dough will result in dough cracking. Always apply slight pressure when rolling out the dough.
