Apple Pear Open Pie … come mingle with ‘Fruit in Baking’

“It is, in my view, the duty of an apple to be crisp and crunchable, but a pear should have such a texture as leads to silent consumption.”
Edward Bunyard

mainThey’re rolling off shelves this year; apples are ruling the bazaar. Rosy, red and delicious like in Snow White & the Seven Dwarfs, my heart leaps with joy when I see local varieties tempting us with almost a forbidden promise! No more guilt ridden shopping for imported fruit this year. The past few years saw a drastic fall in local apple production. Tempting, shiny rosy apples bore the Washington stamp, with Chinese Red Fuji and Australian Granny Smith jostling for space alongside – priced high and positively jet-lagged. This year has been wonderful with record breaking local production in the  Kullu valley, which is nestled in the foothills of the Himalayas. A snowfall in the higher climbs  of the mountains 2 days ago brought more relief to the native population of the region as prospects for an record high output shine! Good for them, and good for us too!

With local produce  flooding the market, and the family reeling from an overdose of apple crumble, the next best option was apple pie, a first for me. I have loads of ‘apple to bake somethings‘ bookmarked, but had an open apple pie in my head! My father came by and dropped kilos of apples and small pears a few days ago. Some HAD to be baked, and the idea of a pie had me enchanted. The lad had seen me dig into cookbooks, turning pages, screeching to a halt at a delicious looking  American Apple Pie. He had been on my case since, but I was in no mood to do a double pastry one. Calories had to be cut, and I decided that my next best bet was an open pie, and the tiny pears would go in too.

This was my first ever Apple Pie … and was it good! I added the pears to keep the apples company. The pie is baked for about an hour, loosely covered with foil. This way the apples get cooked but retain a bit of bite, the pears silently accompanying them {somewhat like the quote above says}! The walnuts and currants add to deep warm flavours, tying in nicely with the cinnamon and nutmeg. I let the pie cool for a bit to let the juices thicken. The hub liked it served warm with some low fat unsweetened cream, and the rest of us enjoyed it cold, with the cream of course!

Pears are an excellent source of dietary fiber and a good source of Vitamin C. An apple, on average, contains more antioxidants than a large vitamin C dose of 1,500 mg. Apples are also full of phytochemicals that help with antioxidant activity, as well as in preventing cancer. Antioxidants combat particles in the body called free radicals, which can significantly damage the cells and may contribute to the development of certain cancer types. Apples can help turn all this around … read more here

Which brings me to the mingle. I am happy to host Monthly Mingle this month, the brain child of lovely Meeta of What’s For Lunch Honey. Being a HUGE fan of  ‘fruit in baking‘,  it was my my natural choice for the theme. Trying to include fruit in bakes, keeping it seasonal as far as possible, continues to be a passion with me. I enjoy following fruits in season, and discovering what more I can do with them. I loved doing the Chocolate Plum Clafoutis that Meeta beautifully wove into the MM badge below, and also recently, a Quark Mousse with Roasted Balsamic Strawberries.If you bake with fruit this month, do send it to the Monthly Mingle. I will set the table up at the end of November, where we can meet over tea & coffee, fun, food, stories and laughter … and of course fruity bakes! Would love to see what you did with fruit this Oct/Nov, and yes, pumpkin is very much a fruit {Er, as is a tomato, well technically!!}. Also, If you don’t have a blog, but still have a picture, do drop me a mail at vindee{at}airtelmail{dot}in, and I will be happy to include you in the round-up.

  1. Create a dish that fits the Fruit in Baking theme as described above, and post it on your blog from now till 22 Nov 2010 {Entries must be in English, please}.
  2. Your creation should be prepared for the current Monthly Mingle theme and only shared with a maximum of 2 other blog events. Let’s try and keep the creations as fresh as the ingredients you use.
  3. You must provide a link to this post and/or the official Monthly Mingle page.
  4. Once you’ve posted your dish, please send your entries to vindee{at}airtelmail{dot}in with your name, location, post link and a 300px wide picture {not bigger than 1 MB}

I am kicking the event off with this ‘Open Apple & Pear Pie’, and hope you’ll join me with ‘FRUIT in BAKING’.

Apple & Pear Open Pie
Pastry recipe and inspiration from Baking Course, Isabel Moore
Shortcrust Pastry
1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp salt
6 tbsp/80gm butter, chilled, cut into pieces
2-4tbsp iced water
Method:
Run the flour and salt in the bowl of your food processor for a few seconds. Add butter and run until you get fine breadcrumb like mix.
Drizzle in 2 tbsp of water. The dough should begin to come together. Take out flour mix into a large bowl. Add another tbsp of chilled water, and knead the dough till it is smooth and silky. Add more chilled water if required, but make sure the dough is silky and pliable {This is important, else it won’t roll out}
Once it leaves the sides of the bowl cleanly, make into a ball, flatten, wrap in cling-wrap and chill for 30minutes.
Filling:
4-5 medium apples, cored, peeled, diced
8-10 small baby pears, cored,peeled, diced
Juice of one large lime
1/2 cup walnuts, chopped
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup black currants
2 tbsp cornflour
3/4 cup sugar
1 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp freshly grated nutmeg
Method:
Toss the ingredients together in a large bowl as soon as the fruit is cut, mixing well.
Assemble pie…
Preheat the oven to 180C.
Roll out the pastry to line a 9″ pie dish {greased if you like}, and line the dish. {I used a 10″ loose bottomed dish, so the dough fell slightly short}. Add the filling to the pie base, dot over with 2 tbsp of unsalted butter, and bake at 180C for 20 minutes. Then cover cover loosely with foil and bake for a further 40 minutes. Cool on rack. Allow to sit for a while so that the juices thicken.
Note: Serve warm, at room temperature or chilled with unsweetened whipped cream, or a dollop of slightly sweetened cinnamon cream. Vanilla ice cream would certainly offer luxury on a warm slice!
♥ Thank you for stopping by ♥

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Also find me on The Rabid Baker, The Times of India

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Deeba @ PAB

About me: I am a freelance food writer, recipe developer and photographer. Food is my passion - baking, cooking, developing recipes, making recipes healthier, using fresh seasonal produce and local products, keeping a check on my carbon footprint and being a responsible foodie! I enjoy food styling, food photography, recipe development and product reviews. I express this through my food photographs which I style and the recipes I blog. My strength lies in 'Doing Food From Scratch'; it must taste as good as it looks, and be healthy too. Baking in India, often my biggest challenge is the non-availability of baking ingredients, and this has now become a platform to get creative on. I enjoy cooking immensely as well.

90 thoughts on “Apple Pear Open Pie … come mingle with ‘Fruit in Baking’”

  1. I am totally a fan of baking with fruit! And I laughed when I read ‘mingle with fruit’ and only later realised it is a legitimate blog event! I absolutely love the look of the fruit with the pecans…. feels very Christmassy too!

    Reply

  3. These days i never get yourupgatesin reader, i alwayscome throughFB. Sure if i make something with fruit i will send over to your place.

    Reply

    1. Sorry about that F. A lot of my RSS subscribers disappeared when I shifted to WP. Asha FSK told me she had to resubscribe, and add me to her blogroll. Sigh…

      Reply

  4. Good idea the pear and apple and the inclusion of nuts. I’m just bubbling away a huge pot of apple and pear chutney on my stove this pm. Love the look of your little pears.

    Reply

  5. I love to bake with fruits. Did a lot with apples and pears the past month. You baked a fabulous pie Deeba.

    Reply

  6. This looks fabulous Deeba! And it is eggless too!
    So, I would like a slice please. I love using cornflour in pies as an egg substitute.

    Reply

  7. Lovely pie and i like this idea about using only half the pie dough. I never like to buy those imported apples from cold storage which one of my knowledgeable friends would tell me are over 2 years old. We have a flood of Jammu-Kashmir and another Indian variety well under 100 rs/kilo and the real apple taste that i remember from childhood-right amount of sweetness and crispness.
    I hope to try your recipe.
    Cheers
    N

    Reply

  8. oh my, that looks absolutely delish!!!! yummm 🙂 i love open pie more than double crusted pie actually. i love it when we can see the ‘inside’ of the pie! looks more appetizing. love ur idea of the pear silently accompanying the apples. that is just sweet 🙂

    Reply

  11. beautiful photos. can’t believe you’ve never made apple pie before!! i would love to join you in the monthly mingle…will post soon 🙂

    Reply

  12. Apples and pears are a wonderful combination. I love that you made a pie out of them. Looks delicuos and your pictures are really beautiful! 🙂

    Reply

  13. Heyy Deeba..

    Thanks a lot for dropping by my space.. It means a lot to me to see ur comment for my post.
    I have been a silent visitor for soo long… and I admire the way u do it out here… Have tried ur quark strawberry cheese cake and it was well taken by my guests. replaced gelatin by china grass in the recipe and altered the proportions to suit my tin.

    Cheers
    Sandhya

    Reply

  14. No more berries, now it’s all about apples, pears..and pumpkins heh?! It’s been ages since I last baked something with apples, this looks so good!

    Reply

  15. Your open fruits pie looks so mouthwatering. Yum….. And I’m so tempting to make one right now. Thank you! Hope you’re having a wonderful day.
    Kristy

    Reply

  16. Fruits anything and I love it. Good theme Deeba and it should not be too difficult for me to participate.

    apple, pear and walnut in a short crust and I will have all of it. beautiful Deeba.

    Reply

  19. That’s a great pie that you have baked deeba. And the event is very interesting as well. Let me see if I can come up with something 🙂

    Reply

  20. Delish start to an event!! Happened to post my orange bread today and I am surely going to send it to your event:-) But you will have to forgive the quality of my pics(blush, blush)

    Reply

  22. I love baking with fruit. Wait, I love it when my husband cooks with fruit! He’s a better baker than I am by far.

    I’m excited to participate though.

    Reply

  24. Hi dear Deeba!! This apples/pears tart look amazing! Love it!
    Im glad to see you again. I was with some problems with my PC! xx gloria

    Reply

  25. Wow that looks heavenly! Love! thanks for stopping by blog, apple and pear event looks lucrative, my fingers are ticking away to do something, can it be any desserts out of either of these fruits or both should be in?

    Reply

  26. Oh Deeba, i have lods to send to ya and i shall all, i love baking with fruits and Apple are an all time fav too!!
    Oh am looking foward to the local apples and so hope they find their crunchy way here too!!
    Bdw, i love snowfall too!!
    Loved ur post about the cake mixing, all the resorts out here have it too + u get a nic big fat cake when its baked:-)
    I love ur picture that Meeta wove into the MM badge!
    i loveee all the pink happening here ,love the color!

    And love that all natural wooden cutting/perfect for props board u have with the garlic bread, where did ya pick tha up, i am looking for something similiar foreva or do u jus pick it up somewhere locally where they are felling trees or something!

    Reply

    1. Mia, that piece of wood is something I found in the market on one of my jaunts. Will keep my eye open for one for you. It’s been cleaned, polished and treated. Locally from felling trees? LOL, not a chance! Thanks for the fabulous parcel!

      Reply

  27. Oh I feel all autumnal now even if I hadn’t wanted to! I cant’ believe this is your first apple pie? That’s incredible! Wishing you a marvellous mingle… I have something up my sleeve to present to you during the month. xx

    Reply

    1. Yeah neither can I Sarah. Actually, the crumble is ever so easy and healthy too, so I naturally make it. I’d love to do a double crust classic pie soon though! Can’t wait to see what you make!

      Reply

  28. Beautiful post…your photos are stunning as usual! This open pie is amazing, love the flavors and it just presents flawlessly 🙂

    Reply

  32. This pie looks amazing Deeba. Pretty good for your first one. I just baked a very yummy apple cake at the weekend so will have to get it up for the mingle. Great theme!

    Reply

  33. mmm, i love it, Deeba. i’d love to have this with some malai! and a cup of chai. and a chat with Deeba, of course 🙂 x shayma

    Reply

  35. This was your first ever apple pie? It looks wonderful! You did a fabulous job! I love the idea for the mingle this month too. I will definitely be baking with fruit this month, we live in WA so the local apples are outstanding. Thank you so much for visiting and I’ll be back (with a mingle recipe!)

    Reply

  37. What a fabulous idea! I’ve never had a pear and apple pie but I’m sure the flavors and textures compliment each other perfectly!

    I can’t imagine how hard it is to find ingredients in India! My dad is from Lucknow and the last time I was there we could barely find the Maggie ketchup I am so in love with. 🙂

    Reply

  38. The local apples are definitely the best! We had quite a few in the mountains this year. As always, your photos are lovely and your pie is just stunning. I went to a few other posts…wow! You are so busy! I am incredibly impressed! 🙂

    Reply

  39. I love fruit in baking!. I agree local fruit is the best to use in baking. I practice this philosophy.
    Happy week end and Halloween from Canary Islands!

    Reply

  48. Hello,

    I am the real vindee{at}gmail{dot}com. After receiving more than two dozen emails from senders with exotic names, describing delectable deserts and with repetitive invocations to “Deeba” – I realized I was NOT the target of a concerted spam campaign…a simple web search brings me here.

    Deeba – please correct the email address you have listed above and give me direction about what to do with the “Monthly Mingle” entries I have received.

    Cheers!

    Reply

  50. Hi Deeba – my email entry to your MM did not go through (to the airtel main add), it bounced back – can i just leave the details of the post here?

    Reply

  52. Deeba,
    The e-mail I sent you on the 19th with all the info you needed came right back to me- is there a problem with your e-mail id?

    Reply

  53. Hey Deeba,
    Just wanted to leave a little note here- just in case you don’t get the second e-mail I just sent you- Thank you! 🙂

    Reply

  56. Deeba, love baking with fruit, particularly apples. This apple pear combo looks delicious. I have been making this delicious apple cake recently that tastes like a soft apple pudding when fresh from the oven, but then a hint of an apple pie when it cools. Amazing.

    I love this open pie. Delicious fruit with a hint of nuts and dried fruit. I think I would guzzle the lot if I could!

    Reply

  57. So happy this is eggless and doable 😉 I hope mine turns out great… I am using only apples though… have a couple of kilos lying around 😉
    TFS!!!
    Smita

    Reply

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