Pear Bliss

By foodielady • September 13, 2011 • 3 Comments

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Author Notes: Sometimes I open the fridge and start improvising with the ingredients and/or leftovers I happen to find. I don’t like to throw away food so I am very creative with my everyday cooking. I can humbly say most of the time the outcome of my experiments are pretty good. I got the inspiration to make this dessert when one day about one year ago, I looked at a large fruit bowl I have in my kitchen and had about 8 ripe green bartlett pears. What had happened was that I bought a box of these pears at Costco on an impulse the week before without realizing my family and I wouldn’t be able to eat all of them before they spoiled. So I started skimming through my collection of food magazines and books and found a pear pie in an edition of Everyday Food. I read the recipe and made my own version with the ingredients I had at hand. The outcome was this delicious pear custard pie. I called it Pear Bliss because it is so light and I couldn’t figure out how to describe it because it is neither a cake, custard, flan or pie by definition, texture or appearance. It is easy and fast to make. For a more decadent version make it “a la mode” with a scoop of vanilla ice cream and caramel syrup on top. - foodielady

Serves 8

1/4 cup butter (melted), plus some for pie dish
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1/3 cup unbleached all-purpose flour
3 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
3/4 cups evaporated milk
3 Bartlett, Comice or D'Anjou Pears, quartered and cored
confectioner's sugar for dusting

Pre-heat oven at 350º f. Butter 9 inch pie dish (I use a glass Pyrex round 9” pie dish)
In a blender, process melted butter, granulated sugar, flour, vanilla extract, eggs and evaporated milk until completely blended.
Slice pears about 1/4 inch thick lengthwise.
Arrange sliced pears in greased pie dish in a circular pattern. Once finished arranging the pear slices, press down with the palm of your hand to level.
Pour batter over pears and place in oven for 50 minutes.
Let cool and sprinkle with powdered sugar. Enjoy!