Ingredients
1 9-inch pie crust, unbaked
6-7 cups sliced red and/or green ripe pears (approx. 2 1/2-3 pounds)
1 cup fresh cranberries [I probably used more than this]
1/4 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 tablespoons apple cider or water [or a combination of water, lemon juice and a splash of apple cider vinegar]
1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 tablespoon raw sugar
2 tablespoons caramel-flavored ice cream topping, plus additional for drizzling [or a mixture of corn syrup, cream, sugar and vanilla]
Directions
1. Preheat oven to 375º.
2. Arrange half of pears in prepared pastry; sprinkle with 1/2 cup of cranberries. Arrange remaining pears atop cranberries. In bowl stir together 1/4 cup sugar, cornstarch, cider, and nutmeg; drizzle evenly over pears. Cover pie with foil.
3. Bake 40 minutes. Remove foil; sprinkle with 1 tablespoon sugar. Bake, uncovered, 30 to 35 minutes more or until pears are tender and juices are bubbly. Remove from oven and place on wire rack.
4. Meanwhile, in small saucepan combine remaining cranberries and 2 tablespoons caramel topping. Bring to boiling. Cook 1 minute. Remove from heat. Spoon over hot pie.
[Note: I made the cranberry/caramel sauce with the ingredients mentioned above—corn syrup, cream, sugar and vanilla—and then poured it over the pie and continued to bake the pie until the juices bubbled and began to thicken. This was maybe as much as 30 minutes longer than the recipe says. The crust didn't burn, though, and everything tasted wonderful.]
5. Serve warm. Drizzle with additional caramel topping. [I didn't do this. It was also really good cold.]
Modified from recipe at bhg.com.
