Sour Cream Pear Pie

Yes, I know that sounds weird. I got lots of skeptical looks when I told people there was sour cream in the pie. But once they tried it, they were converted into believers! This pie was deliciously creamy. It was similar in flavor to apple pie, but ever-so-slightly (and delightfully!) different. So go ahead, take a risk, and try it! I promise you'll be pleasantly surprised!


Sour Cream Pear Pie (adapted from Allrecipes.com)

• 1 unbaked 9" pie crust (I used Martha's Perfect Pie Crust, as posted by Apple A Day)
• 8 small to medium pears, thinly sliced (it would be nice to peel them if you are less lazy than me)
• 1/3 c. granulated sugar
• 3/4 c. all-purpose flour, divided
• 1 c. sour cream
• 1/2 tsp. lemon juice
• 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp. almond extract
• 1 Tbl. cinnamon, divided
  
• 1/4 c. packed brown sugar
• 2 Tbl. butter, melted

Put your pears in a gallon-sized zip-top plastic bag. Add granulated sugar, sour cream, lemon juice, vanilla and almond extracts, 1/2 Tbl. cinnamon, and 2-4 Tbl. all-purpose flour, depending on how juicy they are. Zip the top (double-check to make sure it's closed, because you don't want to accidentally dump out half your pears! Not that this happened to me, or anything....), and shake and massage around until everything is thoroughly mixed. See how we cleverly avoided dirtying a bowl to mix that up???

Line a 9" pie plate with the crust, trimming the excess from the edges. Dump the pear mixture into the pie plate, along with as much of the juices as you can get out of the bag. Don't worry about making it pretty, because we're going to cover it up with a crumb topping.

Mix together 1/2 c. all-purpose flour, the brown sugar, 1/2 Tbl. cinnamon, and the melted butter until you have pea-sized crumbs. Sprinkle this generously over the top of the pie. Bake at 400 degrees F for 10 minutes, then turn down the heat to 350 degrees F, and bake another 45 minutes. Cover the crust with foil for the last 10 minutes or so, if needed, to prevent over-browning.