Pear Ginger and Chocolate Crumble Pie

Chocolate and pears – a great combination.

Chocolate and ginger – a great combination.

Pears and ginger – also a great combination I’m sure you will agree.

Pop them all into a pie, or a crumble? Decisions, decisions…

 How about have pears, chocolate and ginger all surrounded by the flaky short pie crust, but topped with delicious crumble topping? Best of not both worlds, but the best of all worlds.

This Pear, Chocolate and Ginger Crumble Pie really hits the mark on all counts. It’s a great dessert for  post Sunday dinner I find.

I used a shop-bought shortcrust pastry, but you could of course make your own if you have the time or inclination. But I had neither, so Tesco’s own it was.

I used a kilo of random pears, to mix things up, just make sure that they are not too hard, or they won’t cook down well in the oven. I grated in fresh ginger and tossed this with the pears I had diced into cubes. Careful on how much fresh ginger you use, too much and it can put some people off. I like it quite gingery so used about a half inch grated. This will be purely down to your personal taste however.

I also used some plain chocolate chips and scattered this into the pear ginger mix, once I had lined a pie dish with the pastry, trimmed any excess and placed the pears in.

I made a simple crumble topping and scattered that on top of the pears and finally with some excess pastry cut out wee shapes and stuck them all around the edges to give a decorative effect.

After baking I let the pie rest for about 20 minutes before dishing it up. Word of warning to you – it will look a complete, yet tasty, mess on your dish. No matter how long you let it cool, it does tend to crumble, as you would expect from a crumble, but not with a pie.

The flavours here are to die for, and the pie is definitely best served warm with some cream on the side.

Enjoy…

Pear Ginger and Chocolate Crumble Pie

Shortcrust pie filled with pears ginger and
chocolate and topped with crunchy crumble

Cuisine:	Dessert	Category:	Fruit Pie	Yields:	1 9" pie
Prep Time:	20 Mins	Cook Time:	50 Mins	Total Time:	1 Hr 10 Mins

 

Ingredients

• 1 sheet of ready rolled short crust pastry
• 1 kilo of ripe pears, any kind, diced
• ½ inch of fresh ginger root, grated
• 100 grams dark chocolate chips
• 1 tablespoon caster sugar
• 1 tablespoon cornflour
• 1 egg for egg wash
• 100 grams plain flour
• 75 grams unsalted butter, chilled
• 75 grams granulated sugar
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 50 grams porridge oats

 

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180C.
2. Place the shortcrust pastry in an 9” pie tin and trim off any excess. Reserve the off-cuts.
3. In a bowl mix together the pears, grated ginger, caster sugar and cornflour so everything is combined.
4. Transfer to the pie shell and sprinkle on the chocolate chips, mixing through slightly.
5. Make the crumble topping by rubbing together the butter and flour until they resemble bread crumbs then add the granulated sugar, cinnamon and oats and stir through.
6. Sprinkle over the entire pie.
7. Cut the leftover pastry into small shaped with a cutter and stick around the edge of the pie with some beaten egg.
8. Press down slightly with a fork so the offcuts stick well to the edge of the pie case. Give them an egg wash on top.
9. Place in the oven for 45 to 50 minutes, until the pastry is golden brown, the crumble is golden too and you can smell the fruit.
10. Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before slicing it into pieces (it will still be quite crumbly).

I am entering this pie into this month's Pastry Challenge hosted alternately by Jen at Jen's Food and this month Lisa at United Cakedom - the theme is 'Anything Goes'.