Cheddar-Pear pie

And finally for the pie that went in the previous post (push in pie crust)  This too come from Family FEasts for $75 a week.  I did my normal healthier tweeking - bit of extra fruit here coconut oil there...  Even added (not bean flour :) which is surprising lately, but a high fiber starch that I have - just subbed out 1-2 Tablespoons for the regular flour but I don't expect most people to have that so I'm leaving it out of the recipe.)  I probably also made some sort of sugar substitution but at this point I can't remember.  Maybe not because I increased the fruit.
I loved this pie.  (Actually there is a piece left in the refrigerator - I know what my reward for making it thorough this last day of DH being out of town will be.  Sorry Brandon, there will be no pie for you to try.) I was of course skeptical about this pie.  I always am when it is something new.  I was worried about not liking pear - would it get too mushy?  I worried about not liking the cheese on top.  I've heard of apples and cheese and even enjoyed the 2 together once or twice but for some reason it still sounds weird to me. Well, I was pleasantly surprised with how this turned out.  I loved the flakiness of the crust, and the little crunch the toasted cheese on top of the pie gave it.  The cheese also added just enough savory to the sweet.  It was such a nice combinations.  If pears are on sale this week where you live like they are here, you should definitely go try this pie.  In fact, maybe I'll have to buy some more and make this for DH to try - wouldn't want him to miss out right?? :)

Ingredients

• 1 Push-in pie crust
• 5 medium-large ripe pears, peeled, cored and thinly sliced
• 1/3 cup sugar
• 1 Tablespoon cornstarch
• dash of salt

Topping Ingredients

• 1/2 cup shredded cheddar cheese
• 1/2 cup flour 
• 1/4 cup coconut oil
• 1/4 cup sugar
• dash of salt

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 400.
2. Press crust into a 9 inch pie pan (I used a deeper dish pyrex to accommodate the extra fruit)
3. In a large bowl, combine pears, sugar, cornstarch and salt.  Pour into pie crust.  
4. Be lazy like me, scrape the bowl well, and use the same bowl to combine the topping ingredients until nice and crumbly. (It seemed easier to me to work but the cheese together and then add the cheese, so that is what I did.)  Sprinkle evenly over the filling.
5. Bake until crust is golden and cheese is melted, 25 to 35 minutes.  (I didn't think the topping looked done enough at 25 but the edges of the crust were browning too much so I tosses a little crust cover over it and baked it the remaining 10 minutes.)  Let cool 10 minutes on wire rack.  Serve warm

 --  I thought it sounded lovely with vanilla ice cream, but I'm pretty sure it wasn't super warm by the time we ate it.  It was plenty good just plain.  :)