Pear Pie

I had 6 pears left over after canning yesterday, and a dinner invitation today to which we were supposed to bring a dessert. The result? We tried this delicious recipe from allrecipes.com for the first time, and everyone raved about it! Every single piece was gobbled up. I know pear pie sounds strange, but we loved it so much I think we'll be making this for Thanksgiving this year and many other times in the future. It has a similar taste and texture as apple pie, only it's not as tart and the filling was cinnamon-y and absolutely delicious.

Ingredients:

• 1 recipe for a 9-inch double crust pie
• 1/2 cup white sugar
• 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon lemon zest
• 5 cups peeled and sliced pears (about 6 pears)
  
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
  

Directions:

1. Combine sugar, flour, salt, cinnamon, and lemon rind in mixing bowl. Gently stir in the pear slices until the sugar mixture has evenly coated the pears.

2. Roll out the pie dough, and place in a 9-inch pie dish. (I use this recipe.)

3. Arrange pears and sugar mixture in the the crust. Dot with butter. Sprinkle with lemon juice. Roll out remaining dough. Place top crust over filling; cutting slits for venting. Fold edge under bottom crust, pressing to seal. Flute edge.

3. Bake at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C) for 10 minutes. Reduce temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C), and bake for an additional 35 to 40 minutes.

(picture from allrecipes.com)