Dutch Apple Pear Pie

Dutch Apple Pear Pie is a slight variation of the classic Dutch Apple Pie with crumb topping. This pie is made with both sweet apples and delicate pears in the filling for an amazing Autumn dessert.

Apples and pears go together flawlessly in this Apple Pear Pie, the perfect embodiment of Fall itself. Give it a try and it might become one of your favorite Thanksgiving pies this holiday season!

Why you’ll love this recipe

• Secretly simple – despite the somewhat long ingredient list and recipe, this amazing Dutch Apple Pear Pie has 3 main elements that are all quite simple to make: the dutch apple pie topping, the apple and pear pie filling, and my homemade all butter pie crust.
• Easy to modify – the original apple and pear pie filling are made with both apples and pears, substitute one or the other and you’ll have a brand new dutch apple pie or dutch pear pie!
• Sub store bought crust to simplify further – while I’m all about the homemade pie crust, I understand the needs to simplify things when you have a million things to prep for the holidays, a store bought crust will work just fine in this recipe. Get the frozen one that’s already shaped, you don’t even need to bother with rolling and fluting the edges.

How to make dutch apple pear pie

This section is broken into several subsections. For each of the main elements of the pie, you’ll find an ingredient list with some substitution tips if available, process photos, detail descriptions and lots of tips on how to make it successfully. I will also give variation notes if I can think of any.

However, if you want to skip right ahead to the printable recipe card at the bottom, you’ll find the complete list of ingredients and quantities along with all the instructions there as welll.

Make the crumb topping

A Dutch Apple Pie crumb topping is just like a coffee cake streusel. It is made with a mixture of:

• Flour – all-purpose flour works just fine.
• Sugar – I use a mixture of brown and granulated sugar. You can use all brown sugar if you want a deeper and richer flavor.
• Spices – I use my homemade apple pie spice in this recipe. A store bought version works just fine. And if you don’t have the premade spice mix, just use what you have in your pantry, the spice mix is heavy on cinnamon, and you can include nutmeg, ginger, allspice, cardamom to your liking.
• Salt – I use kosher salt, this is always a must-have to add nuance to the flavor, don’t skip it.
• Butter – unsalted and cold. I don’t recommend using salted butter in this case since it may make your streusel too salty.

Here are the steps to make it:

• Mix the dry ingredients in a mixing bowl and give it a whisk to distribute evenly. You may need to break up some lumps of brown sugar.
• Cut the cold butter into the dry mixture with a pastry blender or simply pinch it with the tips of your fingers until the mixture resembles wet sand.
• Keep the crumb topping in the freezer until ready to use.

Tip: Freezing the crumb topping prevents it from melting into a big mass or into the pie when baked.

Variation! Toss some chopped nuts like pecans and walnuts into the crumb topping mixture for a nutty variation.

Make the pie crust

As always, I used my favorite all-butter pie crust for this recipe. I have a whole post dedicated to making pie dough with different methods and all the tips and tricks. In general, here’s what you’ll need to make it:

• Flour – all-purpose flour will work, but you can also use pastry flour for a more tender crust.
• Sugar – simply use granulated sugar here, I like my pie crust on the sweeter side so I use 2 rounded tablespoons but you can use less if you want.
• Salt – again, I use just kosher salt. If using table salt, I would reduce the amount to 2/3 or half of what’s called for.
• Butter – I use unsalted butter, but in this case you could use salted butter and skipping the salt (above).
• Water – this helps hydrates the dry ingredients and bind them together. Use just enough though to get the dough to stick together, you don’t want to use too much that you end up with a soft soggy pie dough.

The pie dough can be made fairly quickly and easily using a food processor or in a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, or even by hand. Allow it to rest in the refrigerator for an hour before rolling.

Tip: You can use a store-bought pie crust! The one that’s already shaped into a pie pan will save you from having to make and form the pie crust.

Let’s get rolling:

• Roll the pie dough out about 2” larger than your pie pan. I used a regular size metal pie pan for this recipe, not a deep dish one.
• Carefully place the dough over the pan and press it into the bottom.
• Trim off some excess dough but leave enough to fold under and flute the edge.
• Refrigerate or freeze the pie dough in the dish.

Caution: If you’re using a glass or ceramic pie dish, extreme temperature change from freezer to oven can cause it to form hairline cracks and eventually ruin it. So only freeze the pie in the pan if you have a metal pan.

Variation! Use this pecan pie crust instead for a nutty Fall flavor.

Make the apple and pear pie filling

Here are the ingredients to make this pie filling:

• Apples – Half the filling is apple. I recommend using what you love to eat here.
• Pears – Half the filling is pear. Similarly use what you love to eat.
• Lemon juice – a bit of lemon juice adds freshness and also helps with thickening.
• Sugar – I use granulated sugar here but you can use brown sugar if you wish.
• Cornstarch – I use cornstarch to set the filling, you can substitute regular flour (3x more) or tapioca flour (1.5x more) depending on what you have. However, you’ll have to adjust the amount to get the same thickening power.
• Spices – I use my homemade apple pie spice again here, a store bought version will work or just cinnamon or a mixture of what you have in your pantry whipped up to your taste.
• Salt – I use kosher salt here.

Let’s slice and dice:

• Cut your fruits into small pieces. You can dice them into bite-size or slice them into about ¼” thick like I did here.
• Toss the fruits with lemon juice, sugar, salt, spices, and corn starch.

Tip: I recommend cutting the pear slices a little bit thicker because they tend to be softer and will cook a bit faster.

Variations! Try asian pears instead or make it all apples or all pears.

Assemble the pie for baking

• Use a fork to poke holes on the frozen or cold pie crust, brush beaten egg white over it. The egg white will form a protective layer to prevent the bottom crust from getting soggy while baking.
• Layer the sliced fruits and pour any remaining juice over it.
• Sprinkle the frozen crumb topping over the fruits.
• Bake until the filling is soft and bubbly.
• Let the pie cool completely, preferably overnight, before slicing into it. This will allow the corn starch to do its magic and let the filling set perfectly.

Tip: Another way to protect the pie crust from getting soggy without using egg white is par-baking the pie crust.

Storage

This Dutch Apple Pear Pie can be kept at room temperature overnight and up to 2 days. But it is best to keep the pie refrigerated, it will last up to a week.

You can also freeze the pie in individual slices and save them for days when you just need a little something sweet. Thaw at room temperature for a couple of hours before serving. If you like your pie warm with a scoop of ice cream, simply warm the slice of pie up in the microwave.

FAQs

More pies and pastries

• Apple and Plum Crumble
• Peach Cobbler with Almond Streusel
• Apple Pie with Decorative Top Crust
• Pear Cranberry Pie
• Macadamia Nut Pie

5 from 7 votes

Dutch Apple Pear Pie

By Trang

Dutch Apple Pear Pie is a slight variation of the classic Dutch Apple Pie with crumb topping. This pie is made with both sweet apples and delicate pears in the filling for an amazing Autumn dessert.

Servings: 8 slices

Prep Time: 30 minutes mins

Cook Time: 45 minutes mins

Total Time: 1 hour hr 15 minutes mins

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Ingredients 

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Pie crust

• ▢ 1 ½ cup all-purpose flour, 200 g
• ▢ 2 tablespoon granulated sugar, rounded, 31 g
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, rounded
• ▢ 5 oz unsalted butter, cold & cubed, 142 g
• ▢ 2-3 tablespoon cold water

Pie filling

• ▢ 3 medium apples, approximately 1 lb 2 oz, peeled & sliced
• ▢ 3 medium pears, approximately 1 lb 3 oz, peeled & sliced
• ▢ 1 tablespoon fresh squeezed lemon juice
• ▢ ½ cup granulated sugar, 94 g
• ▢ ¼ cup corn starch, 30 g
• ▢ 1 teaspoon apple pie spice, 3 g
• ▢ ¼ teaspoon kosher salt, 1 g

Streusel

• ▢ ¾ cup all-purpose flour, 93 g
• ▢ ¼ cup dark brown sugar, 54 g, packed
• ▢ ¼ cup granulated sugar, 46 g
• ▢ A pinch of kosher salt
• ▢ 1 teaspoon apple pie spice
• ▢ 3 oz unsalted butter, 85 g, cold & cubed

Egg wash

• ▢ 1 egg white

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Instructions 

Make the pie crust

• Add flour, sugar and salt in a small mixing bowl and mix thoroughly with a whisk. Transfer flour mixture to a food processor fitted with the dough blade. Add cubed cold butter to the flour mixture, pulse several times until butter is about pea and bean size. Variations in size are okay.
• Turn the food processor to “on” position and drizzle cold water over the dough mixture through the water hole, as soon as the dough starts to pull together turn the food processor off. You may need to stop the food processor in between and get a spatula to mix up the flour at the bottom.
• Turn the dough out on the counter or cutting board, and shape into a disk. Wrap in plastic and rest in the refrigerator for at least an hour. Make the streusel while waiting.
• Take the disk of pie dough out of the fridge and roll into a circle about 2” larger than your pie dish. Use extra flour to keep the dough from sticking to the counter and roller.
• Carefully place the dough over the pie dish, lightly press the dough into the bottom and side of the pie dish, let the excess dough hang over the side. Trim all the excess dough leaving just enough to fold under and create a fluted edge.
• Cover the pie dish with plastic wrap and keep refrigerated or freeze for 15 – 30 minutes.

Make the crumb topping

• While the pie dough is resting in the refrigerator, make the streusel by combining flour, brown sugar, granulated sugar, just a pinch of salt, and apple pie spice in a small mixing bowl, mix together thoroughly with a whisk.
• Cut the cold butter into small cubes and add to the dry mixture. Use a pastry blender to cut the butter into the dry mixture or pinch it together with your fingers until the texture is of wet sand. Cover and freeze until ready to use.

Make the pie filling

• Peel, core and cut the apples and pears into about ¼” slices. You can cut the pear slices slightly larger than ¼” if they seem a bit softer than the apples.
• Toss peeled and sliced apples and pears with lemon juice in a large bowl.
• Mix together sugar, corn starch, salt, and apple pie spice in a small bowl, sprinkle over the sliced fruits and mix until evenly distributed

Assemble and bake

• Preheat the oven to 425°F.
• Separate an egg white into a small bowl, beat it lightly with a fork. Take the pie dish out of the freezer, poke steam holes with a fork, use a pastry brush to brush the bottom crust with beaten egg white to prevent the crust from getting soggy.
• Add the pie filling including any juice into the pie crust. For a neater filling, place the sliced fruits in concentric circles in layers by hand, then pour the juice over it.
• Add the frozen streusel on top.
• Place the pie plate on a baking sheet. Reduce the oven to 400°F and bake in the middle of the oven for 45 minutes until the filling is cooked through, soft when checked with a toothpick, and bubbly.
• Allow the pie to cool completely so the filling has time to set before slicing and serving.

Notes

• You can use your favorite type of apples and pears for this recipe. But for a balance of tart and sweet, use a couple of Granny Smith apples in the mix.
• Make sure to pick ripe but firm pears so they don’t fall apart while baking.
• Brushing egg white on the bottom crust prevents the crust from getting soggy when baked. If you don’t want to do this, you may want to par-bake your pie crust first, allow it to cool a bit before adding the pie filling and bake it again.
• Freezing the crumb topping will prevent it from melting into the pie when baked.
• If you’re using a glass or ceramic pie dish, extreme temperature change can cause it to crack so only freeze the pie in the pan if you have a metal pan.

Nutrition

Serving: 231g, Calories: 526kcal

Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.

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