In this pear custard pie, fresh pears are combined with a rich and creamy 5 minute custard, then baked to perfection for a simple yet elegant dessert.
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I am not a huge fan of pears. I like them fine when they’re cooked but I don’t eat them raw, I think it’s the somewhat grainy texture that bothers me. A long time ago before we had kids a relative sent us a big box of those fancy mail order pears. My husband did his best to try and eat them before they turned to mush but it was just too many pears for him to finish. I made this pear custard pie to use them up and I have been making it ever since. It’s definitely my favorite way to eat pears.
We go through a ton of produce in this house. My kids are total fruit monsters and between the three of them they can polish off a whole pound of grapes or strawberries in one sitting when they’re in the mood. My mom often brings us bags of apples, oranges and pears to help keep our household well stocked in the fruit department.
Some weeks we don’t get through all the fruit and that’s when I make pear custard pie. The beauty of this recipe is that it only uses pantry staples that you probably always have lying around. Which means that if you’ve got pears, you can whip this up whenever you feel like it. I’ve made it twice in the last two weeks!
The batter for this custard is made in the blender. After you peel and cut the pears, toss them in the dish and pour the custard over the top. That’s all there is to it, 40 minutes later you’ve got an amazing dessert.
You can sprinkle some powdered sugar over the top if you want to dress it up for a special occasion. I’ve also put some cinnamon sugar on top which is great too. It probably comes as no surprise that the kids love this recipe. I’ve made it dozens of times over the years and it always gets rave reviews. It’s simple, but sometimes the simplest recipes are the best, don’t you think?
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Pear Custard Pie
Ingredients
- 4 firm pears of any variety cored, peeled and thinly sliced
- 1/4 cup of unsalted butter melted
- 3 eggs
- 3/4 cup milk
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1/3 cup granulated sugar
- 1/3 cup all purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- Powdered sugar for garnish
- Cooking spray
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Coat a 9 inch round pan with cooking spray.
- Arrange the pear slices in the pan.
- Put the butter, eggs, milk, salt, granulated sugar, flour and vanilla into a blender; process until smooth.
- Pour the batter over the pears. Bake for 40-45 minutes until the custard is golden and firm to the touch. Dust the top with powdered sugar before serving.
Recipe Notes
Little Helpers: The kids can help you measure and dump all the ingredients into the blender.
Things You’ll Need
I love how elegant this dessert is! Definitely perfect for a special occasion. And the fact that the batter is made in the blender is such a plus!
That looks delicious! Beautiful pictures. I love pears and can’t wait to try this. Pinned.
yes yes yes I love pear!! I hate that it doesn’t get as utilized as other fruits – this is a great way to utilize it! Thanks for sharing!
This is a wonderful dessert that I am sure my kids would love as well. I love all of the fresh pears 🙂
I love pear and I really love custard. This is a great recipe! Can’t wait to try it out .
Oh my goodness, this looks delicious! I printed out the recipe and I’m planning on making it the week! Thanks for sharing 🙂
This looks really delicious! I love pear flavored desserts and dishes. I think they add the perfect amount of sweetness without being too heavy. Thanks for sharing!
I just got a TON of pears in the mail, now I know what to do with them! Thanks 🙂
Wow, these photos are amazing! The Pear Custard looks absolutely delicious. Thanks for sharing!
These look delicious thanks for sharing
This recipe is so simple for such a beautiful pie. Love it!
Oh my goodness. Making me drool!!!
I will DEFINITELY be making this. I love pears in any form! Thank you, pinned!
This looks absolutely DELICIOUS! I need to give this a whirl ASAP.
xo katie // a touch of teal
OMG this looks amazing. I totally want to try this badly. It looks phenomenal.
This looks so yummy. Your photography is gorgeous!
Why have I walked this planet and not known about pear custard until now? I absolutely love this recipe 🙂
Just pulled some out of the oven! My grandpa has two huge pear trees in his orchard, so we have no shortage of pears here! I decided to make this recipe in a muffin tin as to create little personal sized custards:) they smell amazing, and I’m hoping they taste just as good! Thank you for the wonderful idea!
What a great idea to make them personal sized! Enjoy 🙂
our pear tree has its first batch of ripening pears awaiting harvest. i have been searching for recipes and stumbled upon yours. im eager to make this! thank you for sharing!
I hope you enjoy it!
I made this and it was good but it tasted really strongly of scrambled eggs did i do something wrong i followed the recipe exactly
Hi Amanda, it’s a custard so there is some egg flavor but it definitely shouldn’t taste like scrambled eggs. Was the batter smooth when you poured it into the pan? The only thing I can think of is sometimes depending on the order of how you put the ingredients in the blender, the flour can clump up a bit if it’s not blended completely smooth and that may have given you a batter where everything wasn’t incorporated all the way. I hope that helps, thanks for writing in!
Does this serve up like a pie? Or, does it make its own crust?
The custard firms up enough that you can cut it into a slices and serve it like a pie, but it is not a traditional pie crust. Hope that helps!
I am preparing this right now and I just cannot get this batter smooth. Is there a secret to getting the batter smooth? I am afraid I will end up with scrambled eggs like someone else mentioned in the comment section.
Hi Sue! Are you using a blender? You may have clumps of flour that didn’t blend in all the way. If that’s the case, you can turn the blender off, stick a spoon in to scrape any clumps of flour off the sides of the blender jar and blend again.
My batter was lumpy too. I figured the lumps may have been the butter that re-solidified as my milk and eggs were still cold.
Hi Rowena, how was the end result?
I blended the custard and had zero lumps but still tasted like scrambled eggs. Sliced the pears very thin and even after 50 mins they were pretty firm. Thinking the custard needs a bit more sweetness and the pears may need an extra bit of cooking before put into the pie. Not sure what to do about the scrambled eggs? Was a bit disappointed with is recipe.
Hi Lisa, it should not taste like scrambled eggs. There is some egg flavor to it because it is an egg based custard but it shouldn’t be overwhelming. I’m sorry you didn’t enjoy the recipe.
I used evorapetd milk and it turned out great
A half teaspoon of almond extract, a dash of nutmeg and cinnamon and upping the sugar to 1/2 cup helped create a sweeter custard. Also, make sure your eggs and milk are room temperature and the butter has cooled or the texture will be entirely off. Good luck.
This had a wonderful flavor and texture. It was a bit too sweet for my taste, though. I will definitely make it again with less sugar 👍
I had high hopes, but I found it sickeningly sweet. The pears were sweet enough and there were a lot if them, so perhaps cutting down the added sugar to one tablespoon would have helped. I will not be making it again.
Can I substitute peaches? I have them in the house now but no prars?
I think that would work but I’ve never tried it!
Gorgeous! What a beautiful fall dessert!
Great dessert for book group dinner. Thanks for posting. I followed recipe as written and it came out perfectly.
In the recipe you put the pears on the bottom, on the picture they look on top, did you add more pears on top? or you turn it upside down?
The pears float to the top during the baking process, the photos show it made exactly as the recipe is written! 🙂
Hi I made 2 of your pear custard pies today . I think the recipe is great. I will make them again for my family. Thank you for sharing this recipe with me.
So glad to hear you liked it!
This is Martha Stewart’s recipe. With the addition of a pair. And added pictures and commentary.
*pear*
Hi Mike, I do mention in the recipe description that it’s adapted from Everyday Food which is owned by Martha Stewart.
I made this recipe, it turned out amazing! I’m a big pear fan and I am going to be making this pear custard pie a lot in the future.