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.
This crustless pie is my absolute favorite way to enjoy pears, I make it almost every week during the fall months!
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. When I have extra fruit on hand, I make blackberry salad or this pear custard pie.
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!
How do you make pear custard pie?
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.
Is there a way to make this gluten free? Can I use cornstarch instead of flour to thicken?
I would use the equivalent amount of your favorite gluten free flour!
I tried to make it but it came out very wet. Can you tell me what have I done wrong? The bottom was all burned and wet while the top are brown and wet. The flavor is great but the whole thing just did not look presentable when I sliced them. :[
I have never had that happen before, it usually bakes up into a firm and sliceable pie. What size pears did you use? My only thought is maybe your pears were extra large and produced more liquid when they cooked? Sorry this happened to you
Do you serve this hot or cold or does it not matter?
I typically serve it warm or at room temp!
This sounds amazing! However, I don’t actually own a blender. Can I use a mixer or a food processor instead?
A food processor will do the trick!
Just made this for the second time…. It is truly beautiful and amazing to taste…going to try it with apples….
So easy I had every idem in my pantry and pears off the tree….
This is very similar to the German Apfelpfannkuchen (apple pancakes) but made with pears instead of apples. I followed the recipe exactly except for using 1/6 cup of Truvia (half stevia and half sugar) instead of the granulated sugar to cut down on the calories and I used only three pears instead of four because I thought the pan would overflow with four. (I think I could try four next time because it could puff up above the height of the pan.). The taste and texture were wonderful, and it came out of the pan so cleanly! Wonderful dessert and a great way to use the pears from our two pear trees.
Any chance canned pears would work?
They would probably work although they may end up a little mushy from baking!
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.
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.
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!
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! 🙂
Great dessert for book group dinner. Thanks for posting. I followed recipe as written and it came out perfectly.
Gorgeous! What a beautiful fall dessert!
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!
Peaches worked amazing in this recipe 😍
Can’t wait to try it that way!
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.
Seriously Cynthia, maybe next time just reduce the amount of sugar without having to mention that it was sickeningly sweet or that you won’t be making it again.
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 ????
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.
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
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?
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!