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.
Made this dessert with coconut milk. It was delicious! Will definitely make it again, yummy 😋
Glad you enjoyed it!!
This is Clafouti and can be made with peaches, berries, plums or a combination — any soft fruit. I brown the butter in the iron skillet, then dump in the fruit, smooth it around and then pour in the batter. YUM.
I don’t understand what I did. I tried and followed all measurements and only added a crust but yet my pear pie tasted like egg pie. This was not good. I’m disappointed with a sad face.
I’m so sorry you didn’t enjoy this recipe, it’s hard for me to troubleshoot what could have gone wrong without being there unfortunately.
Do easy and so DELICIOUS! Made one last night and another one this morning. I’m going to need more pears.
Thank you for sharing this recipe.
So glad you enjoyed it, thanks for reporting back!
I made this recipe exactly as printed and it was fabulous! I did a sprinkle of cinnamon and sugar after it came out of the oven. Served it with whipped cream and it was divine. Will definitely make again. Thanks!
So glad to hear you loved it! Thanks for reporting back!
We had gotten a bag of pears and searched for a dessert recipe with pears. The pie was very delicate and delicious. I made carmel sauce to drizzle over the pie when served along with a dollop of whipped cream. Both my husband and I loved the pie and it made an excellent dessert .
Hi, I chanced upon this recipe and seeing how it was to make, I made it today. It tasted good. A bit eggy, but everyone liked it.
However, personally, I thought it was a bit dense. Would adding a bit of baking powder or baking soda to the batter, help in making it a bit airy?
I wanted to make this for some guests later this week and am wondering if I should tweak it a little.
You could try that, other thing you could try would be separating the egg yolks and whites and whipping the whites and folding them into the batter to lighten things up. It is a custard which is typically fairly dense but it definitely wouldn’t hurt to experiment!
What is the cup measurement used in the recipe
For which ingredient?
Made this tonight and was so delicious. Looked exactly the same as the picture. The custard tastes like a custard tart without the pears. I made this in the food processor as the bowl is wide and incorporating the flour was a lot easier than the blender. I also made sure the butter had cooled right down before adding to the egg and milk.
My husband and didn’t wait for the pie to cool , just cut a slice and chowed down.Will definitely be making this again. Thank you for sharing this recipe Sarah just Devine.
I made it today. I only had 3 organic pears, so I left the skin on. It smelled and looked so good that we tried it right out of the oven. We also decided that a little cinnamon sprinkled on top with the sugar made it better. Can’t wait to try it cold. Really delicious. I used a little less sugar and GF flour. It was perfect. I will experiment on making it dairy free next time. Great recipe!
I just made the pear custard pie tonight! It looked & smelled delicious and it was incredibly easy to make! Everyone enjoyed it and it wasn’t that sweet! Next time I will try sprinkling a little cinnamon before I bake it! I had pears that we harvested in the fall and they were in the freezer and this is definitely something I will make again! Thank you!
For those of you who ended up with a scrambled egg feel, it’s important to note that the mixture should be created right when it’s tine to pour it in. Meaning, get your pears done first. If you let the mixture sit, the sugar will pull the moisture from your eggs, leaving an undesirable texture. It’s just how their chemistry works.
Made this today and can’t wait for it to cool enough to eat 🙂
Made this with some Harry & David pears gifted to us for Christmas – used mostly half&half instead of milk – o.m.g delicious!! and we had all the ingredients on had! thank you!!
What adjustments should I make for high altitude 5280 ft ?
Here is a guide that explains how to alter the bake time for high altitude: https://www.kingarthurflour.com/learn/high-altitude-baking.html
This has become my “go to” for entertaining unexpected guests! This is fabulous! For those of you that experienced the scrambled egg problem, I think I know what’s going on ( and I speak from experience!). You must let the melted butter cool down (not so much that it solidifies) before you incorporate it into the eggs, otherwise it will cook the eggs. Try it again, you will be amazed!
That’s a great point Tarron, I think you’re right!!
Oops. I’m also wondering if I can substitute almond flour for the white flour.
Almond flour would work, but the texture would be a little different since almond flour tends to be more coarse than regular flour. I bet the almond-pear combo would taste great!
Could I substitute honey for the sugar? I made it once as written, and it was super yummy! Now we are trying to avoid sugar.
I haven’t tried it with honey, but here’s a super helpful guide on swapping out honey for sugar in baked recipes: https://www.thekitchn.com/4-rules-for-successfully-swapping-honey-for-sugar-in-any-baked-goods-230156
If I doubled the recipe do you think it would work well in a 9×13 pan??
Just put this in the oven. Sprinkled cinn and sugar on top before baking! Hope comes out OK!
I made this last night and it was absolutely scrumptious. I love how quick and easy it was to put together. I will be making it again- though for my tastes, I think I’m going to use half the amount of vanilla and less sugar. The two kind of overwhelmed the taste of the pears, and I really prefer things to be less sweet.