Wednesday....

Wednesday is "What's Cooking?" day over at JudyL's blog and last week's ingredient was Cinnamon.  I use a lot of cinnamon in pies, crisps, oatmeal, french toast etc., but my favorite recipe using cinnamon is this seasonal one, French Pear Pie. We have our own pear tree so most years I have a good stock of pears on hand in the fall.  It's a pretty easy recipe to make, so here's what you need:

9" or  larger unbaked pie crust

Filling:  

Enough peeled & sliced pears to fill  the crust level full
3 T. frozen orange juice concentrate
1/2 t. grated lemon peel (I use the dried)

Mix well and pour into unbaked crust.

Topping:

3/4 to 1 C. flour
1/2 C. sugar
1/8 t. salt
1 t. cinnamon
1/2 t. ground ginger
1/3 to 1/2 C. softened butter (Not melted)

Mix thoroughly and spread over the filling, covering well to the edges. Pat down gently.
Bake at 400* for 40 minutes.  (I usually bake for a little longer at 375* so the crust doesn't get too dark.)  Cool and serve topped with vanilla ice cream. Yum!

French Pear Pie

And this is what it usually looks like before I can get the camera out. :)

 That pie plate is a humongous vintage one that is at least 10", maybe 11", so I get eight good sized pieces when I make this pie, adjusting the amount of pears and topping ingredients accordingly.