Spiced Honey + Wine Poached Pear Pie

Spiced Honey + Wine Poached Pear Pie is an elegant dessert that lets the pears really shine through. It’s the perfect addition to your holiday dessert table!

Red + White Wine Poached Pears in a Stunner of a Pie

Our most recent Cozy Mystery Cooking Club features a pie shop owner who makes the most amazing sounding pies — like Pumpkin Gingersnap, Mocha Pecan, and my personal wishlist pie, Cranberry Pear Hazelnut. 

I don’t remember the last time I made a pie. It’s not my thing, so I knew from the get-go it was going to be a challenge to come up with a recipe. I first thought about going savory, but then…

Thanksgiving is right around the corner and pears are beautiful and abundant right now. Once I decided on adding a little wine — both red and white — the deal was sealed. 

Ingredients for Wine Poached Pear Pie

Poaching pears doesn’t take a lot of time, but it is a bit of a process. For that reason, I’m choosing to use store-bought pie dough and focus my energy on creating a pretty tableau of pears. For this recipe, you’ll need:

• Bosc pears — this variety holds their shape well when poached or baked. Choose unblemished pears that are still firm because they’ll be ‘cooked twice’.
• Red + white wine — one bottle of each to create two pans of poaching liquid for a two-tone pie.
• Honey — to sweeten the poaching liquid.
• Cinnamon sticks, whole cloves, vanilla extract + orange peel — to flavor the poaching liquid.
• Refrigerated pie dough — this typically comes in a 2-pack. Use one for the pie shell and if you’re feeling extra fancy, use the other to decorate the edges.
• Corn starch — this will be mixed with some of the poaching liquid to thicken the juices released from the pears while baking.

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How to Make This Pear Pie

Poach the Pears

Peel and halve the pears. Tightly trim the stem and bottom to maintain the pear shape. Using a melon baller, spoon, or pairing knife, remove the core and seeds.

You’ll need two saucepans. They don’t need to be identical, just large enough to fit half the pears in a single layer. Cut a parchment round to fit inside each of the pans. Cut a whole in the center of each piece of parchment.

Combine white wine and 1/4 cup honey in one sauce pan; red wine and remaining honey in the second sauce pan. Warm over medium heat to dissolve the honey. 

Divide the pears, cinnamon sticks, cloves, vanilla and orange peel between the 2 pans. Cover the surface with parchment. Simmer for 15 minutes over medium-low.

With a slotted spoon remove the pears to paper towels to drain and cool. Continue reducing the poaching liquid for another 10 to 12 minutes. Strain into separate containers and cool.

Assemble + Bake the Pie

Preheat your oven to 400°F. Prepare a 9” pie dish with the refrigerated dough.

With the cut side down, slice the pears into 1/8″ slices, keeping the slices together. Fan each pear half and transfer to the pie dish, alternating between red and white wine poached pears. Arrange them in any pattern you like. If you’d like to add some decorative elements, now is the time!

Combine 1/4 cup the white poaching wine with 2 Tbsp cornstarch. Pour it all over the fruit. 

Bake for 45 min. Set the pie on a rack to cool. The juices will thicken as it cools. If you’d like to add a little shine back to the fruit filling, brush the fruit with more of the white poaching wine.

Add Decoration

Bonus Step — Use the second round of pie dough to create decorations for your pie. I used a couple of fall themed cookie cutters to cut a few shapes (leaf + acorn). A straight edge and pizza cutter helped to create long strips of dough for braiding. I brushed a little water on the edges to help the decorations stick.

Common Questions for Poached Pear Pie

Helpful Tips

• If the wine does not entirely cover the pears in the saucepan, add water until they are fully submerged.
• Use a shallow versus a deep dish pie plate for the amount of fruit in this recipe.
• Wrap leftovers and refrigerate for 3 to 5 days. 

Here are More Dessert Recipes to Try!

• Pumpkin + Maple Semifreddo
• A Trio of Mini Desserts
• Fresh Peach Pavlovas with Fuzzy Navel Syrup
• Deliciously Decadent Raspberry Java Brownie Sundae
• Easy Cranberry Gingerbread Bundt Cake

Spiced Honey + Wine Poached Pear Pie

Sip + Sanity | Linda Feller

Spiced Honey + Wine Poached Pear Pie is an elegant dessert that lets the pears really shine through. It’s the perfect addition to your holiday dessert table!

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Prep time.Prep Time 20 minutes minutes

Cook time.Cook Time 1 hour hour

Total time.Total Time 1 hour hour 20 minutes minutes

Course.Course Dessert

Cuisine.Cuisine American

Number of servings.Servings 8 people

Calories per serving.Calories 416 kcal

Equipment

• 9" pie plate
• vegetable peeler
• Sauce Pans

Ingredients

• 6 Bosc pears, unblemished, firm
• 750 ml white wine
• 750 ml red wine
• ½ cup honey, divided
• 2 cinnamon sticks
• 6 whole cloves
• 2 teaspoon vanilla extract, divided
• 2 3" lengths of orange peel
• 1 refrigerated pie crust, use a 2nd for decorations, if desired
• 2 tablespoon corn starch

Instructions

• Peel and halve the pears. Trim the stem and bottom off without cutting too much flesh away. Using a spoon or melon baller, remove the core + seeds. Set aside.
  
• You'll need 2 medium saucepans; each should fit half the pears in a single layer. Cut a circle of parchment to fit inside each pan. Cut a whole in the center of the parchment to allow steam to escape. Set aside.
• Add the bottle of red wine to one pan; the bottle of white to the other. To each, add 1/4 cup honey and warm over medium heat to dissolve. Evenly divide the pears, cinnamon sticks, cloves, vanilla and orange peel between the 2 pans. Cover the surface with parchment. Simmer for 15 minutes over medium-low.
  
• With a slotted spoon, remove the pears to a paper towels to drain and cool.
• Continue reducing poaching liquid for another 10 to 12 minutes. Strain into separate containers and cool.
• Preheat your oven to 400°F. Prepare a pie dish with the refrigerated dough.
• With the cut side down, slice the pears into 1/8" slices, keeping the slices together. Fan each pear half and transfer to the pie dish, alternating between red and white wine poached pears. Arrange in any pattern you like.
  
• If decorating the edges of the pie with cutouts or shapes, apply those now.
• Combine 1/4 cup the white poaching wine with 2 Tbsp cornstarch. Pour it all over the fruit.
• Bake for 45 min. Set on a rack to cool. The juices will thicken as it cools. If you'd like to add a little shine back to the fruit filling, brush the fruit with more of the white poaching wine.

Notes

Note: if, after 45 min, the pears aren’t done to your liking, wrap foil around the pie crust edge to prevent it from burning and bake the pie for up to an additional 15 minutes.

Nutrition

Calories: 416kcal

Keywords.Keyword holidays, oven, pears, stove top, vegetarian

Did You Make This Recipe?Be sure to share a comment below!

This recipe is part of Sip + Sanity’s 2021 Thanksgiving Menu that includes recipes for brunch, cocktail hour and the main event. Check it out for make-ahead tips and the timeline!

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