Pear and blueberry pie

by Ed Halmagyi

Ingredients

  • 400g plain flour
  • 50g icing sugar
  • 125g cold unsalted butter, grated
  • 125g cold cream cheese, grated
  • 3 egg yolks
  • 1 tsp natural vanilla extract
  • 2 Tbsp iced water
  • 4 pears, peeled and chopped
  • 1½ Tbsp cornflour
  • ½ cup caster sugar
  • 1 punnet blueberries
  • ½ cup breadcrumbs
  • ¼ cup Demerara sugar

Instructions

1 Preheat oven to 180C. Combine the flour, icing sugar, butter and cream cheese in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until crumbly. Mix two egg yolks with the vanilla and iced water, then add to the food processor while pulsing, until the dough comes together. Wrap in cling film and refrigerate for 1 hour.
2 Toss the pears in cornflour, then mix with the caster sugar and blueberries. Divide the pastry into two pieces and roll each to 3mm thick. Line one into the bottom of a lightly-oiled Décor Thermostone pie dish, then scatter the breadcrumbs in the base. Top with the pear mixture, then the second piece of pastry.
3 Crimp the pastry edges to seal, then cut steam holes in the top. Brush with the remaining egg yolk and scatter with Demerara sugar. Bake for 35-40 minutes, until the pastry is golden and crisp.