This Cranberry Orange Pear Pie has a sweet brown sugar orange pear filling and is studded with tart cranberries! With fresh orange juice, zest and Grand Marnier, the flavors are absolute heaven!
Roll out half the pie dough and line a 9 or 10 inch deep-dish pie dish; refrigerate. Roll out the second half of the pie dough for the top crust, place on a baking sheet and refrigerate.
In a large bowl mix together the pears, cranberries (if you are not precooking them. See Notes.), orange zest, orange juice, light brown sugar, granulated sugar, salt, Grand Marnier and cornstarch.
Pour the filling into the lined pie dish.
Cover the pie with your second crust and decoratively crimp the edges. Refrigerate the pie on a parchment lined baking sheet for 20 minutes.
Remove pie from the refrigerator and cut some vent holes near the top. Lightly brush the pastry with heavy cream, making sure it doesn’t pool anywhere because this will make your crust soggy, and then sprinkle generously with sanding sugar.
Bake 20 minutes at 425, then lower the oven temperature to 350 and continue baking for 1 hour or until the filling is soft and bubbly and the crust is brown. You can test the filling by inserting a knife into one of the vent holes. There should be no resistance from the pears! Let cool before cutting or serving. I know, the agony!
Notes
Do not mix the filling too far in advance. A few hours ahead is okay, but overnight is not.Also if your pears are not ripe or they are out of season, reduce the cornstarch to 2 Tablespoons.This recipe as written leaves the cranberries in tact, which for some can detract from their enjoyment of the pie. If you want the cranberries to blend into the pie filling more, cook them with ½ cup of the granulated sugar and just enough water to wet the sugar until some of the berries begin to pop. The cranberries will also help thicken your filling because they are high in pectin. Winning!You can also precook all the filling in a pot, cool then fill pie cust and bake per the instructions. This will leave you with a thicker pie filling than pictured