Gingery Pear-Cranberry Streusel Slab Pie

SERVES: 12–16 PREP: 1 hour TOTAL TIME: 3 hours (including chilling and cooling)

Gingery Pear-Cranberry Streusel Slab Pie

SERVES: 12–16 PREP: 1 hour TOTAL TIME: 3 hours (including chilling and cooling)

Warm, comforting sheet pan pie that’s easy to make, cut, and serve for a crowd!

This peak-fall-flavored pie is made in a sheet pan, so it’s easier to cut and large enough to feed a crowd. No more struggling cutting a perfect circle for that bottom pie crust, either—it’s a big rectangle that’s much easier to get right on the first try. It’s warm and comforting inside with cranberries, pears, and fresh ginger for zing, and topped with streusel for ultimate buttery, sugary, crunchy goodness. Whipped cream to finish is nice, but a scoop of vanilla ice cream wouldn’t hurt...

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INGREDIENTS DIRECTIONS

For the Crust:

2 ½ cups flour, plus more for dusting the work surface
1 teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup (2 sticks) cold unsalted butter, cubed and chilled again for 15 minutes
½ cup ice water

For the Filling:

4 pounds ripe (but still slightly firm) pears (8 large or 12 medium)
1 ½ cups fresh or frozen cranberries
1 small lemon
⅓ cup white sugar
⅓ cup dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons finely grated fresh ginger (from a 3-inch piece, or 1 ½ teaspoons ground dried)
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
½ cup flour
½ teaspoon fine sea salt

For the Streusel Topping and Whipped Cream:

1 ½ cups pecan halves
1 cup flour
⅔ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
1 stick unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
½ teaspoon fine sea salt
1 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons confectioners sugar

Make the pie crust: Pulse the flour and salt in a food processor until incorporated, 5 pulses. Add the chilled butter and pulse until pea-sized pieces of butter remain, 15–20 pulses. Add the ice water and pulse until a slightly piecey dough just forms, 15–20 pulses.
Flour a clean work surface, turn the dough out onto the surface, and use floured hands to form the dough into a 9x5x1-inch rectangle. Wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes (you can keep the dough in the fridge for up to 2 days).
Using a floured rolling pin and on a floured surface, roll the dough into a 12x17-inch rectangle (it doesn’t have to be perfect!). Fit the dough into the 10x15-inch sheet pan, and trim the edges so the crust is flush with the top of the sheet. (Crimp the edges by making a “V" shape with two fingers one hand on the outside of the pie crust, and then use the index finger of the opposite hand to make an indent in the pie crust, if you're feeling fancy.) Chill while you make the streusel and filling.
Make the filling: Trim the stems off the pears, peel them, scoop out the seeds and any tough fibers with a melon baller or spoon, then cut each pear into ½-inch wedges.
Zest and juice the lemon (you should have about 2 tablespoons juice and 1 tablespoon zest) and add to the pears with the cranberries, sugar, brown sugar, ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg. Gently toss to coat, then let the fruit sit for 15 minutes to release its juices. Gently fold in the flour; the liquid should thicken.
While the fruit is sitting, make the streusel: Combine the flour, sugar, butter, cinnamon, salt, and pecans in the food processor and pulse until the mixture clumps into pieces between ¼ inch and ½ inch, 15–20 pulses.
Assemble and bake the pie: Preheat the oven to 400°F. Pour the filling into the chilled crust, spreading it out so it fills the entire perimeter of the sheet pan. Scatter the streusel over the filling and bake for 15 minutes, then reduce the heat to 350°F. Bake until the filling is bubbling, pears are tender, the streusel is crisped and deep golden, and the edges of the pie crust pull away from the sides of the baking sheet, about 1 hour, covering the pie with foil if the streusel is getting too dark. Remove from the oven and let cool at least an hour (this makes it easier to cut so the filling doesn’t run).
Toward the end of the pie cooling, combine the cream and confectioners sugar in a large bowl and use a whisk to whip to soft peaks, 1 ½–2 minutes. (Alternatively, you can use a stand mixer or an electric hand mixer to whip the cream, if you have one.) Cut the pie into about 12 rectangles or 16 squares—but you can measure with your heart and cut however big of a slice you’d like—and serve with whipped cream.