Mulled Wine Pear Pie

I developed this recipe several weeks ago, and ever since K has been on top of me to post it, as evidenced by the following note that she left in my draft:

DUDE BEANIE I WANT TO MAKE THIS! BLOG IT! ;) ;)

XO,

K

So here it is, just in time for you to dash out and grab the ingredients to add another pie to your Thanksgiving menu (I'm being presumptuous, but I can almost guarantee that by this family's standards, you don't have enough pies planned for Thursday and that ought to be remedied.)

My new favorite equation is booze + fruit = pie, and this season needed a replacement for my ever beloved Bourbon Peach. As I considered exploring other fall flavors in place of the tragically overused pumpkin, I realized that pear and wine may be a perfect match, and a quick google search resulted in baking this Pear, Red Wine and Rosemary Pie.  That yielded a slightly disappointing result - I felt that the syrup was too fussy, and the taste was not nearly as flavorful as I'd hoped.  But a lightbulb went off in my head, and I set about making a mulled wine version of my own with a less involved syrup process, some soaking of the pears in the syrup, and more prominent spices.

This is one of those pies in which the baking process is just as lovely as the eating.  The pears turn a stunning, jewel-toned purple, and the smell of the spices and wine simmering into syrup is just the thing your home would like to be filled with in November.

for the syrup:
1 bottle (probably cheap) dry red wine
1 cup sugar
3 sticks cinnamon
6 whole cloves
2 whole star anise
(feel free to add your own spices, or even some orange zest, but don't go overboard - you'll add more spices later and my first round was far too heavy on the cloves)

Place all ingredients into a medium pot, bring to a boil.  Reduce heat and simmer until reduced to 1/3 of original volume. Strain spices from syrup,  pour over sliced pears in a large bowl and allow to soak 2-3 hours (if anyone tries longer or shorter, let me know how it turns out!)

for the pie: 
1 double pie crust, unbaked
3 lbs of Bartlett or Anjou Pears, peeled and sliced
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon ground cloves
1 tablespoon butter, cut into pieces
1 beaten egg
Granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 375.

Roll out one pie crust to fit a 9-inch pie pan, place in bottom of pie pan.  Toss flour and spices in the bowl with wine-soaked pears.  Place filling (syrup included, but use your eye to judge if you feel there's too much liquid and adjust accordingly) in pie crust and dot with butter pieces.  Roll out other crust and place on top.  Pinch edges of crusts together to seal, flute and decorate as desired. Cut slits to ventilate. Brush crust with a beaten egg and sprinkle with granulated sugar.

Bake for 30 minutes at 375, then reduce oven to 350 and rotate pie.  Continue baking for 60-75 minutes or until crust is golden and juices are bubbling.