This would really have made a lovely Christmas pie, letting pumpkin or apple shine on Thanksgiving, but I was talked into it…and no regrets, it was a nice pie, worth making again for sure.  I think that next time I make it, I will double or triple the crystalized ginger.  I used multiple recipes to get to this, and though I waffled on double crust or streusel, I’m very glad I went with the latter…made the pie. 🙂

For the filling:

• 2 tablespoons orange marmalade
• Juice of one lemon
• 6-7 medium pears (Bartlett works well), cored, peeled and sliced in ¼ inch thick slices and tossed in the juice lemon
• 1-2 tablespoons crystallized ginger, minced
• ¼ cup sugar
• ¼ cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• ¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
• ¼ teaspoon nutmeg
• ¼ teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 ½ tablespoons cornstarch or arrowroot starch

For the topping:

• 3/4 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/2 cup sugar
• 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
• pinch of cloves
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 5 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F.

Gently toss the pears with the lemon zest, lemon juice, ginger and flour in a bowl. Spread the marmalade on the bottom of the pie crust. Add the pear mixture, keeping the pears as flat as possible.

Make the topping: Combine the flour, sugar, cinnamon and kosher salt in a medium bowl. Using a pastry blender or your fingers, work the butter into the flour mixture until fine crumbs form. Scatter the topping over the filling and gently pat down.

Bake the pie 20 minutes, then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F and bake until the topping is lightly browned and the filling is bubbling, about 40 more minutes (cover with foil if the topping is browning too quickly).

Transfer to a rack and let cool completely.