Rustic pear pie

I'm a baker. And I have baked some pretty amazing things. But this tops them all. The flavor explosions of lemon, pear, and almond will make you... well explode. Oh and the crust, that amazing sweet flaky crust, with sugar crystals, to. die. for. Good thing pears are plentiful at the grocer right now cause you are going to want to make this right away. I promise. And you should probably invite some friends over because otherwise you will eat this whole thing yourself.

Rustic Pear Pie (10 servings)

Ingredients
• 1&1/3 Cups flour
• 3 Tbls sugar
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 7 Tbls cold butter, cubed
• 3 to 4 Tbls cold water (or cold milk, or in my case cold butter milk)

Filling
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds
• 1/4 cup flour
• 1&1/2 tsp grated lemon peal
• 1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
• 4 medium ripe pears, pealed and sliced
• 1 Tbsp butter

Topping
• 1 egg white
• 1 tsp water
• 1 Tbls coarse sugar

Glaze (optional)
• 1/4 cup powder sugar
• 1&1/2 tsp milk
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 1/4 cup slivered almonds, toasted.

Directions
• In a small bowl, combine the flour, sugar and salt: cut in butter until crumbly. Gradually add water tossing with a fork until dough forms a ball. Roll out to a 14 in circle. Transfer pastry to a 14in or 12in pizza pan.
• Set oven at 375 degrees
• In a large bowl, combine the sugar, almonds, flour, lemon peal and cinnamon. Add pears; toss to coat. Spoon over the pastry to within 2 in. of edges; dot with butter. Fold edges of pastry in.
• For topping, beat egg white and water. Brush over pastry and sprinkle course sugar over top.
• Bake for 45-50 minutes or until golden brown
• For glaze, combine the powder sugar, milk and vanilla. Pour over warm pie. Sprinkle with almonds. Cool on a wire rack. Store in the refrigerator (if you don't eat it all first).

(this recipe is from Taste of Home and I slightly modified it)