Pear Crumble Pie

A lady in my ward asked me if I would use the pears off of her tree before they went to waste.  I plan to bottle most of them but my mother-in-law told me that every time she bottled pears she would reserve 6 or 7 and make a this pear pie.  She started making it in college and it has become a tradition in their family.  I decided to surprise my husband and try it out for family night.  It was so good!  I think she said the recipe came from the 1960's version of the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook. 

Filling:

6-7 medium Pears

3 T. Lemon Juice

1/2 C. Sugar

2 T. Flour

1 tsp. Lemon Zest

1 9" pie crust, unbaked

Crumble Topping:

1/2 C. Flour

1/2 C. Sugar

1/2 tsp. ginger

1/2 tsp. cinnamon

1/4 tsp. nutmeg

1/4 C. Cold Butter or Margarine

Combine all Crumble Topping ingredients except butter in a small mixing bowl and mix well.  Add butter and use a pastry blender or two knives to cut butter into flour mixture until it resembles crushed gram crackers or bread crumbs.  Slice 5 pears into chunks and Cut the remaining pear(s) into 6ths.  Sprinkle pears with lemon juice.  Mix sugar, flour and zest.  Stir into pear chunks.  Spoon filling into pie pastry then lay pear wedges over top.  Sprinkle with Crumble Topping.   Bake at 400 degrees for 45-50 minutes.  I liked this pie best completely cooled off.