Monday, December 10, 2012

Salted Caramel Pie

The most indulgent thing I've done in ages is to eat this salted caramel pie. I actually meant to share it with you a year ago, when my sister and I first made it for Thanksgiving 2011. So I'm only a year late on this one. We never stopped talking about the pie, so I made it again for Thanksgiving 2012 and took it the family farm in Bertie County, NC. It was a hit.

And that trip, by the way? So peaceful.


But back to the pie. It's dangerous. My brother doesn't even like sweets and he had two pieces. It's easy to put together, just time-consuming. Have a slow day at home to yourself? Think about whipping this baby together. It's hands-down the best dessert I've ever made, and I'm prepared to make it for the rest of my life, if family requests are any indication.
 
 
Salted Caramel Pie
From Food & Wine
 
 
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 5 ounces)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup light brown sugar
Two 14-ounce cans sweetened condensed milk
Fleur de sel
2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
 
Instructions
 
1. Preheat the oven to 350°. In a food processor, pulse the graham cracker crumbs with the melted butter and light brown sugar until the crumbs are moistened. Press the crumbs evenly into a 9-inch glass or metal pie plate. Bake for about 10 minutes, just until lightly browned. Let cool. Increase the oven temperature to 425°.
 
2. Scrape the condensed milk into a 9-by-13-inch glass baking dish and sprinkle with a scant 1/2 teaspoon of fleur de sel. Cover the dish with foil and place it in a roasting pan. Add enough hot water to the pan to reach one-third of the way up the side of the baking dish. Bake, lifting the foil to stir 2 or 3 times, until the condensed milk is golden and thickened, about 2 hours; add more water to the roasting pan as necessary. The consistency of the caramel should be like dulce de leche. Don't worry if it is lumpy; it will smooth out as it chills.
 
3. Scrape the caramel filling into the pie crust, smoothing the top. Spray a sheet of plastic wrap with vegetable oil spray and cover the pie. Refrigerate until the filling is chilled and set, at least 4 hours.
 
4. In a bowl, using an electric mixer, beat the cream with the confectioners' sugar until firm. Remove the plastic. Mound the whipped cream on top of the pie and sprinkle with fleur de sel. Cut into wedges and serve.

12 comments:

  1. Starting to wonder if leaving work early to go pick up the ingredients and make this immediately is such a bad idea...

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  2. i'm adding this to my christmas menu! it sounds sooo good.

    (ok, it's the only thing on my christmas menu so far)

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  3. Both the pie and the farm look amazing.

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  4. Blown away with the brilliant simplicity in the use of the sweetened condensed milk to make the caramel. Thanks for posting this :)

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  5. If I choose to allocate limited calories towards eating dessert it has to have the word salt or cheese in the name (otherwise, I'll stick to fries). This one totally meets my criteria. As I say to Josie, while feeding her greens: YUMMY!

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  6. Sounds amazing. Hope you're hanging in there, love. You are in my thoughts a lot these days. Love you and kisses to Eleanor.

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  7. I wonder if the trick about cooking sweetened condensed milk inside the can would work for this. I've see in boiled on stove top or done in a slow cooker. Might be less labor intensive. Thoughts?

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  8. Hi friend! Miss you! Hope all is well with you and Little Miss Eleanor. Just checking in on you. :) Love.

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