Well, it's officially a month to Christmas and boy, is it ever starting to feel like winter! No snow yet, but the days are getting cooler. Hats, mittens and scarves are becoming a must and so is testing holiday recipes! What better excuse to bake a pie than having to test it out?
Let me tell you, this was one successful test. The original recipe didn't call for caramelizing the top but after seeing the baked pie, it just screamed "brûlée"! And what a great dessert to serve for a special occasion. Something like, oh, I don't know, Christmas maybe? Or New Years? Or maybe, just because you wanted to bake something sweet for your sweetie!
Maple Brûlée Pie
adapted from the top of a can of maple syrup, really!
1 cup pure maple syrup
2 large eggs
3/4 cup milk
1/2 cup brown sugar
1 unbaked 9-inch pie shell
Sugar to caramelize the top
Preheat your oven to 350F.
In a large bowl, whisk together the syrup, eggs, milk and brown sugar. Mix well and pour into pie shell.
Bake in preheated oven about 40 minutes, until the crust is golden and the custard is set.
This can be eaten at room temperature, as is. Another option is to put it in the refrigerator to cool completely, cut out portions, sprinkle some sugar onto the slices (the sugar you choose is up to you, works just as well with granulated sugar or coarse sugar) and fire up your brûlée torch! Caramelize the sugar until you get a nice crunchy layer on top of the creamy custard. Serve with fruit, ice cream or slightly sweetened whipped cream. Make sure you have some company, this is a sweet, sweet pie to be shared among friends. :)
Note: For the pie crust, I used a recipe from Karen Barker I found on Serious Eats. The dough came together beautifully and the crust turned out flaky and golden. I think this'll be my go to pie crust, for a little while anyways. Click here for the recipe!
Another Note: I'm thinking this could be spiced up with a grating of nutmeg or tonka bean. Mmmm, I'll let you know when I try.
I've probably said this before, but I'll say it again, just in case you're new here. I'm afraid of pies. Not eating them but making them. I haven't had a lot of good experiences making pies so when I saw that Amy of South in your mouth had chosen Dorie's Double Crusted Blueberry Pie for this week's Tuesdays with Dorie recipe, I was afraid. But, when I told Martin of this week's choice he looked at me with a "you better make this pie" sorta look and well, I couldn't refuse the man his pie, it is one of his favorite desserts.
The part that I usually have the most trouble with is the dough. It's almost always too dry, never comes together for me, crumbles when I try to roll it out, every single problem you can have with pie dough, I usually have it. I made the dough by hand with a pastry cutter and my own two hands, no food processor here. So you can imagine my surprise when the dough did come together quite easily, no extra water required. I guess all that butter is in there for something! It rolled out pretty well too, although it was a little crumbly I managed to get it into the pie plate. The filling had me a bit perplexed, I actually read the recipe a few times before I could wrap my mind around the idea of flour in there. But, as I had decided not to tweak this time, since I'm so bad at pie making, I followed the recipe to the letter. I thought it looked a bit dry but I told myself the berries were fresh and hadn't given out their juices yet and I didn't want a runny filling, so I put the pie together sprinkled it liberally with sugar and into the oven it went.
After the alloted cooking time, the crust was beautiful but it was so buttery that there was butter dripping out of the pie plate! The filling wasn't bubbling much, it wasn't overflowing at all and my pies always overflow! I took it out of the oven anyways and waited, and waited while the pie took its sweet time cooling down. It was pure torture! After a few hours, and many a photo later, we finally cut this baby open. It is quite delicious, but... Yes there is always a but when I make a pie. Although the filling was very, very good, with the hint of lemon and the gorgeous blueberries, I think the flour in the filling was too much. Or maybe it works best with frozen fruit, but my filling didn't look the way it should. There were patches of whitish juices and it was a bit too thick.
As for the crust it came out so beautiful and golden but (there it is again) it was a bit too buttery for me. Martin didn't complain though, he just loved it. Maybe I'm just not a pie girl, or perhaps I haven't found the perfect pie yet. All I know is I enjoyed making, and eating this one so I'm really glad I made it. If you're big on pie or just curious to see what the other Tuesdays with Dorie members thought of this blueberry beauty, check out the blogroll! If you're interested in the recipe you can find it in Baking from my Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan or on Amy's blog, South in Your Mouth.
Let me tell you, this was one successful test. The original recipe didn't call for caramelizing the top but after seeing the baked pie, it just screamed "brûlée"! And what a great dessert to serve for a special occasion. Something like, oh, I don't know, Christmas maybe? Or New Years? Or maybe, just because you wanted to bake something sweet for your sweetie!
