Which of these is your favorite, cake or pie? Ok, so you don’t actually have to choose between one or the other—both are delicious, after all. What we’re talking about today, however, is pie. When we think of pie, we probably think of a fruit-filled version of this dessert. For Americans, one of the quickest examples that may come to mind is apple pie (and for good reason). Still, there are many other kinds of pie that might have you reconsidering what your favorite dessert is. And we’ve got one for you today.
Today’s recipe may be familiar to anyone who has ever travelled to France or its surrounding countries. For those who haven’t, there’s a very common dessert served there called crème brûlée. The dish is a sweet, custardy dessert dish which is essentially a vanilla custard with a thin layer of caramelized sugar on top that you can crack right through with your spoon. Though this recipe doesn’t have quite the same texture on top, it results in a similarly decadent and delicious flavor.
Here’s what you need:
- 1 pie shell (store-bought or homemade)
- 2 cups of heavy cream
- 1 cup of sugar
- 1 cup of half-and-half
- 2 egg yolks
- 1/3 cup of all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons of unsalted butter (melted)
- 1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon of nutmeg (optional)
- 1/4 teaspoon of salt
Here’s what you do:
1. Before anything else, get your oven preheated to 350 degrees. In the meantime, get your pie dough and carefully press it into a standard pie dish or tin.
2. Next, get a bowl and whisk together your sugar, flour, nutmeg and salt. Make sure it’s all evenly combined! Once the dry ingredients are well-incorporated, pour in your heavy cream and mix it all together once again.
3. After that, get a separate bowl and pour in your half-and-half, egg yolks and your vanilla extract. Whisk those ingredients together and then gradually pour them into your heavy cream mixture, whisking throughout to make sure everything gets well-incorporated. With everything together, your pie filling is complete!
4. Once your filling is ready, go ahead and pour it into your pie tin. Once it’s all evenly spread, crimp the edges of your pie and brush the outside and top with your melted butter. After that’s done, sprinkle the top of your pie with cinnamon.
5. When you’re ready and the oven is preheated, throw your pie inside it and bake for 60 to 70 minutes. The goal is to cook the pie until the center is “set,” and the whole pie still jiggles slightly if you were to shake it. More specifically, the pie filling will need to boil and boils at around an hour—let it boil for 10 more minutes before taking it out.
6. Finally, take the pie out and it cool off completely. Once it’s cold, slice it and serve!
As you can see, this pie recipe may not be quite what you’re used to when you think of pie. Still, it is absolutely delicious and has a creamy, custardy texture that you’ll keep coming back to. While the top of this pie will have a slightly different feel than the inside does, it won’t have the crisp of a standard crème brûlée—though that can be fixed with a little ingenuity!
If you really want come sugary crackle on top, cool your pie way, way down in the fridge or the freezer. Once it’s very cold, take it out and sprinkle the top with sugar—not too much but enough to cover the cake in a thin layer. If you have a kitchen blow torch, simply light it up and move it over the sugar until it melts and caramelizes (being careful to keep the heat moving so as not to melt the inside). If you don’t have a blow torch, consider investing as they’re only about 20 dollars and can be used for many different purposes!
Have you tried this recipe yourself? Let us know what you think in the comments below.
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