Easy as Pie

Photo from foodandwine.com

Have you ever taken on a task that you KNEW was too large for you to handle? I did exactly that when I decided to start a food blog as I was starting a new job and starting college again all at the same time. It reminds me of the time I had a dinner party for about twenty people and I decided that would be a great time to try to make a croquembouche as the dessert centerpiece. Smart? Nope. Crazy and insane? Yes. Totally awesome and delicious? Absolutely yes.

I say all of this to say that I'm back and I've learned to better juggle all of these fun things in my life so you can expect a lot more yummy recipes in the future and fun stories to go along with them. Pinkie swear!

To ease my way back into the food blogging world, I wanted to start with something easy.  No, it's INCREDIBLY easy, actually. You're just combining some very simple ingredients (crust, caramel and whipped cream) and your payoff is huge.

There is a decent amount of inactive cooking time involved, but you can sit back and relax during that inactive time so no problem, right? Of course, you have to pretend that the recipe is incredibly difficult when you serve it to guests since they will never believe something so insanely good could be so easy.  Trust me, try this one...

Recipe adapted from here.

Ingredients

1. 1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 5 ounces)
2. 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
3. 1/4 cup light brown sugar
4. Two 14-ounce cans sweetened condensed milk
5. Fleur de sel
6. 2 cups heavy cream
7. 2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

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.

Make Ahead: The recipe can be prepared through Step 2 up to 5 days ahead. Refrigerate the crust and filling separately. 

I used the boil on the stove method instead of baking mine in a pan in the oven as instructed in Step 2. Just put your cans in a pot big enough to be sure they're covered by at least an inch or two of water and bring to a boil. Boil the cans for about two hours making sure to add water to the pan to keep the cans covered. I then added the salt after emptying the cans into a bowl first. There are all sorts of warnings about the stove method, but I've never had a problem. Be sure to let them cool for at least an hour before opening them up.