Mapley cream paired with a thick, buttery, almondy crust, this is one to make for breakfast on Christmas morning, or maybe to save until deep in February when nothing sounds good to eat at all.
Sadly, it's not really my own creation. This rustic tart is a combination of the geniuses of Deb at Smitten Kitchen and Karina at Karina's Kitchen. I've replicated the recipes below because melding the two involved a bit of trickery due to a fast-baking crust and a slow-baking custard.
Make a maple syrup reduction using 3/4 cup of syrup. No need to overdo, just simmer for 7 minutes or so.
Stir in 2 and 3/4 cup of heavy cream.
Whisk in 4 egg yolks and 1 egg. Whisk thoroughly, and add 1 tsp nutmeg and 1/4 tsp sea salt.
Pour into a greased pie pan and bake for 30 minutes at 350.
Meanwhile, mix 2 heaping cups almond meal, 2/3 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup melted butter, and 1/2 teaspoon vanilla. Press into a greased pie pan. Don't try to flute the edges -- this will be a rustic tart, my friend, not a grandma's blue ribbon pie.
Transfer the custard to the crust and bake for another twenty minutes.
Let the tart (pie?) set up overnight in a refrigerator.
The custard was a bit grainy, disrupted by the transfer into its crust. My grandmother suggested giving the custard a water bath in both steps, so you may try that. You could also try to cover the edges of your crust, but that never seems to work for me. Really though, so long as you give it enough time to set, it was pretty attractive. A sprinkling of turbinado sugar might make the craggy surface look as rich as it deserves to look.
Seriously, my favorite. I wish I was motivated enough to make it myself!
ReplyDeleteThis comment is really funny now, given that you've become the PIE MASTER.
DeleteSo rich and delicious! Someone asks me if I had a baking business when I brought this to a party. One piece of advice to the uninitiated gluten-free baker: grind up almonds (or pecans or walnuts--I used A and P) in a food processor or coffee grinder instead of buying the meal the reg g store; it's much cheaper. I did see that Trader Joe's sells it pretty cheaply tho. Also, the edges of the crust started exploding in a weird way toward the end of the baking. Definitely put a big cookie sheet under it to reduce clean-up. Finally, take heart if it looks very wet still after baking. It will set just fine in the fridge. My mouth is watering now.
ReplyDeleteSo K and I just made this pie again and had no problems with the crust...I'm really interested to know what happened with yours, A? Regardless, this is still, one year later, my favorite pie of all time!
ReplyDelete