sweet pie of mine.

it has been a free-fall since halloween.

when faced with leftover deliciousness & especially in the form of salted caramel pie, instead of parsing it out over the course of several days, i reason – i am going to eat the rest of the pie anyway so i may as well eat it all today -.  this pie is deceptively simple and over-the-over-the-top good. the original recipe calls for a graham cracker crust but i tend towards more-is-mo’-better & prefer a shortbread crust – use whichever you prefer.

salted caramel pie (serves 8.  depending on the day)
adapted from food & wine magazine

shortbread crust:
1 1/4 C flour
1/3 C sugar
1/4 tsp salt
1 stick butter, cold & cut into pieces
1 egg yolk

preheat oven to 400 degrees.

butter the bottom of a pie dish & dust with flour, tapping out the excess.  set aside.

whisk flour, sugar & salt in bowl of a stand mixer.  add butter; process until mixture resembles course crumbs.  add egg yolk.  process just until dough comes together in a ball.  if dough is too soft, refrigerate for 30 minutes & up to 2 hours.  pat dough evenly over bottom & up sides of the prepared dish or roll it out between sheets of wax paper & flip it into the dish.  thoroughly prick the bottom with a fork & bake until golden, about 20 minutes.

filling:
2 14-oz cans sweetened condensed milk
fleur de sel
2 C heavy cream
2 T confectioners’ sugar

pour every last bit of the condensed milk into a 9 x 13 glass baking dish & sprinkle with 1/2 tsp of fleur de sel. cover the dish with foil & 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 dish.  bake & stir 2 or 3 times, until the condensed milk becomes golden & thick, about 2 hours; add more water to the roasting pan as necessary.  you are making dulce de leche!  don’t worry if it looks lumpy – as it cools down it will become smooth.

scrape the caramel filling into the pie crust, smoothing the top.  refrigerate until the filling is chilled – about 4 hours.

using an electric mixer, beat the cream with the confectioners’ sugar in a bowl until firm.  pile the whipped cream on top of the pie & sprinkle with fleur de sel. cut into wedges and serve.