Now announcing a pie for those of us with latticephobia.
Now announcing a pie that has a mountain of triple sec spiked whipped cream.
Now announcing a pie that I might have already eaten half of by myself.
This pie comes from Sarah Kieffer‘s insanely awesome new cookbook, The Vanilla Bean Baking Book. If you have anyone you need a gift for that enjoys baking even just a little baby bit this is the book for them. There’s so many recipes, so many good base classics, so many fun ones. I’ll definitely be baking from it all. the. time.
I had originally made the no-churn pumpkin ice cream and was going to shoot and share it the week of the election but then I literally ate more than half of it on said election night like I’m sure most of you did with anything you could get your hands on. When I realized what had happened in my black out rage I figured I could call it an opportunity to just have to make something else from the book.
I like a nice reveal so I figured this would be the perfect thing to take to the thanksgiving where your drumpf loving aunt expects you to bring a pumpkin pie and you show up with this. You know they can’t say shit because it’s not what they wanted but it negates them mentioning how the rest of us are not okay with the fact that there’s a remake of indian in the cupboard with a bunch of nazis that takes place in the kitchen with an old leather handbag as the lead so now it’ll casually be called nazis in the cabinet.
Make this pie, impress your family, take a pumpkin for the ones that you love, and hopefully have a good stress free thanksgiving. And if it’s not stress free hopefully you teach someone something, and if that doesn’t happen take the pie and run but also be safe and I luv u.
Sour Orange Pie
Serves 6-8
The original pie in Sarah’s book is just an orange pie which I’m sure is fantastic but I have a human in my house that appreciates a tangier dessert to a sweeter one so I upped the lime juice and made it just a little more tart and similar to the orange juice I’ve had in Mexico. I’ve included original measurements below in case you want to go the original route.
For the Crust:
1 1/2 cups graham cracker crumbs
3 tablespoons white granulated sugar
5 tablespoons butter, melted
pinch of salt
For the Filling:
4 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons heavy cream
1/3 cup fresh lime juice (original recipe is 1 tablespoon)
1/4 cup fresh orange juice (original recipe is 1/2 cup)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
1 14oz can sweetened condensed milk
1 drop red and 1 drop yellow food coloring, optional
For the Topping:
4 oz cream cheese, at room temperature
2 tablespoons sugar
2 tablespoons triple sec
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/2 teaspoon lime zest, plus another teaspoon for sprinkling on top
1/2 teaspoon orange zest, plus another teaspoon for sprinkling on top
1 1/2 cups heavy cream
Preheat the oven to 325F
To make the crust, mix together the graham cracker crumbs, sugar, and salt, then mix in the butter until it’s all combined. Firmly press the crust into a 9″ pie dish , I like to make my hand into a fist and press ‘punch’ it into the bottom then use the side to press the sides together. Bake the crust for 12-15 minutes, until lightly golden brown and fragrant. Set aside.
While the crust bakes you can juice the lime and orange and prep the filling. Whisk the yolks and heavy cream together then add everything else and whisk just until smooth. Once the crust is done baking Pour in the filling then transfer it back to the oven (I suggest using a baking sheet because it can be a little tricky to remove pies with oven mitts).
Bake for 14-17 minutes, until the pie is mostly set and the center just barely jiggles. Remove the pie from the oven and let it cool to room temp on the counter, for about an hour or so, then transfer to the fridge to cool completely.
Once it’s cooled and it’s ready to serve, make the topping. Start by beating the cream cheese, sugar, triple sec, vanilla, and the zests in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment until nice and smooth, scraping down the sides of the bowl if necessary. Once the mixture is nice and smooth switch to the whisk attachment and with the mixer on low slowly add the heavy cream. Gradually turn the mixer to medium speed and beat until you get fairly stiff peaks. This is going to be a little firmer than you probably whip heavy cream if you whip it super lightly but with the cream cheese it’ll be a firmer texture. Spread that mountain of love all over the pie and sprinkle with additional zest.
Pie and topping can both be made ahead of time, and held separately, putting it all together right before serving.
