Recipe: Salted Honey Pie

Salted Honey Pie

(From Melissa and Emily Elsen’s forthcoming The Four and Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book.)

All-Butter Crust for a 9-inch double-crust pie

1¼ cups unbleached all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1½ teaspoons granulated sugar

¼ pound (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into ½-inch pieces

½ cup cold water

2 tablespoons cider vinegar

½ cup ice

1. Stir the flour, salt, and sugar together in a large bowl. Add the butter pieces and coat with the flour mixture using a bench scraper or spatula.

2. With a pastry blender, cut the butter into the flour mixture, working quickly until mostly pea-size pieces of butter remain (a few larger pieces are okay; be careful not to overblend).

3. Combine the water, cider vinegar, and ice in a large measuring cup or bowl.

4. Sprinkle 2 tablespoons of the ice water mixture over the flour mixture, and mix and cut it in with a bench scraper or spatula until it is fully incorporated.

5. Add more of the ice water mixture, 1 to 2 tablespoons at a time, using the bench scraper or your hands (or both) to mix until the dough comes together in a ball, with some dry bits remaining.

6. Squeeze and pinch with your fingertips to bring all the dough together, sprinkling dry bits with more small drops of the ice water mixture, if necessary, to combine.

7. Shape the dough into a flat disc, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for at least 1 hour, preferably overnight, to give the crust time to mellow.

8. Wrapped tightly, the dough can be refrigerated for 3 days or frozen for 1 month.

For The Filling

¼ pound (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

¾ cup granulated sugar

1 tablespoon white cornmeal

½ teaspoon kosher salt

1 teaspoon vanilla paste (Nielsen-Massey makes a readily available one)

¾ cup honey

3 large eggs

½ cup heavy cream

2 teaspoons white vinegar

1 to 2 teaspoons flake sea salt, for finishing

Directions

1. Have ready and frozen one pastry-lined 9-inch pie pan, crimped.

2. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 375°F.

3. In a medium bowl, stir together the melted butter, sugar, cornmeal, salt, and vanilla paste.

4. Stir in the honey and the eggs one at a time, followed by the heavy cream and vinegar.

5. Place the frozen pie shell on a rimmed baking sheet and strain the filling through a fine-mesh sieve directly into the pie shell, or strain it into a separate bowl and then pour it into the shell. Bake on the middle rack of the oven for 45 to 50 minutes, rotating 180 degrees when the edges start to set, 30 to 35 minutes through baking.

6. The pie is finished when the edges are set and puffed up high and the center is no longer liquid but looks set like gelatin and is golden brown on top.

7. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack, 2 to 3 hours.

8. Sprinkle with flake sea salt.

9. Serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

10. The pie will keep refrigerated for 4 days or at room temperature for 2 days.