salted honey pie

dylan heard people talking about this pie on twitter and then told me about it.  i was finally able to track down the original recipe shared by Melissa and Emily Elsen of four and twenty blackbirds.  after a few successful attempts, my final tweaks include rapadura sugar instead of white, and adjusting the cornmeal ratio to get a thick paste with less sugar.  the ingredients really shine in this recipe, so do your best to use good honey, nice cream and fresh eggs.

i use a hand held electric mixer for the whole process.  a nice whisk and a spatula could do the trick as well.  the easiest way to make this pie is in a 3-4 quart pot  you can melt the butter in and then continue adding the ingredients and mixing it together right in the pot.  nice move for less dishes.  i recommend having guests on hand, or your boyfriend might eat the whole thing. 

8 tablespoons butter, melted

1/2 cup rapadura sugar

1/4 tsp fine-grain sea salt

1/2 cup cornmeal

3/4 cup honey

2 teaspoon white vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 eggs, whisked

1/2 cup cream

Maldon or other flaky sea salt

1 pie dough for 9 in pie pan

make your pie dough of choice ahead of time so it can chill and rest in the fridge.  when you are ready to begin the pie, first roll out your dough, fit it into your pie pan and place in the freezer to chill.  then...

preheat oven to 350 degrees.  in a large bowl, mix together the melted butter, rapadura, salt and cornmeal until you get a thick paste.  add the honey, vinegar and vanilla and blend it all together.  add the whisked eggs and cream and continue with the mixing and scraping the sides until you’ve got a golden brown batter.

slowly pour into your pie crust.  note:  the filling will puff up during baking, keep it at least a half inch from the top of the crust.  to avoid a possible mess, lay a cookie sheet or tin foil under the baking pie to catch any drips or overflow while baking.  bake in the oven for 45-50 minutes, turning 180 degrees midway through, until the edges and top are golden and everything but the middle is set.   remove from the oven to a wire cooling rack and sprinkle with a good amount of flaked sea salt.  allow to cool completely, i cannot stress this enough, the filling needs to cool to set!  if you cut the pie while still warm, the filling is likely to ooze out the sides and your piece of pie won’t stand up.  if you are just too excited, place a mostly cool pie in the fridge to speed up the process to eating.