Summer, you sexy, sweaty temptress… you’re going to leave me, aren’t you? You told me that we’re good, that you’d stick around for a long while, and I was stoked. Remember when you locked the school doors at the end of June exclaiming, “That’s the end of that!”, and we all cheered loudly? That was a great day. But suddenly you started lighting off fireworks in the middle of our street, screaming, “America!”. That’s when I started to wonder if you were in a hurry to get on with life. Two weeks ago I overheard you talking to Karen about ending summer camp. You just started! And why are you confiding in Karen? Now I see you brought your suitcase down from the attic, and you left me a “Dear Liz” letter on the fire place mantel.
Don’t tell me… you’re a fan of those crappy pumpkin lattes for jerks, aren’t you? Yeah, thought so.
Well Summer, I’ve got news for you. You’re not going anywhere. I’m going to make summer pies well into September. Maybe even October. What’s that you say? Summer fruit won’t be in season much longer? The jokes on you, lady! I’m making a S’mores Pie every week until Christmas. And then I’m going to start right back up again on January 2nd, SO PUT THAT SUITCASE DOWN.
Thank you.
Okay, let’s do it.
I adapted this recipe from Allison Kave’s lovely pie book First Prize Pies. Her s’mores pie recipe involves making a marshmallow topping from scratch, and that is awesome, however, after making this pie three times I finally decided to go a different route and place halved marshmallows on top, then roast them until golden brown. I found this way to be less sweet, and a hell of a lot easier. Here are a few other things I learned when making this fabulous summer time pie:
- If you add an egg to equal parts chocolate ganache (same amount of cream to chocolate) and bake it, it firms up just enough to hold it’s shape when sliced.
- Chilling an unbaked graham cracker crust for thirty minutes before baking keeps the crumbs in place.
- Using a candy thermometer is key when determining doneness.
Let’s begin by making a homemade graham cracker crust. It’s easy to do, and way better than store bought. It involves mixing graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, and melted butter until it looks like wet sand. This mixture is then pressed evenly into your pie plate. While the oven is preheating, chill the unbaked shell for about 30 minutes. Finally, bake the crust in a 350º F. for 10 minutes.
Now let’s make the milk chocolate filling. You do this by heating a cup of heavy cream in a saucepan. When it begins to boil, and reaches a temperature of 210º F., pour it over a bowl of finally chopped milk chocolate. Slowly stir this lusciousness until the chocolate has melted and becomes completely smoothed out. You’ve made chocolate ganache! You can see how to properly make it here. Next, stir in an egg, and a dash of sea salt.
Pour the chocolate filling into the cooled graham cracker crust, and bake in a 350º F. oven for about 25 minutes, or until the filling has just set, but still a little wobbly. The internal temperature should read around 195º F.
Look at that!
While the pie is still hot, and the oven is still on place halved marshmallows all over the top of the pie. Bake on the lowest rack in the oven until the marshmallows begin to turn lightly golden.
I can’t quit you, Summer.
Notes
Special equipment needed: 9-inch pie plate, mixing bowls, medium-sized saucepan, instant read thermometer
Ingredients
For the graham cracker crust
- 1 and 1/2 cups (175 g) Finely Ground Graham Cracker Crumbs
- 1/4 cup (50 g) Brown Sugar
- 8 TBS (113 g) Unsalted Butter, melted
For the s'mores pie filling
- 1 cup Heavy Cream
- 8 oz. (225 g) Milk Chocolate, chopped into small pieces
- 1 Large Egg, at room temperature
- 1/4 tsp. Salt
- 15 Large Marshmallows, halved horizontally
Instructions
To make the graham cracker crust
- In a large bowl, mix together the graham cracker crumbs, and brown sugar.
- Stir in the melted butter, until all of the crumbs are coated, and the mixture resembles wet sand.
- Press the mixture into the sides, and on the bottom of a 9-inch pie plate. Use a bottom of a smooth cup to make it level.
- Refrigerate for 30 minutes, and preheat the oven to 350 degrees. F.
- Once the crumb crust has been chilled bake it in the oven for 10 minutes.
- Cool on a wire rack.
To make the filling
- Keep the oven going at 350 degree F.
- Place the chopped milk chocolate in a large heat-proof bowl. Set aside.
- In a medium-sized saucepan, heat the heavy cream over medium heat. Once it begins to boil (and reaches a temperature of 210 degrees F.) pour over the chopped chocolate.
- Allow the chocolate and hot cream mixture to sit for 1 minute, then slowly stir it. Continue to stir for 3 minutes. The chocolate cream should begin to smooth out into a glorious, luscious ganache.
- Crack the egg into a medium-sized bowl, and lightly beat it.
- Pour 1/4 cup of the warm ganache into the beaten egg, and mix together. This will raise the egg's temperature (tempering).
- Using a rubber spatula, pour the tempered egg mixture into the bowl of ganache, and mix.
- Mix in the salt.
- Pour the filling into the graham cracker crust. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes, or until the middle is just set (still jiggly), and the temperature reaches 195 degrees F.
- While still hot from the oven, place the halved marshmallows all over the top of the pie (sticky side down).
- Bake in the 350 degree F. oven on the lowest rack for about 10 to 15 minutes, or until the marshmallows turn a lightly golden brown.
- Cool on a wire rack before slicing up. Enjoy!
