Mud Turtle Pie

February 1, 2015

Mama, why is the sky blue? Why did you name me Kim? Where do babies come from? Why is this called a Mud Turtle Pie? Anyone? As a general rule, this pie is too sweet for me, and even for Rick. If I were to eat anything that’s too sweet, I would indulge in this pecan filling; I used the muscovado sugar and Lyle’s Syrup. Together, these two sweetnesses are ethereal. Though, the chocolate bungled up the beauty and turned it into a cloyingly sweet mud, as Rose so aptly puts it. I guess I’m not a fan of chocolate and caramel together. I’m definitely the exception rather than the rule. Lots of people love this combo.

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Instructions

PERFECT FLAKY AND TENDER CREAM CHEESE PIE CRUST

Yup, it was all of that. I’m still making the pastry by hand, and still preferring the end result. I just love how tender and flakey the pastry is overall without the food processor.

I wanted to show the pieces of butter in the dough.

The pastry in the plate. You can see the butter. Maybe I didn’t knead the dough enough.

I baked the pastry in my gas oven this time because I had the banana loaf proofing in the electric one. I forget how humid gas is, so when I removed the pastry from the oven, it was sizzling and bubbly and steaming, which it never does in my electric other oven. I just thought it was interesting to mention. Otherwise, this step went well, except I patched a whole with some egg white.

The little egg white patch. Like patching a tire..

PECAN FILLING: Mmm, this smelled and looked delicious.

I cooked this to 160F-165F and was genuily surprised at how quickly the egg cooked, as there were bits left behind in the sieve. I know that egg cooks at 168F. Maybe the sugar lowered the cooking temperature.

BAKE THE PIE

I kept a close eye on this step because I understood how important it was to get this right. It’s all about the texture here. I watched for the tiny bubbles along the edge and made sure the center moved only slightly. The Thermo Pen read 190F-195F. Still I felt uncertain that I had baked the filling long enough. I guess time will tell.

MILK CHOCOLATE GANACHE

I gave Rick the choice as to whether he wanted the dark chocolate or the milk chocolate ganache. He said the milk chocolate (I hoped he would say the dark chocolate). So heated the cream and when it was steamy and hot, I took it off the heat and added the chopped chocolate.

I will NOT separate the chocolate again. I will not separate the chocolate again. I will not…

APPLY THE GANACHE LAYER

No problem with this, except I thought there would be more chocolate.

Spreading the chocolate ganache over the filling.

WHAT ARE THE ALPHA BAKERS? : Here’s how it works: once a week, for the next two years, 25 Alpha Bakers commit to baking their way through every recipe of Rose Levy Beranbaum’s newly published The Baking Bible. Each week we post our experiences on our blog sites: our successes, our failures, our likes and dislikes. The recipes are scheduled in advance so that everyone will be baking the same recipe at the same time. Unfortunately, no recipes can be shared in my Alpha Bakers posts due to publishing restrictions, but if you love to bake, The Baking Bible is a must-have book. You can see other tutorials for the same recipe at the following link The Baking Bible Alpha Bakers at http://rosesalphabakers.blogspot.ca/.