Brownie Pie, Oh My!

I promised you recipes - don't worry, I haven't forgotten! This one's a good one to start with.

The crust part of this pie is actually from a lemon meringue pie that didn't quite work out... the meringue part was delicious - like a cloud marshmallow - but the lemon part wasn't much of a success. It was gooey and oozy and just not curd-like in any way! I should have gone with my gut instincts and used my trusted lemon curd recipe from my restaurant recipe files. I'm pretty sure the problem here was that I used too much lemon juice though. Oh well. At least the crust was worth trying again!


Meringue! A success! Lemon pie - not quite.

The brownie part of this pie is perfect perfect perfect. It's not too dense, it's not too fudgy, it's not too crumbly - it's just perfect. Make this pie! Your taste-buds will thank you, and your stomach sure won't complain.

Brownie Pie

For the crust:

Sift together 200g all-purpose flour and a pinch of salt.
Work in 125g butter, either with your hands or with a pastry cutter.
Whisk together 50g sugar and 1 egg and mix into dough.
At this point I usually ball up my dough and refrigerate it until I need it. You can also freeze the dough if you need to.

For the brownie filling:

Whisk together 1/2 cup of melted butter, 1/2 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of brown sugar.
Mix in 3 eggs and 1/2 cup of cocoa powder.
Whisk together 1/2 cup of flour and 1/4 teaspoon of salt and add to wet ingredients. Then add 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

Roll out your crust for a 9-inch tart pan then pour in the brownie batter and bake at 350 degrees for about 30 minutes, or until the brownie has set. Top liberally with caramel if you'd like - I did!

Enjoy!