Salted Caramel Pie

Thanksgiving was special this year. For the first time in a very long time, my stepbrother and his family drove down to my parents' house. Also, a very close family friend and her two sons joined us. We had a total of 13 people. This is the kind of meal preparation that would make some lesser folk cringe, but for my mom cooking for a large crowd is a dream come true.

She would have gladly shouldered the entire burden, but we are genetically bound and I love cooking for a crowd too. I wanted to help. Mom would only allow me to do so much, so I offered to bring a pie and the salad.

Now, this pie offer was for a few reasons: 1) I'm not a fan of traditional Thanksgiving pie flavors, 2) I can probably count on two fingers the pies I've baked in my life, and 3) I had an interestingly yummy looking recipe from my newest Food & Wine magazine.

Salted Caramel Pie

See? Yummy, huh?

For those of you who follow this blog (Two of you!!!! Thank you!!!!) you know that I often forget to photograph my projects.

This would be another instance of that. Fortunately, Food & Wine and The Constant Hunger had a few images I lifted from their websites.

(from Food &Wine)

I'll let your mouth stop watering.

And the cool thing is that it is way easier than it should be.

There are almost no ingredients.

1 1/4 cups graham cracker crumbs (about 5 ounces)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1/4 cup light brown sugar
Two 14-ounce cans sweetened condensed milk
Fleur de sel
2 cups heavy cream
2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar

A pie, a crust and the whipped topping in seven ingredients? Perfect for a pie novice like me.

I won't give all of the step by step directions, because you can find them here.

I will tell you that baking condensed milk smells oddly like macaroni and cheese. I had my doubts about how it would all come together. I actually wondered if I was going to have to scrap the whole thing and pick up a pre-made pie on the way north. Fear not, the mac and cheese scent does not affect the taste at all. Not one tiny bit.

It is, in fact, deliciously caramel-y and not cheesy.

(From The Constant Hunger)

There was an abundance of desserts at Thanksgiving dinner, and all of them were delicious. I do have to say, though, that this one was pretty popular.

I'll be making this pie again and again, I'm sure. Aside from taking hours to make the caramel, it was really easy. (But please don't tell anyone how easy it was. I don't want mom to think I got off easy for turkey day.)

So, what was the best part of your Thanksgiving?