And now for something...

different. Not completely, I guess, because it's still a pie.

My friend Anna sent me this recipe and it looked so good I just couldn't wait. Too bad I didn't have a food torch. It was still super delicious even without the brûlée top. There is one thing I think I would like to try if I make this pie again: flambéing the top with rum or some such liquor. It should serve the same purpose as the torch, I just didn't think of it until the pie had been eaten.

This is the Apricot Mango Crème Brûlée Pie.

The recipe uses a sweet pastry crust rather than my standard all-purpose one, so I went for it. It's basically the same process, but with some powdered sugar thrown in.

1 1/4 cup flour
1/4 cup powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 stick butter, cubed
ice water in a spray bottle

Flour, sugar, salt into a food processor, then some butter, then the rest of the butter, then some water, and repeat the water until it's just wet enough to stick together nicely. Dump into into a bag and squish it all together, then into the fridge for thirty minutes or so. Then roll it out and transfer to a pie plate. Then to the freezer for about fifteen minutes, and finally into the oven. 375F should do nicely, ten minutes with pie weights and ten or so more without. Then reduce the oven to 300F. Hooray, pie crust.

1 cup mango in small pieces
1 cup apricot, also small pieces
1/4 cup honey
1 1/2 teaspoon cornstarch

Now, my fruit was a little underripe, especially the mango. If necessary, go buy your fruit a couple days early. Those stone fruits are often enough sold well before they are ripe. Then, in a saucepan, heat the honey on medium and add the fruit. Sprinkle the cornstarch over and stir it in well. Cook about 15 minutes or so, until the fruit is broken down a bit and it's all pretty thick. Pour into the bottom of the crust.

4 egg yolks
1/2 cup sugar
1 3/4 cup heavy cream
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup sugar for brûlée topping

Beat the eggs and sugar in a bowl and combine the cream, vanilla, and salt in a saucepan. Heat just until it boils, stirring constantly. Then turn off the heat and let it cool for about ten minutes. Very slowly add the cream to the eggs while whisking them. Once it's fully combined, pour it over the fruit in the crust. Pop that bad boy in the oven for about 40 to 45 minutes until the edges are set. The center will still be a bit wobbly, but it will set as it cools. Stick it in the fridge for at least two hours. Just before you serve the pie, pour the sugar in an even layer over the pie, and flame it up in whatever method you like. Using a kitchen torch is prolly simplest, but if you pour a little bit of liquor over the sugar and light it up, I think it would work nicely. Just be careful with the open flame as such.

Like I said, I hadn't come up with the work-around for the torch and my fruit wasn't quite ripe, but man that was a tasty pie. The custard was super creamy and rich. The fruit was a little crunchy, but still, yum.