Browned Butter Chess Pie Recipes

Steps:

• In a small heavy saucepan, cook and stir butter over medium heat for 5-7 minutes or until golden brown; remove from the heat. , Roll out crust to fit a 9-in. pie plate; transfer to pie plate. Trim crust to 1/2 in. beyond edge of plate; flute edges. Line unpricked crust with a double thickness of heavy-duty foil. Fill with dried beans, uncooked rice or pie weights. , Bake at 400° for 8 minutes. Remove foil and weights; bake 5 minutes longer. Cool on a wire rack., In a large bowl, beat eggs for 3 minutes. Gradually add brown sugar; beat for 2 minutes or until mixture becomes thick. Beat in milk, vinegar, cornmeal, vanilla, cinnamon and the browned butter. Pour into crust. Cover edges with foil. , Bake at 350° for 40-45 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack. Refrigerate, covered, for 3 hours or until cold. Serve with ice cream if desired. Refrigerate leftovers.

Steps:

• For the crust: In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine the flour, sugar and salt. With the mixer running, drop in the butter and mix until the mixture resembles wet sand. In a small bowl, whisk together the cream and egg yolks, then pour into the mixer and whip until just combined. Turn the dough out onto a clean cutting board and cut in half. Using your hands, gently push each half of dough into a disc and wrap each in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 6 hours or up to overnight.
• For the cookie dough: In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat the butter with the sugar. Beat in the egg yolks one at a time, then add the vanilla and salt. Add the flour, a little at a time, until incorporated. Divide the dough into small batches and color each with food coloring, as desired. Chill the dough for 1 hour before rolling. When ready to decorate the pie, roll the dough to 1/4-inch thick. Use cookie cutters or a knife to cut out shapes for decorating the pie. For the filling: In a large mixing bowl, whisk the sugar, eggs and yolks until the mixture turns a light, golden color. Then whisk in the buttermilk, cornmeal, flour, cinnamon, vanilla and salt. While whisking, slowly drizzle in the browned butter.
• For the pie: Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F. Spray a 9-inch pie pan with cooking spray. Gently dust a clean work surface with flour, then place a pie dough disk on top and use a rolling pin to roll out the dough into a large circle, about 1/4-inch thick. Transfer the dough to the pie pan, then crimp the edges and prick the dough on the bottom with a docker or fork. Line the crust with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans to weigh the dough down. Bake until the dough just sets, 8 minutes. Remove the crust from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F. Working quickly, use a pastry brush to brush the crust with egg wash. Carefully pour the filling into the crust.
• Bake the pie until set but slightly jiggly, about 35 minutes, covering the edges of the crust with foil to prevent burning after about 10 minutes. Add the cookie dough topper decorations to the pie, then bake for 10 minutes more. Check the pie at about 40 minutes total; the center should still have a jiggle to it, but it should seem mostly set. Cool completely before decorating the pie with dragees, glitter and icing.

Steps:

• Prepare the pie crust: Generously butter a 10-inch round, fluted tart pan. In a medium bowl, combine the flour, granulated sugar, salt, black pepper and lemon zest. Working quickly, rub the cold butter into the dry mixture using your fingers or a pastry cutter. Cut the butter into the flour until the pieces are the size of small pebbles. (Alternatively, use a food processor to pulse the dry ingredients with the butter.) Add the egg yolks and the cold water. Using your hands, combine just until the dough comes together in clumps. Gather dough into a ball; flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic and chill at least 30 minutes.
• Heat oven to 375 degrees. Roll out chilled dough between two sheets of parchment or on a lightly floured surface to a 12-inch round. Using the rolling pin, transfer dough into the prepared tart pan. Press the dough into the fluted sides and trim any overhang to 1/4 inch above the pan. Chill the dough again for at least 20 minutes.
• Line the pie dough with parchment paper and fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until the crust is lightly browned along the edges and beginning to firm up, about 18 minutes. Remove the pie weights and parchment and bake for another 5 minutes to lightly brown the edges. Press down the surface with the back of a spoon if the crust bubbles. Allow the crust to cool completely before filling. Adjust the oven temperature to 350 degrees.
• As the crust cools, prepare the filling: Whisk together eggs, yolks, sugar, cornmeal, lemon juice and zest and salt in a medium bowl. Stir in buttermilk and the melted butter.
• Place the tart pan on a rimmed baking sheet and carefully pour the filling into the cooled pie shell. Bake until the filling is set and jiggles slowly when the tart pan is moved back and forth, about 35 to 40 minutes. Cool pie completely before slicing. Top with a dusting of powdered sugar and serve at room temperature or cold, with some whipped heavy cream on the side.

Steps:

• For the cornmeal pie dough crust: In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, cornmeal, and salt together to combine.
• Add the cubes of butter, tossing them through the flour until each piece is well coated. Cut the butter into the flour by pressing the pieces between your fingers, flattening them into big shards. As you work, continue to toss the butter through the flour, recoating the shingled pieces. If you have warm hands, you may want to use a pastry cutter (sometimes I do a few passes with pastry cutter, then toss the mixture with my hands before continuing). Take care to ensure that all the cubes of butter are fully coated in flour as you work.
• For a flaky crust, continue cutting the butter into the flour just until the pieces of butter are about the size of walnut halves. Or, for a mealy crust, work the mixture together until the pieces of butter are about the size of peas.
• Make a well in the center of the flour mixture. Add the ice water to the well. (Different types, or even brands, of flour hydrate differently, so it is difficult to give a precise amount that will work every time; Consider the base amount given as a solid jumping-off point, knowing that you will almost always need to add more.) Using your hands, toss the flour with the water to start to mix the two together (this begins to combine them without creating too much gluten). As the flour begins to hydrate, you can switch to more of a kneading motion -- but don't overdo it, or the dough will be tough. Then add more water, about 1 tablespoon (15 grams) at a time, until the dough is properly hydrated. It should be uniformly combined and hold together easily, but it shouldn't look totally smooth. Dough that is too dry may have a sort of "dusty" appearance, or pockets of unhydrated flour; it will not hold together and will look crumbly. Dough that is too wet will feel sticky or tacky to the touch, and it is often smoother and/or lighter in color than a properly hydrated dough.
• Form the dough into a disk and wrap tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for at least 30 minutes before using.
• Lightly dust your work surface with flour. I use about a handful of flour to dust the surface and the dough, and I often don't need to use any more during rolling. Use just enough flour to prevent the dough from sticking, as using too much can make the dough tough or dry.
• Begin to roll out the dough by positioning the rolling pin in the center of the dough, then applying gentle pressure and pushing it away from you. Return the pin to the center and do the same, this time bringing the pin towards you. Although this method may feel a bit awkward at first, it's useful for learning how to apply gentle, even pressure to the dough rather than just pressing down while rolling the pin back and forth, which can often make the crust too thin at the edges and thicker in the center.
• Rotate the dough frequently as you work, or even flip it over. That will help keep the dough from sticking and also allow you to feel the thickness to determine if there are thicker areas you haven't hit evenly with your pin yet. As the dough round (or rectangle) gets bigger, use the pin to help you move it around -- roll it up around the pin, then unfurl it in a slightly different spot. Rather than focusing on the diameter of the rolled- out dough, focus on the thickness. When the dough is rolled out evenly to the correct thickness (1/8 to 1/4 inch (3 to 6 mm)), it should be the correct size and about 1 inch wider than the pie plate. Of course, you can always use your pie pan as a guide while you roll, placing it lightly on top of the dough to help see when you're getting close.
• Transfer the dough to the pie plate. To use the rolling pin to transfer the dough, place it at the end of the dough farthest from you, wrap the edge of the dough up around the pin, and roll the pin toward you, wrapping the dough around the pin. Position the far edge of the dough to the far edge of a 9-inch pie plate and gently unfurl it into the plate. Then lift up the dough gently at the edges and gently push it into the base of the pie plate.
• Once you've lined your pie plate with dough, trim away any excess dough, ideally ending up with 1/2 inch (1 cm) of excess dough all the way around the edges. I like to use scissors for this task -- they make it easy to cut cleanly. Then tuck the excess dough under itself so the edges of the crust are flush with the outer rim of the pie plate. Press lightly to seal the dough all around. This technique serves to give you thicker dough around the edges of the pie, which makes it easier to crimp, and this final folded effect at the edges makes the edges of the crust look (and taste!) particularly flaky when you slice it.
• Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate the pie plate lined with dough until chilled, 15 minutes to 1 hour if time allows.
• Dock the bottom of your crimped and well-chilled pie crust all over with a fork.
• Cut a square of parchment paper that is slightly larger than the pie plate. Place it on top of the pie shell and fill with pie weights (make sure you use enough weights to come up to the inner rim of the pie plate). The crust is now ready to be parbaked.
• Parbake the crust: Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C) with a rack in the lower third of the oven, preferably with a baking steel or stone on it. Place your docked/weighted crust on the rack and bake for 15 to 17 minutes, until the edges appear set and are just starting to lightly brown. Remove the pie from the oven and use the parchment paper to lift the weights out of the pie shell. Return the crust to the oven and bake until the bottom appears set, 2 to 3 minutes more.
• To make the egg wash, whisk the egg and cool water together to combine.
• As soon as the pie crust comes out of the oven from parbaking, brush the crimped edges of the dough with a thin layer of the egg wash to form a sort of "seal" on the base of the dough.
• Let the crust cool completely before filling.
• For the Brown Sugar Chess Pie: Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) with a rack in the lower third (preferably with a baking steel or stone on it).
• In a medium bowl, whisk the brown sugar and cornmeal together to combine. Add the eggs and egg yolks and whisk until the color has lightened noticeably, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the milk, melted butter, vanilla, and salt and whisk until well combined.
• Place the parbaked pie crust on a parchment-lined baking sheet and pour the filling into the crust. Transfer to the oven and bake until the crust is deeply golden and the custard is set around the outside edges but is still slightly jiggly in the center, 35 to 40 minutes.
• Cool the pie completely, then chill for at least 1 hour before slicing and serving. Serve topped with whipped cream, caramel sauce, and some kind of candied nuts, if desired.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C.)
• In a large bowl, combine sugar and flour. Beat in the eggs and buttermilk until blended. Stir in the melted butter and vanilla. Pour filling into the pie crust.
• Bake in the preheated oven until filling is set, about 45 minutes.

Steps:

• Cream butter and sugar as if for cake.
• Add egg yokes and the one white and beat untill foamy; add water and vanilla, again beating until well mixed.
• Pour this into a 9 inch unbaked pie shell and bake at 350 for anywhere from 35 to 1 hour. Test with clean knife. When it comes out clean(no custard clinging to it), the pie is done.