Instructions

• See the Photo Gallery after the recipe for images of these steps.

Pie Dough and Parbaking

• Grate refrigerator-temperature butter onto a plate and then freeze it for about 20 minutes. No need to cover the plate unless you make this ahead.
• Grease a standard size pie dish.
• Whisk together the flour, salt, and optional ground mahlep in a bowl.
• Add the frozen grated butter and sift/toss it with a bowl scraper or spatula until all the butter shreds are coated in flour.
• Begin adding ice water a tablespoon at a time while chopping/stirring the mixture.
• Press the dough down with your fist to check if the dough comes together. Add more ice water until it does.
• When there is no more dry flour, transfer the dough to a clean work surface and form it into a disk.
• Dust the disk with flour, flip it, and dust again. With a rolling pin, roll the dough to a circle big enough to cover the inside of your pie dish and hang a bit past the edges.
• Press the dough into the pie dish, tuck any overhanging dough under, and crimp the edges.
• Freeze the crust uncovered for 15 minutes.
• While the crust is chilling, put an oven rack on the lowest position for parbaking the crust and another rack in the middle position for baking the pie later, and preheat your oven to 425°F.
• Cover the crust completely with aluminum foil, pressing the foil flush against the frozen crust. Add pie weights or beans over the foil.
• Bake the crust on the lowest rack in the oven at 425°F for 17 minutes. Carefully remove the foil and pie weights and bake uncovered for another 3 minutes. Save the foil for covering the pie later.
• Remove the parbaked crust from the oven and lower the oven temperature to 350°F.

Filling, Pie Assembly, and Baking

• Preheat your oven to 350°F if it is not already on from parbaking the crust.
• In a large saucepan over low-med heat, melt the butter. Turn off the heat and whisk in the maple syrup, brown sugar, corn flour, and salt.
• In a different bowl, ideally with a pour spout, whisk the eggs and yolk. Add the heavy cream and vanilla extract and whisk some more.
• While vigorously whisking the somewhat cooled butter-maple syrup mixture in the saucepan, drizzle in the egg-cream mixture.
• Place the parbaked crust on a baking sheet for easy maneuverability.
• Pour the filling into the crust and wrap the edges of the pie with a foil or silicone shield to prevent burning.
• Transfer the pie on the baking sheet to the middle shelf of the oven and bake 40-45 minutes. When the pie is done, the center should still have a thick sort of movement but should not be sloshing under the surface. Use a sheet of foil to cover the entire pie later in the bake if it starts to get dark.
• Cool the pie for 4-6 hours on a wire rack before sprinkling with flake salt and serving. Enjoy it plain or with barely sweetened whipped cream.
• Store covered at room temperature for up to about three days. I like to invert a glass bowl over the pie.