Wednesday, March 14 is Pi Day, for the mathematical constant 3.14. Many are celebrating pi today with its delicious homophone, pie. Google has made its daily Google Doodle pie-inspired to honor Pi Day.
The Doodle features pie ingredients from Chef Dominique Ansel, who created a special salted caramel apple pie to represent the word ‘Google’ on the search engine’s homepage. You can see Ansel put together the pie in the video above.
The famed pastry chef shares the recipe for the pie in the video. It is just one of many celebrations of this historic day, which is the 30th anniversary of the first official Pi Day.
Check out the recipe for the Salted Caramel Apple Pie below:
Salted Caramel Apple Pie
by Dominique Ansel
(Makes 1 pie)
Pie Dough
Ingredients
4 cups flour
2 tbsp sugar
½ tbsp salt
3 sticks unsalted butter, cold and cubed
2/3 cup cold water
Method
- In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, combine flour, sugar, and salt on medium-low speed (about 30 seconds).
- Increase speed to medium and stream in cold water, followed by cold butter cubes. Continue mixing on medium speed (about 2 minutes). Stop mixing just before the butter is fully incorporated (the dough will look streaky and the pieces of butter should be about the size of peas).
- Transfer the dough onto a floured surface and divide in two balls. Flatten each into a disk, wrap in plastic and chill for at least 1 hour.
Apple Pie Filling
Ingredients
8 apples, peeled, cored, sliced (I like to use Honeycrisp apples)
1/3 stick unsalted butter
¼ cup cornstarch
¾ cup sugar
1/3 dark brown sugar
¼ cup bourbon
1 cup apple cider
pinch of nutmeg
1½ tsp cinnamon
¼ tsp sea salt
Method
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together cornstarch, sugar, brown sugar, nutmeg, cinnamon, and salt. Add apple slices and toss until apples are evenly coated.
- Melt butter in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add apples into melted hot butter. Pour in apple cider and bourbon. Cook on medium heat, stirring occasionally, until apples are tender (about 30 minutes).
- Remove from heat, let cool to room temperature.
Salted Caramel Sauce
Ingredients
2 cup sugar
2 2/3 cups heavy cream
4 tbsp light corn syrup
½ cup dark brown sugar
2 tsp fleur de sel
Method
- In medium pot, bring all ingredients to a boil, gently stirring occasionally. Once the mixture has reached 230°F (it will get noticeably thicker), remove from the heat and pour into a non-plastic container (i.e. a pyrex or metal mixing bowl). Let cool to room temperature.
- Once at room temperature, whisk well and then chill in the fridge until needed (TIP: the caramel sauce can be made up to 2 weeks ahead; you can also drizzle it over ice cream or add into your coffee!).
- 1 hour before you’re ready to assemble the pie, remove the sauce from the fridge and bring to room temperature.
To Assemble & Bake
Ingredients
Pie dough (chilled)
Apple pie filling (cooled)
Salted caramel sauce (cooled)
1 egg, beaten (for egg wash)
Method
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- On a floured surface, roll out 1 call of dough into a 12-inch round, then transfer to a 9-inch pie dish, pressing gently down and up the sides. Pour cooled apples into the pie shell. Drizzle some of your salted caramel sauce across the apples.
- Roll out the other ball of dough. Cut strips that are 1” wide and 12” long. Arrange half of your dough strips across pie. Form a lattice by arranging the other half of the strips diagonally across the first strips. Seal the edges by pressing around the rim of the pie with a fork. Trim around the edges as needed.
- Brush the surface of the pie with egg wash. Bake for 35-40 minutes until crust is deep golden brown. Let cool on a rack for 30 minutes, then drizzle more of the salted caramel sauce on top and serve.
