Baking Fails and My Week of Pie (Watermelon Cream Pie)

In cooking, accidentally adding an extra stick of butter is pretty consistently a delicious mistake.  In baking?  Well, it turns out that’s not the case.  Ridiculous that any hobby should be so precise if you ask me… but let’s take a couple of steps back.

Last time we chatted, I talked about how there are not enough pie making occasions for all the pies there are to be made.  Well, when Holly and Rachel came over to brew with Courtney last weekend, Jason brought his pie book – and all of a sudden my “to pie” list doubled.

Bakeolution was right around the corner, so I decided that was a good opportunity to scratch an item off my pie bucket list.  The watermelon cream pie was both intriguing and very summery, so I decided it was meant to be.  Using the PDF Holly scanned of the recipes, I set out to make the crust Tuesday night so it could thoroughly chill before I baked it and filled it on Wednesday.  I got home from work on Wednesday afternoon with enough time to get started on the filling before spin class.  To save time I ran the watermelon through my juicer, reserving the excess for gin and watermelon juice cocktails.  To make the filling, you boil the watermelon juice with sugar, lime juice and corn starch, resulting in what reminds me of a homemade watermelon jello.  All was going well until I rolled out my pie crust and attempted to bake it.

Fail.  I thought maybe I could Macgyver it by pushing the pie crust back up and cooking it longer.  Double fail.  Was it the fact that I used cream instead of milk?  Or was my AC-less house to blame?  I wasn’t sure, but determined to make a crust, I sent Courtney out to get pretzels and more butter and around 11:00 pm I set out to make a pretzel crust.  As I was waiting, I looked back over the recipe and realized what I’d done: the fractions on the PDF font were a little tough to read, but the grams were a dead give away.  In replacing the lard, I’d added an extra 3/4 cup of butter instead of 1/4 cup. Mmm. That’ll do it.  The cream and the heat were off the hook.

Luckily, the pretzel crust proved much easier to make and I had it finished and filled before midnight.  I actually liked the resulting flavor combo.  The pie reminded me a good bit of the pretzel crusted jello “salad” that is a Mid-Western classic.  Full disclosure: I probably wouldn’t make this again (too many pies in the sea!), but it was a refreshing treat and certainly fun to try!

Watermelon Cream Pie

Adapted from First Prize Pies

For the Crust: 

• 3/4 cups (1 1/2 sticks) butter, melted
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 2 1/2 cups crushed pretzels

Combine all ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl.  Press into your pie or tart pan and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes.  Set aside to cool.

For the Filling: 

• 6 cups (900g) cubed, seedless watermelon
• 1/4 cup cornstarch
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup lime juice

1. Put your watermelon through a juicer, if you have one.  Otherwise, blend and strain the puree through a fine mesh sieve.  You should have a about 4 cups of juice.
2. Ladle 1/4 cup into a small bowl, whisk in the cornstarch and set aside.
3. Put the remaining watermelon juice in a medium sauce pan.  Add the sugar and lime juice, and bring to a boil.  Add in the reserved cornstarch/juice blend and whisk vigorously.
4. Simmer for up to ten minutes, stirring frequently, until the filling has thickened enough to cling to the back of your spoon.
5. Set aside to cool. Once it’s cool, transfer to your prepared pie crust and refrigerate, covered so it doesn’t get a yucky fridge flavor, for at least four hours or overnight.

For the Topping:

• 1 cup heavy whipping cream
• 2 tbsp powdered sugar
• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• Lime zest or mint, to garnish

You want to make the topping immediate before serving (or before you leaving your house with your pie!) Combine ingredients in the bowl of your stand mixer and mix on high until stiff peaks form.  Don’t over mix!  Spread over your pie, leaving a ring around the edge so you can see the pretty watermelon filling.  Garnish with lime zest or mint.  Refrigerate if not serving immediately.

Johanna