Carrot Pie

Sometimes with life and with cooking, two things that seem like they wouldn't work well together, despite all odds are actually great together. Other times the pairings that make the most sense, don't mesh well. Carrot pie is one of those things that shouldn't work, but some how it does.

Whoever came up with the phrase, "easy as pie" was an asshole. They probably never made a pie in their life. I'll admit it; I never bake, I tend to stick with cooking, but I like to expand my horizons and challenging myself, so I thought, "oh, yeah I'll make a pie, how hard could that be?" It was hard, you guys. The crust was a pain, in my crust. If you're naturally talented at baking pie, I salute you. But with most challenging things in life the end result was worth all the struggle.

Carrot Pie

Crust

• 2 cups flour
• 1/3 cup butter
• 1/3 cup shortening
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 6 Tablespoons of cold water

1. Let's start with the crust. Sift the flour into a large mixing bowl, mix in the butter, shortening and salt with a pastry blender. Blend until the bits of butter and shortening are about pea sized. Mix in the water. 
2. Once the dough is in a ball like shape, roll it out on parchment paper, I learned this the hard way, parchment paper makes things a hundred times easier.
3. Roll the dough out and put it in whatever pie pan you have sitting around your kitchen. Crimp the edges to make a nice crust.

Filling

• 1 cup mashed carrots
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup milk
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1/4 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 1/2 teaspoon ginger
• pinch of salt
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 2 tablespoons honey

1. Preheat the oven to 425.
2. Boil the carrots until they get soft enough to break apart with with a fork. Strain and mash with a potato masher. Mix in the sugar, milk, eggs, and spices. Mix until well blended. 
3. Pour the mixture into the pie crust. Top with the almonds and drizzle the honey over the almonds. 
4. Bake until the edges are golden brown. 

Cream Cheese Lemon Drizzle

• 2 tablespoons cream cheese
• 2.5 cups of powdered sugar
• 1 teaspoon of lemon zest
• 1 teaspoon of lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon of butter
• 1/2 teaspoon of vanilla flavoring
• 1/2 teaspoon of milk

1. Mix all these things together.
2. Drizzle over a cooled slice of carrot pie.

The result of this experiment was a pie that was reminiscent of carrot cake. The crumbly crust added another texture layer that was welcome. It's a great dish to shock people with, at first when you tell them you're making carrot pie they dismiss it, but once they take that first bite they realize what they've been missing. Enjoy!

Pie pics by Katy Weaver. Honestly I think these are some of the best photographs she's taken for this blog yet.