"He's so pretentious" she would say (and still does say) when referring to Grant Achatz, owner of the three Michelin star restaurant, Alinea. "Fucking cheese balloons!"
Pretentious or not, he does bring a lot of creativity to the culinary realm. So when a post about clear pumpkin pie developed by Alinea's executive chef Mike Bagale and chef de cuisine Simon Davies went viral, I felt inspired.
Maybe that inspiration was stoked by my recent binging of GBBO, but I felt it was necessary to recreate this odd pie a few moments after reading about. But how?
The Alinea chefs used a distillation of a pumpkin pie and set that in gelatin. I didn't feel the need (nor have the time) to distill an entire pie, so I researched some more and found pumpkin pie flavoring.
After announcing my plans to my husband, he found a podcast where the hosts discussed recreating the clear pumpkin pie, as well as a few other varieties. Their pie was normal sized, and not very clear. This made me consider two factors: the size, and the type of gelatin to use. I acquired the remainder of my ingredients (including a set of 5" tart pans) and set off for my personal challenge.
My baking now a days is all gluten free. I'm still trying to nail down pie crust, and it was critical to make my own (instead of a frozen store one) due to the size of the pies that I wanted. My crust this time was crumbly and great for a tart -- but there were a lot of gaps in the dough. I tried to patch what I could, but it wasn't perfect so I poured in some melted white chocolate to coat the crust after blind baking.
However, I didn't coat my crust well enough with the chocolate. When I poured my gelatin into the crust, it spilled out the bottom of my tart pan. My husband helped me quickly set a piece of cellophane under each pie to prevent future spills.
When I went to check on my pies a couple of hours later, a lot of the gelatin had settled under each pie (between the bottom of the pan and the cellophane), however it was at least clear. I made a second batch of gelatin and poured on top to compensate for the lost filling. By doing this, I created a line across every single pie.
If I were to re-do this, I would make sure that the chocolate covers the ENTIRE crust (sides, too) and I would have the cellophane in place before pouring the gelatin (or use a different type of pan). I'm happy with my results, even if they aren't quite as pretty as Alinea's. But you won't pay $200+/person to enjoy this version.
Makes five mini pumpkin flavored gelatin pies.
Ingredients
- 5 5" tart or pie pans
- Pie crust of your choosing
- 2 cups white chocolate chips
- 2½ cups cold water
- ¾ teaspoon Pumpkin Pie Flavoring
- 1 ¾ teaspoon granulated sugar
- Pinch of Salt
- 5 leaves of silver strength gelatin
- Prepare pie crust and blind bake. Allow to cool.
- Melt the white chocolate chips and coat the entire inside of the pie crusts. Refrigerate until solid.
- Prepare the gelatin. In a medium bowl, add sugar and salt. Pour in water and flavoring and mix until the sugar has dissolved. In a heat proof bowl, or double boiler, cut gelatin into 1" strips. Pour enough liquid over the gelatin to cover and allow the bloom for 10 minutes. Place bowl or double boiler over a pan of simmering water and stir until gelatin has dissolved. Remove from heat and mix in remaining liquid. Strain through fine sieve.
- If using a tart pan, gently lift the crusts out and place a small sheet of cellophane under each -- just in case.
- Pour ½ cup of gelatin into each pie crust. Chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours to set.
- Slice pies and enjoy with some whipped cream. Savor the fact that you spared yourself and all of your friends and family $200 each to try this viral sensation.
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