Episode 13
August 20, 2010
Turtle Pie
Whenever somebody takes a bite out of this turtle pie the first thing they say is, “Wow, it tastes almost like a candy bar!” It’s no wonder since it combines an Oreo cookie crust, toasted pecans (which are candy-like in flavor as it is), caramel sauce, chocolate mousse, and a whipped cream topping. In essence this pie is a giant candy bar – more so than any other pie or cake! And that’s what makes it so delicious.
Turtle pie may seem overwhelming to make because of the long list of ingredients and the multiple steps to prepare it, but if you break it down you’ll realize that you’re just making each component or layer of the pie. Each layer is really a standard pastry recipe very common in bake shops – so in essence many chefs (at home or professional) can make these components without ever looking at the procedures. Eventually, you’ll feel comfortable enough to do so too.
The video was pretty much straight on and I didn’t have any major issues. The caramel sauce was spot on and was a beautiful color. The only thing I would do differently would be to incorporate the butter the first time I heated the chocolate up and not heat the chocolate up again. To make a perfect chocolate mousse my chefs always told me it came down to timing and temperature. Too hot and it will lose lots of volume and be runny – too cold and you’ll end up with chunks and chips. This time I lost lots of volume. As a pie and as at home baker you don’t have to worry about making the perfect chocolate mousse but always aim high and you may really impress yourself.
I know this is probably a really odd recipe to make with the whole salmonella outbreak going on in two-thirds of the country so I do have an alternative to the raw eggs in the chocolate mousse. First you could try cooking the eggs on a double boiler with a little bit of granulated sugar until the egg parts reach 160-179 degrees which should kill off the salmonella and it might make a firmer chiffon (for the egg whites anyway) however, the eggs might also set up and turn into scrambled eggs. You can also make a very basic “chocolate mousse” by making chocolate milk out of heavy cream and chocolate syrup and whipping it to medium peaks. It won’t have the same consistency and flavor as chocolate mousse but it won’t have raw eggs either. For those not worried about salmonella you can also whip up the egg yolk for even more volume – just be aware that it’ll probably lose a lot of that volume when you add it to the warm chocolate.
Here is the recipe for Turtle Pie and enjoy the videos below!
