A Tasty Comedy of Errors

We are a committed Pi Day celebrating family. We advocate for the STEM fields, however we can, especially where sweet treats are concerned.

Lucky for me, Pi Day fell during Spring Break, so I had adequate time to search out a recipe and accumulate my ingredients. I choose this Salted Caramel Turtle Pie, because it sounded amazing, but also because it seemed pretty easy. Kinda like fancy pecan pie, and how could that be bad? What followed was a complete comedy of errors that I could only hope would taste delicious in the end.

The only ingredient from the list I didn't have on hand was the chocolate covered pretzels. As I was headed to Target to cross some things off the Easter Bunny's list, I decided I could just pick some up there. While there, I searched the store app, found the appropriate aisle and threw a bag into my basket. I returned home and the next day started making the pie.

To begin, the recipe's instructions are NOT good. It tells you to add the sugar, butter, and corn syrup to the sauce pan, but doesn't say what heat to use, how long to let it cook, should it boil, should it not boil. I took my best guess and made sure the sugar was all dissolved before removing from the heat. My next step was to combine the filling ingredients. As I dumped everything in the bowl, per instructions, I sampled the pretzels. They tasted less salty than I expected, but tasty nonetheless. Finally, I combined everything together (thank goodness I didn't curdle the egg), and poured it into my frozen pie shell. About half way through pouring, I realized there was no way my filling was going to fit into the puny pie shell, and THEN I realized I hadn't even added the pecans! I dumped everything back into my bowl and started hauling out ingredients for a pie crust. Now, all my filling ingredients are cooling their jets together, and melting all the chips together in a nice lump. Cool. Cool.

I finished my pie crust, crimped my crust and poured my filling in again. This time I had room to spare, but not a lot, especially because these kinds of pies always grow a little as they bake. I slid it into the oven and set the timer. As I was cleaning up, I noticed that the bag of pretzels I bought was not in fact pretzels but chocolate covered graham crackers in pretzel shape. Who. Does. That???? Target, that's who. Well, it was too late to make a change at this point, but I was so irritated. Sure, it says graham cracker on the package, but again it's in PRETZEL shape, and only the barest shade away from the chocolate covered pretzel version of the bag. 

So how did it all turn out? Well, first, it took way longer than the suggested time. I was added four and five minute increments after the initial baking time, so I don't know exactly, but I'd guess closer 50-55 minutes in total. Even then, it was just barely done. The pie was delicious and super sweet! I know having the pretzels in the mix would add a hint of salt which would give just a little more contrast in flavors. Nevertheless, we all enjoyed the pie, and Pi Day was sufficiently celebrated, even if the road to getting there was a little bumpy.