It’s just about time for pie season and I’m rejoicing! So many different and wonderful flavors of pie to choose from. And, I’m adding a new pie flavor to the mix this year for the holidays. It comes in the form of Salted Honey Pie. Can you think of anything better sounding than Salted Honey Pie? It just sounds heavenly. But just wait until you taste it – yummmmmo!
Honey aplenty
I am so fortunate to have a sister who keeps bees. And those bees work super hard producing more than enough honey for themselves. This is where we come in and harvest the remainder. My family and I visited my sis during the time when they were harvesting the honey. We feel so lucky to have been able to be a part of the process this year! We got to see it from start to finish and, of course, grab multiple jars full of sweet, delicious, golden honey for ourselves to take home!
Last year I made Honey Cake with Goat Cheese Frosting and Figs with my take home honey. This year, I wanted to try something a little different. I found this recipe for Salted Honey Pie and knew immediately that I had to give this one a try! And, now it’s sure to be a staple in our holiday pie playlist for years to come. The crust of this honey pie is flaky and crisp. The filling is custard-like with a wonderfully creamy honey flavor and texture. And the flaky sea salt on top adds the perfect contrast to the sweet filling for an absolutely divine bite of pie.
The importance of blind baking pie crust
If you’ve never blind baked a pie crust before, here’s a few tips on why it’s important and how best to do it. Blind baking pie crust is essential when baking filled pies, such as this Salted Honey Pie. This method produces a crisp crust and ensures that, if your filling requires less time to bake than your crust, the crust will be fully baked when the pie is done in the oven.
Blind baking involves placing the crust in the pie pan, chilling the dough, then baking just the crust until it starts to brown. Then you add your filling and bake until the filling and crust are fully baked through. To properly blind bake your pie crust, carefully transfer the rolled pie dough into the pie pan and crimp the rim of the crust using your thumb and forefinger.
It’s important to weigh down the pie crust with pie weights or dry beans set in parchment paper while the pie crust is blind baking. If the pie crust is not weighted down, it’ll shrink down the sides and puff up in the middle. Two-thirds of the way through pre-baking, remove the pie weights and parchment, poke a few holes in the bottom of the pie crust with the tines of a fork and continue baking. This will allow the bottom of the crust to release any built up steam and bake through fully.
Tips for Making This Recipe
- Transferring the rolled out pie dough to a pie dish can be tricky. The crust is thin and can tear easily. It’s especially difficult to lift such a large piece of dough in one piece without it tearing. To easily and successfully transfer pie dough to the pie pan, simply roll the pie dough carefully around a rolling pin. Then, unroll the pie dough over the pie pan, gently pushing the dough down into the corners of the pan with your fingers. Here’s a great video on how to do this
- Because you are blind baking the crust then filling it and baking again, the crust will get a little darker as it bakes. However, if the crust begins to get too dark, you can either drape a sheet of foil lightly over the entire pie (making sure it’s not touching the top of the pie filling), tear off small pieces of foil and place them over just the crust while the pie is baking, or use a pie shield. Using a pie shield is my preferred method
- Wait until you’re ready to serve this pie before you sprinkle it lightly with flaky sea salt. If you sprinkle the salt on while the pie is too warm, the salt will absorb into the pie and you won’t be able to see those nice flakes on top. You also risk over-salting the pie if you add more before serving
- The pie dough can be made in advance and either refrigerated for up to two days (either unrolled or rolled and fitted into the pan), or frozen (either unrolled of rolled and fitted in the pan) for up to two months. Once baked, the pie can be kept at room temperature (or refrigerated) for up to 5 days
Useful Kitchen Tools for This Recipe
Like this recipe? Follow me on Pinterest for lots more recipes just like this one! And don’t forget to pin this recipe for later by clicking on one of the images below the recipe. Or, click on any of the images in this post to save to Pinterest.
If you are looking for more honey recipes, check these out:
Salted Honey Pie
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes + chilling time
- Yield: 8 slices 1x
Description
Try adding a new pie flavor to your holiday dessert list – Salted Honey Pie. This pie has a custard-like honey filling, a flaky crust, and flaky sea salt.
Ingredients
For the Crust:
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
- 2 teaspoons granulated sugar
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, cubed and chilled
- 3–4 tablespoons ice water
For the filling:
- ½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted
- ⅓ cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour, or 2 teaspoons cornstarch
- ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- ¾ cup honey
- 3 large eggs, at room temperature
- ½ cup sour cream, heavy cream, or crème fraîche
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- flaky sea salt, to finish the pie
Instructions
- Make the pie crust: in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, mix together the flour, sugar, and salt (this can also be made in a bowl with a pastry blender or in a food processor). Add the cubed butter and mix on medium speed until the butter is broken up into little pieces roughly the size of corn kernels. Add 3 tablespoons of ice water and mix on low speed until the dough begins to come together. If it appears dry, add the final tablespoon of ice water. Stop the mixer and use your hands to gather the dough and shape it into a disk. Wrap the dough in plastic and refrigerate for at least 1 hour
- Roll out the Crust: On a lightly floured surface, roll the dough into a 14-inch round. Transfer the dough to a 9-inch pie plate or pan. Ease the dough into the dish and trim the dough hanging over the edge, leaving about an inch of dough hanging over. Crimp the rim of crust and return the pie dough to the refrigerator for 30 minutes to 1 hour, until firm.
- Pre-Bake (Blind Bake) the Pie Crust: Preheat the oven to 375ºF. Line the pie shell with parchment paper or foil and fill with pie weights. Bake the dough until it starts to set around the edges and turns a light golden brown, about 20 minutes. Remove the parchment/foil and weights, and continue to bake until the crust is very light golden brown, about 10 minutes longer. If it puffs up during baking at this point, gently press it down by poking it with a fork a few times and using a spatula to tap it down. Do not bake the pie shell until dark brown. Remove the pie shell from the oven to a wire rack. Reduce the heat of the oven to 350ºF
- Make the Filling: In a medium bowl, whisk together the melted butter, sugar, flour, salt, vanilla, and honey. Whisk in the eggs one at a time, then mix in the sour cream and vinegar. Scrape the filling into the pre-baked pie shell
- Bake the Pie: Bake for 45 to 50 minutes until the edges are golden brown and the center is almost set. It should still jiggle, but not be watery. (If the edges of the crust get too dark during baking, use one of the techniques listed in the notes section to help with that). Let the pie cool on a wire rack. Sprinkle with flaky sea salt before serving
Notes
- The crust will get a little darker as it baked with the filling in it. If you see that the crust is getting too dark, you can either drape a sheet of foil lightly over the entire pie (making sure it’s not touching the top of the pie filling, fashion pieces of foil over just the crust while the pie is baking, or use a pie shield (my preferred method)
- The pie dough can be made in advance and either refrigerated for up to two days (either unrolled or rolled and fitted into the pan), or frozen (either unrolled of rolled and fitted in the pan) for up to two months. Once baked, the pie can be kept at room temperature (or refrigerated) for up to 5 days
- Recipe from The Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book
- Category: Pie
- Method: Bake
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: salted honey pie, holiday pie, homemade pie crust, how to blind bake pie crust, best holiday pie recipe, honey pie, honey cake, recipes made with honey, honey recipes, nut free pie recipes
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Wow Kim! This pie looks so creamy and delicious! I love that you made it using the honey from your sister’s bees. Will have to add this to my ever growing list of things to bake!
I’m so glad you like it, Tasia! It’s absolutely delightful!