Brown Butter Maple Chess Pie

Step 1

Prepare one half recipe of the pie crust according to directions. Form into a disk and place in the fridge.

Step 2

Preheat oven to 425°F. Grease a standard sized pie pan with butter. Set aside.

Step 3

Brown your butter by placing it into a small saucepan over low heat. Stir constantly until the milk solids from the butter separate and become a golden brown color. Remove from heat and allow to cool for at least 15 minutes.

Step 4

Remove pie dough disk from the fridge. On a lightly floured work surface, roll dough out to 1/4 inch thick. Carefully place dough into pie pan, pushing into the pan. Fold the edge of the dough over on itself, and use your fingers to create a crimped edge. Or, if you don’t know how to do this, just leave it be. It will look great regardless!

Step 5

Prepare your crust to be blind baked by placing parchment paper over the dough, then adding uncooked rice into the center. Blind bake for 10 minutes while you make your filling.

Step 6

In a large bowl, combine butter, maple syrup, sugar, eggs, heavy cream, vanilla, and salt. Whisk until well combined, then add in cornmeal.

Step 7

Pour filling into partially baked crust, then lower oven temperature to 350°F and bake for an additional 45-50 minutes, until the center of the pie is set and is a light golden brown color.

Step 8

Allow pie to cool completely before topping with a dust of powdered sugar and serving. I suggest letting it cool on a cooling rack for 1 hour, then in the fridge for 2 hours. I also love pairing my chess pie with whipped cream, as these photos shows!