Well, well, well! I’m back in the pie making groove friends! Have you missed the pie alongs? I know I have. I’ve missed making a pie every month and sharing the recipe, tips & tricks, pictures, and then eating some yummy pie. This month I decided on the Oatmeal Molasses pie from my trusty copy of First Prize Pies by Allison Kave. I had to dust off the book and my rolling pin but we were able to work it out. Let’s jump right in, shall we?
The Recipe:
From First Prize Pies by Allison Kave
The Crust:
Classic Pie (see page 38 of the book) for one double-crust 9-inch (23-cm) pie
*If you are not familiar with how to make a pie crust, see this post
For the Filling:
1 cup unsulphured molasses
3 large eggs, slightly beaten
4 ounces dark chocolate, melted
2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup rolled oats (not instant)
Make the filling:
Preheat the oven to 425°F. Roll out half of the dough into a circle about 11 inches in diameter. Transfer it to a 9-inch tart pan or pie plate, tuck the overhang under, and crimp decoratively. Blind-bake the crust until partially baked; set aside to cool. Lower the oven temp to 250°F.
In a large bowl, whisk together the molasses, eggs, chocolate, butter, vanilla, cinnamon, and salt until fully combined. Stir in the oatmeal and pour the filling into the par-baked pie shell.
Put the pie on a baking sheet and bake it for 25 to 30 minutes, until the filling has just set and is still slightly wobbly in the center. Remove the pie to a wire rack to cool until just warm or at room temperature before slicing and serving.
This pie can be refrigerated for up to 1 week., covered in plastic wrap. Let it come to room temperature before serving, or warm it in a low oven. It can be kept frozen for up to 2 months. Cover it in plastic wrap, then in foil, and let it come to room temperature before serving.
Tips & Tricks:
Before we jump into my thoughts on the pie, let’s discuss some tips and tricks. First, I melted the chocolate and butter together in a double boiler. That was a really easy way to do it. I also added about 1/4 teaspoon of homemade cinnamon extract. And the recipe says it’s done baking when it’s jiggly in the middle. I overcooked mine as you can tell from the picture above. It will literally be jiggly all over, not just in the middle. Overall though this pie was super easy to make. It took me about 15 minutes to get everything put together once the pie crust was made.
But y’all. I gotta say this was not my favorite pie. I know, gasp! I love love love Allison and her pies but this one just fell a little flat. But if you think about it, we’ve been making pies for over a year now and sometimes I make multiple pies per month, so to have one pie not really work, it’s not the end of the world.
I shared the pie with friends last night as dessert after dinner. What we didn’t like was that it was so molasses-y. You couldn’t taste the chocolate, at all. It was one big bite of molasses after another. And the oats were…umm…I guess not cooked? If I were going to do this pie again, and I probably won’t…because really, with so many other yummy pies out there, I will just cross this off the list. Anyway, if I were going to do this pie again, I would decrease the amount of molasses and I would definitely either toast the oats or par-cook the oats so they are not so ‘uncooked’. I would also increase the chocolate and I would definitely add some fall spices-nutmeg, cloves, allspice, etc. You could probably even add a little touch of ginger and maybe even some cardamom. So this might even be a better fall pie.
But don’t get me wrong, the pie wasn’t bad. It just didn’t meld together very well. It was almost like you tasted all the main ingredients separately rather than together. So take it for what it’s worth. I wasn’t disappointed even. Just more like, huh. Wonder why that fell so flat? It does make for a pretty picture though, doesn’t it?
Have you ever had a pie fail or make one that you just didn’t get into? It happens. It’s no one’s fault. I’m looking forward to seeing what you make for our pie along! Are you going to try this pie? Will you alter it some? Let me know!
And if you haven’t joined me for a pie along before, you can start at the beginning here.
’til next time
-k
xoxo
Sandra Licher
Oh Kristen! I love pies but I can see why this one didn’t hit the mark. I’ll have to look at your other “pie alongs”! What fun! that cook book sounds like a good one although I need another cook book like I need a hole in my head! LOL!
chickenlibrarian
hehe! I hear you about the cookbooks. But this pie book is definitely a winner. I like that she breaks it down by season as I am trying to eat more seasonally. And one of the reasons I started the pie along was to be able to teach about seasonal baking. Have fun! There are some good pies in the book!
Leslie Susan Clingan
Glad you shared the ‘artisticness’ of your stick of butter! A good reminder to stop and smell the roses. I couldn’t tell you if my butter has topography or not. Or pretty white swirls! Need to slow my butt down these days and I think God is having us do just that with this virus.
Appreciate your honest description of the flavor of the pie. Wondered if it was a little like chess pie but I think not. Liked the idea of oats and chocolate but not crazy about a heavy molasses flavor. Sure is pretty though. Pinned your pie crust recipe post. Might add making a homemade crust to my spring bucket list.
chickenlibrarian
It’s true about us all needing to slow down and look at the little things. I know I was in major need of that and am actually breathing a sigh of relief that we are happy and healthy and can take a couple of minutes to just be. That stick of butter was something else! I’m guessing it’s because it was frozen although I freeze butter all the time and don’t remember having this happen before.
I sooo wanted to like the pie. The pie was pretty and held together nicely. But it was just too heavy a molasses flavor. I shouldn’t say I won’t make it again because I can think of a lot of different ways to improve on it, but I probably won’t make it again. I am curious as to whether is was supposed to be that heavy of a pie. I kind of want to find out but I don’t want to insult the author either. She is such a fantastic baker and I’ve loved all her recipes but….this one just seemed out of character which is what leads me to believe the pie was supposed to be that heavy.
Thanks for pinning my pie crust recipe! Homemade crusts are easy once you have a good recipe! I only say this because I had a wonderful pie teacher!
xoxo
Shugunna Alexander
The pie looked great but I don’t know if I’d like molasses in my pie😳 but glad you’re honest!! I love pie🥰
chickenlibrarian
I think it would have been better if there was less molasses and more of other things! It was a good try though!