This is, hands down, the best, most decadent use of your crockpot...ever! Well, except for creme brulee; did you know you can make creme brulee in your crockpot? Amazing!
I've never met a person who doesn't love this, and it's super rich, so a little really does go a long way!
Enjoy!
I feel like the last two recipes I posted were pretty healthy.
That is not the case with Salted Caramel Pie. It is pretty much a heart attack on your plate, but so, so worth it!
You start out by making some dulce de leche (or ddl as the cool people like to say). My sister in law has a great recipe that uses the crockpot, which is what I do.
Start out with two cans of sweetened condensed milk (you can make just one can at a time if that's all you need for a certain recipe, but you need 2 for this pie).
Leah saw me taking the picture of the cans of sweetened condensed milk and said, "Mom, that's a really boring picture." I suppose it is :)
Pour the sweetened condensed milk into a glass dish that fits in your slow cooker.
I cover my dish (you could use aluminum foil) so that watery condensation doesn't form on top of the milk/ddl.
Put your dish in the slow cooker and pour water into the slow cooker until it is half to 3/4 of the way up the side of your dish.
You might want to put the empty dish in before you fill it with the sweetened condensed milk and pour the water in around it. That way you don't risk getting water mixed in your dish with the sweetened condensed milk.
Don't worry, though, it's not that big of a risk :)
Cover the slow cooker and set it to low for 3-5 hours (all slow cookers are different).
You'll want to check after 3 hours and give it a stir. Basically, your want it to be a caramel brown color and pretty thick. Give it more time if it needs it.
When you stir it, it might look a little weird. I should have taken a picture of this, but didn't. It might look chunky and you'll think you did something wrong, but it's totally fine. Just keep stirring it and it'll smooth out.
Here's what it should look like after you've stirred it:
You can use the dulce de leche as it is for ice cream topping or dipping apples.
Or, if you're like me and love vanilla, you can add a splash and a sprinkle of salt. Salt just brings out the flavor in everything, and you're just adding a little here, so it won't be salty.
If you want to kick it up a notch, you can make the dulce de leche into Salted Caramel Pie.
This is where it gets amazing!
You'll need just a few more ingredients:
I use a store bought graham cracker crust when I'm making it for a friend, like I did this time, so that they don't need to worry about returning the pie plate to me. If I'm making it and keeping it here, I make my own crust. Either is totally fine. Short cuts are our friend!
Pour the dulce de leche into the pie crust and sprinkle it lightly with kosher salt or sea salt.
You can see that I didn't go crazy with the salt...just a bit!
Next, make some whipped cream. Pour 2 cups of heavy cream (or whipping cream...same thing), 4 tablespoons of powdered sugar, and a splash of vanilla in bowl. Use a hand mixer or kitchen aid with the whisk to whip it.
This is what was going on at my house while the kitchen aid was doing all the work!
They like to carry all of their treasures around in shopping carts and bags and backpacks. I think they were pretending to go to school, but Gracie missed the part where kids don't take shopping carts to school :) She makes me laugh!
Back to the pie!
You'll want to whip the cream until fairly stiff peaks form. You can see how thick it is here:
Be sure the dulce de leche is cool before you put the whipped cream on top. You don't want a melty mess.
Spread all the whipped cream all over the pie...
I would have posted a picture of a piece, but I didn't think it would be very nice to give my friend a pie with a piece missing :)
Oh, and you know how sometimes people tell you something is so rich, and then you try it and you think, "That isn't rich! I could eat like 5 pieces of it. You must eat rice all the time!" ...or something like that.
Believe me, that is not the case here. This is really rich. I would cut it into at least 10, if not 12, pieces!
I got the recipe for the pie from here.
I have the tendency to over-explain recipes, and if that was the case here, I apologize! It's really easy and most of the "work" is done while you wait!
It is certainly worth the wait for the cool, smooth, deliciousness of Salted Caramel Pie.
Plus, you can get all of the ingredients at Aldi, so what are you waiting for?
oh my! sounds really good. like march madness weekend kinda good ;)
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That's a great idea!
DeleteOne more temptation worth giving in to some time. The picture of the brown s.c. milk helped my imagination.
ReplyDeleteTotally worth giving in to :)
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