This year for Easter, Clark decided that he wanted a turtle pie. We’ve eaten more than our share of turtle pies purchased from the freezer section of the grocery store, but I never leave my holiday desserts to mass production companies. I love creating delicious meals and desserts for my family. With a challenge accepted that would make Barney proud, I set off to create a delicious turtle pie that would satisfy everyone’s taste buds. The result was deliciously sinful and probably a zillion and one calories but so worth it.
Turtle Pie
The recipe is done in sections. Admittedly, it takes some work, but it was absolutely worth it in the end.
Oreo Crust
I recommend making the crust the day before.
- 18 oreos — crushed in food processor
- 1/4 cup melted butter
Preheat oven to 350*
Combine crushed oreos and melted butter. Press into bottom and up sides of a 10 inch pie plate.
Bake for 18 minutes. Cool completely. Cover tightly with plastic wrap and store in cabinet until ready to use.
Toasted Pecans
Preheat oven to 350*
Spread about 2 cups of pecan halves in a cookie sheet lined with parchment paper.
Bake for 7 minutes, stir. Bake an additional 3-5 minutes, or until pecans are fragrant and golden in color.
Cool completely.
Caramel Sauce
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/8 tsp cream of tartar
- 3 tbsp water
- 1/4 cup butter, quartered
- 1/2 cup heavy cream — room temp
- 1 tsp course sea salt
Combine sugar, cream of tartar, and water in heavy duty saucepan. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring and scraping regularly to ensure sugar dissolves.
Once you’ve obtained a rapid boil, reduce heat to medium low. Continue to boil, swirling the pan often, until you’ve reached a deep golden color.
Remove from heat. Add butter one tablespoon at a time, stirring until melted and incorporated after each addition. Stir in sea salt.
While stirring continuously, slowly pour in heavy cream. Continue stirring until caramel is smooth and creamy.
Cover and set aside to cool and thicken. I poured it into a glass bowl and covered it with an inverted plate.
Chocolate Mousse
You will be assembling the pie immediately after making your mousse.
- 2 (4 oz) pkgs Baker’s bittersweet baking chocolate bars
- 10 oz pkg marshmallows
- 1 1/2 cups heavy whipping cream, divided
In double boiler, melt together Baker’s chocolate, marshmallows, and half a cup of heavy cream, stirring and scraping regularly. Continue melting and stirring until shiny and smooth.
Set aside to cool — approximately 40 minutes — stirring regularly to cool evenly.
With electric mixer, beat remaining whipping cream until slightly stiff peaks form.
Using a silicone spatula, mix in half of the whipped cream vigorously. Gently stir in remaining half of whipped cream.
Assemble the pie
In bottom of prepared pie crust, spread a fourth of the caramel sauce.
On top of the caramel sauce, spread half of the chocolate mousse.
On top of the chocolate mousse, spread half of the caramel sauce.
Cover the caramel sauce with an even layer of toasted pecan halves.
Carefully spread remaining chocolate mousse over the pecan halves.
Create a circle with toasted pecans around the outside edge. In the center, create a pecan turtle using 6 pecan halves — a head, a tail, and 4 limbs.
Drizzle remaining fourth of the caramel sauce over the top of the pie.
Cover and place in refrigerator at least 4 hours or overnight to set.
cook’s note
I had to place a large pot lid over the top and then use plastic wrap to lock it tightly into place.
ShldBWriting 