Thai Iced Tea Pie

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Hi! 

Happy Pi(e) day! If you are following any food-related social media, then you are aware that there are a lot (I mean, a lot!) of food-related “holidays” and “National this or that days”. While I’m not that into them (tbh, I can’t keep up with them), I am really into one, as are most people who love pie.

As you may or may not know, March 14th is National Pi Day! I’ll save you the long explanation and leave you a link here for those who need a brief explanation. For those who do know, you're likely pulling out your pie tins and baking up your favorite pie! Luckily for me, a few weeks ago I was kindly gifted an advance copy of this amazing book, The New Pie: Modern Techniques for the Classic America Dessert, by Chris Taylor and Paul Arguin. I knew I was going to be celebrating this pi(e) day with one of these recipes: Thai Iced Tea with Whipped Cream “Ice Cubes”! 

The book just debuted on bookstore shelves and online, March 12th! Chris and Paul are a self-taught baking duo, who by day happen to be doctors in Georgia. They fell in love while sharing their passions for baking—their first date was an over-the-phone baking date. Soon they were champion competitive bakers, winning more than 500 awards and ribbons for their pies and other baked goods. Their passion for baking comes through in their book. For starters, the book is truly beautiful. From cover to cover—yes, I read cookbooks like novels—pure eye candy is laid out with impeccably concise recipes for all baking types. From traditional American volumes to metric grams, each recipe is written in a way that will allow any baker, of any skill set, the chance to bake these very unique and utterly mouthwatering pies. 

I came to a complete halt when I read Thai Iced Tea with Whipped Cream "Ice Cubes”. I've never heard of such a flavor in a pie before—followed up with whipped cream ice cubes? Say what?! I am not lying when I say, this is truly a Thai Iced Tea in pie form. It delivers the flavors of the beverage, tenfold! I know I’ll end up baking nearly (if not all) of the pies in this book, and I really hope you do too. 

xo-Jase 

The New Pie: Modern Techniques for the Classic America Dessert is Copyright © 2019 by Chris Taylor and Paul Arguin; published in 2019 by Clarkson Potter/ Publishers.

…Good to Knows…

• If you can’t fine Thai iced tea mix in your area, you can order a Thai iced tea from your local Thai restaurant, but make sure to ask for No Ice and No Milk. You need 1 & 1/2 cups of the brewed tea for this recipe. If you do this, disregard the hot water and tea mix in the recipe.

• Listed below is a great pie dough recipe from the book, The New Pie. If you have a tried and tested pie dough recipe you would prefer to use, by al means use that one!

• The whipped cream “ice cubes’ are a very novel detail to really bring this pie to another level. However they are not 100% necessary. You can top this pie with a classic whipped cream right before serving.

• I found that this pie does need a full night a chilling in my refrigerator. Depending on how cold your refrigerator gets, more chilling time is better.

• This pie filling is rather runny once cut. So if you are planing on saving some for later, do note that this pie will ooze once the structure has been cut into. Keep in mind that no mater the appearance or shape, the taste is still 100% delish!

For a full list of recipes, check out the Recipe Index

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Thai Iced Tea Pie

…makes one 9 1/2-inch pie…

Recipe reprinted with permission from ‘The New Pie’ by Chris Taylor and Paul Arguin.

Standard Single Pie Crust 170g (1 cup + 3 tbsp) all purpose flour
1 1/4tsp granulated white sugar 
1/2 tsp salt 
1/8 tsp baking powder
43g (3 tbsp + 2 tsp) vegetable shortening
85g (6 tbsp) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
1 tsp apple cider vinegar
45g (3 tbsp) ice cold water 

Vanilla Whipped Cream “Ice Cubes” 232g (1 cup) heavy cream, cold 
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
14g (2 tbsp) confectioners’ sugar 
38g (2 tbsp) wilton pipping gel (optional) 

Thai Tea Cream 28g (1/3 cup) thai tea mix (such as pantai norasingh) 
472g (2 cup) boiling water
121g (1/2 cup) whole milk
30g (1/4 cup) cornstarch
25g (2 tbsp) granulated white sugar 
397g (1 - 14oz can) sweetened condensed milk
4 large brown egg yolks
just a pinch of salt
43g (3 tbsp) unsalted butter
2 tsp vanilla extract 

Optional 
Valrhona while chocolate pearls 
 

…METHOD…

Standard Single Pie Crust
Measure the flour, sugar, salt and baking powder directly into a large mixing bowl. Stir the contents with your pastry blender or a whisk until well mixed. 

Add the shortening and butter pieces into the flour. Cut the fat into the flour by pressing on the pieces of butter with the tines of the pastry blender. which will break them into smaller pieces and incorporate them into the flour. Keep moving and pressing the pastry blender around the bowl until all the larger chunks of butter and shortening have become much smaller. Reach into the flour with your hands and lift out a small handful of the mixture. Use your thumb and fingertips to press and smear any pieces of fat that are larger than 1/4-inch across. Repeat until all the larger pieces of fat have been broken up and mostly incorporated into the flour. You should still be able to see small (less than 1/4-inch) flecks of butter in the flour. 

If measuring all ingredients by volume (measuring cups), simply combine the vinegar with the cold water and drizzle all of the liquid over the flour. If using a scale, place the liquid measuring cup with a spout on the scale and tare (zero out) the scale to subtract the weight of the measuring cup. Add the measured amount of vinegar to the cup )do not re-tare the scale); now add the cold water to the vinegar so that the combined vinegar plus the water equals the weight of the cold water listed in the ingredients. Drizzle liquid over the flour. 

Using a rubber spatula, stir the mixture until the water seems to have been all absorbed. the dough will still appear loose and crumbly. Using either the rubber spatula or the heel of your hand, press the wetter pieces of dough into the drier pieces of dough against the sides of the bowl. Continue until all the drier portions seem moistened and have clumped not shaggy clusters.

Remove the dough pieces from the bowl and press them together not a 5 to 6-inch disc on a piece of plastic wrap. Wrap the disc in plastic wrap, and smooth the butter 1-inch thick edge with your fingertips or by rolling the disc along the countertop. These smooth edges will make the dough easier to roll out in a circle. 

Refrigerate for at least 4 hours but preferably overnight. 

Once chilled and rested, roll the dough to a 13- by 13-diameter for the 9-inch pie plate. Remember that the target thickness for the bottom pie crust is 1/8-inch. Place the dough in the pie pan and crimp the edges as desired. Freeze the dough-lined pan for a least 20 minutes while preheating the oven to 350 degrees F. 

Lightly spray one side of an 18-inch piece of aluminum foil with cooking spray. Line the crust with aluminum foil, sprayed side down. Fill the pan with pie weights. 

Bake the crust until the edges is golden brown, 50 to 60 minutes, peeking under the edge of the foil to check for doneness. Remove the pie pan from the oven and lift out the pipe weights using the foil. The goal is for the inside of the pie shell to be evenly golden brown—it should look like a finished crust. If the crust still too pale, place it back into the oven without weights and continue to bake, checking every 2 minutes. Use a pie shield if you don’t want the edges to brown any further. Cool the pie crust completely on a wire rack, about 1 hour. 

Vanilla Whipped Cream “Ice Cubes”
If using a hand mixer or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whip the cream and vanilla in a medium bowl on medium-high speed until the cream forms soft peaks when the beaters are lifted from the bowl. (You can also whip the cream with just a whisk and some elbow grease if you’re into that.) 

Add the confectioners’ sugar and piping gel, if using. Continue beating the mixture at medium-high speed until stiff peaks form, 1 to 3 minutes. Do not over-beat or the mixture will appear stiff and somewhat curdled. 

Grease the bottom and sides of a 9 by 5-inch loaf pan with butter or cooking spray. Line the long side of the pan with a 14 by 8-inch strip of parchment (or waxed paper) and grease the parchment.

Evenly spread the whipped cream into the prepared loaf pan. Freeze the mixture until completely frozen, at least 4 hours or up to 8 hours. It is important that the mixture is completely frozen before continuing.

Thai Tea Cream
Brew the Thai tea by steeping the Thai tea mix in the boiling water for 6 minutes. Strain the tea using a fine-mesh sieve. Measure out 1 1/2 cups of tea and set aside to cool. 

In a medium saucepan, whisk together the cooling tea, whole milk, and cornstarch until the cornstarch is dissolved and then whisk in the sugar, condensed milk, egg yolks, and salt. Over a medium heat, bring the mixture to a simmer (a few large bubbles should break the surface), whisking constantly. Reduce the heat to medium-low and continue to simmer, whisking constantly, for 1 minute to ensure that the mixture is fully thickened. 

Remove the pan from the heat and whisk in the butter and vanilla until the butter has melted and is incorporated. Strain the mixture through a fine-mesh sieve and then pour the tea cream into the cooled pie crust and smooth the top. Press plastic wrap onto the top of the cream and refrigerate until cold throughout, at least 4 hours or up to overnight. 

…ASSEMBLY and SERVE…

Remove frozen whipped cream from freezer, run a thin knife along he edges of the cream to loosen it from the pan, and lift the parchment sling out of the pan. Turn it out onto a cutting board. using a sharp knife, cut the frozen whipped cream into 1-inch squares to create cubes. Remove the plastic wrap from the pie. Arrange the cubes over the top of the pie.

Refrigerate the pie for at least 2 hours or up to overnight before serving to allow the frozen whipped cream cubes to thaw (they will keep their shape because of the pipping gel). For additional fun, garnish with the Valrhona white chocolate pearls before serving, if desired.

Store any leftovers in the refrigerator—but that said, the pie is best eaten within 2 days of making the Thai Tea Cream.  Enjoy! 

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