Serves8 to 10 (8-inch pie)
- Active time:25 min
- Start to finish:2 1/2 hr
RESTAURANT AUX ANCIENS CANADIENS
November 1999
“My husband and I had an absolutely fantastic dessert at Restaurant Aux Anciens Canadiens while on vacation in Quebec, Canada,” says Deb Kalikow of Natick, Massachusetts. “Maple syrup pie served with crème fraîche is its specialty. The pie capped off a perfect dinner of delicious French-Canadian dishes. We ate at another restaurant the next night and tried the maple syrup pie there. We were so disappointed by our first bites that we then went back to Aux Anciens Canadiens and waited an hour just to have another piece of their pie.”
Don’t be tempted to forgo the cream with this pie; it perfectly complements the dessert’s rich silkiness and balances the sweetness.
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Pastry dough
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1 2/3
cups
packed light brown sugar
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2
large eggs at room temperature
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1/2
cup
heavy cream
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1/3
cup
pure maple syrup (preferably dark amber)
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2
teaspoons
unsalted butter, melted
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Preheat oven to 350°F.
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Roll out dough into an 11-inch round on a lightly floured surface with a floured rolling pin and fit into an 8-inch (3-cup) glass pie plate. Trim excess dough and crimp edges decoratively.
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Whisk together brown sugar and eggs until creamy. Add cream, syrup, and butter, then whisk until smooth. Pour filling into pie shell.
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Bake pie in lower third of oven until pastry is golden and filling is puffed and looks dry but still trembles, 50 to 60 minutes. Cool on a rack to room temperature (filling will set as pie cools).
Cooks’ note: If you don’t have an 8-inch pie plate, substitute a 9-inch tart pan and prebake crust before baking with filling.