Virginia · Dessert
Virginia Peanut Pie
- Intermediate
- 80 min
- roughly 2 of 4 for cost
- Vegetarian
Leads with toasted, nutty warmth throughout, richness that coats and comforts, leaving a faint perfume.
Ingredients
- 1 unbaked 23cm pie shell
- 250g Virginia peanuts, roasted and salted
- 3 eggs
- 200g brown sugar
- 180ml dark corn syrup or cane syrup
- 55g butter, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/2 tsp salt
The skills inside
The wobble & the skewer: testing a bake
Allergen screen
Found: dairy · egg · nuts · peanuts
Screened for: gluten, dairy, egg, nuts, peanuts, fish, shellfish, molluscs, soy, sesame, celery, mustard, lupin, alcohol. Not screened: sulphites.
Screened by keyword from the ingredient list, not reviewed by a person; check every label for what the list cannot show.
Method
- Scatter the peanuts evenly in the pie shell.
- Whisk the eggs, brown sugar, syrup, melted butter, vanilla, and salt until smooth.
- Pour over the peanuts; they will float to form the top layer.
- Bake at 175C for 50-60 min until the center is set with only a faint tremble. 60 min
- Cool completely before slicing, ideally 4 hours. 240 min
How to tell it is going right
This dish has no standard of its own yet. It is judged on the technique it exercises: checked at the pan, while there is still something to be done about it.
The wobble & the skewer: testing a bake 135 recipes
- Tested at the true centre and the thickest point, not at the convenient edge: the edge is done long before the answer is.
- The skewer comes out as the recipe describes, clean and dry or carrying the stated moist crumb, and it does the same on a second test in a different spot.
- The wobble is read in motion: nudged, the centre moves as one set mass with a faint tremble, rather than a liquid ripple travelling across the surface.
- The other signs agree with the test: risen and just shrinking from the sides, the top set and dry to a light touch with no wet gloss on it.
- Pressed lightly at the middle it springs back and leaves no lasting dent.
Where it goes wrong It was judged on the clock and on how the edges looked, so a centre still liquid went to the rack and sank as it cooled, a dense wet seam under a perfectly browned top.
At the Table
- The Pour
- Sauternes
- Also Right
- Demi-sec Champagne
- From the Taps
- Belgian tripel
- Zero-Proof
- Jasmine tea
The sweetness rule is absolute: the pour must be sweeter than the plate, and acid keeps it from cloying.
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