Food Friday: Caramel Pie

Back in my misspent youth, I lived in Nashville where there was a chain of restaurants known as O’Charley’s.  Among other things, they made something called caramel pie.  It was delicious and this week I tried my hand at making it myself.  It’s easy enough to do but it takes time, so this is a plan-ahead sort of treat to be made the day before you intend to serve it.

Ingredients

2 cans of sweetened condensed milk, wrappers removed

1 graham crack pie crust (you could make your own or just get the Keebler elves to hook you up)

whip cream

chocolate chips

chopped pecans

Fill a large pot of water and drop in both cans of sweetened condensed milk —— unopened —— bring the water to a boil and boil the cans for 3 hours.  You will need to check regularly and add water.  After three hours, let the cans cool off completely before you open them.  This will take 2-3 additional hours (and now you know what I mean by plan-ahead).

Once the caramel is done, the pie comes together easily.  Open the cans and pour the thick caramel into the graham cracker crust.  Though it looks like a small can, it is quite densely packed with caramel goodness.

Spread the caramel around the graham crust so that the crust is filled.  Then refrigerate, preferably overnight.  The day you plan to serve the pie, whip the cream.  My whip cream formula is to add 2 tablespoons of sugar to each cup of whipped cream I intend to make.  I whip the cream for about 2 minutes on high…..but keep a close watch, as this process can go awry.

Cut the pie into slices and plate them.  Sprinkle some pecans and chocolate chips on top of each slice.  Place a generous dollop of whip cream on the slice of pie.  

Delicious!