Snickers Pie

In celebration of my husband and the month of his birth, I made Martha Stewart's version of a Snickers Pie.  It's not technically a Snickers Pie because it doesn't have a nougat center but a peanut butter mousse.  As a lover of peanut butter and chocolate, this pie is not to be missed.  

The recipe seemed easy overall with it's cookie crust and an easy mousse.  The only part that I approached with apprehension is the caramel.  I've never made candy let alone caramel from scratch and my sister-in-law insisted I needed a thermometer even though the recipe didn't called for it.  I just sucked it up, read the recipe as carefully as I could, and began.  The recipe called for 1 and 1/4 cup of sugar and 1/4 cup of water.  I was to put it over medium heat until the sugar caramelized.  That sounded easy enough.  However, I did this 3 times and it just did not work!  The water evaporated and left the sugar in a hard white lump.

a slow boil

nothing but hard, dry sugar

I cooked in in medium heat, slow heat, high heat, but to no prevail.  I ended up resorting to Youtube videos of other chefs making a caramel sauce.  I found these videos to be particularly helpful: video 1, video 2, and video 3.  I noticed in these videos that it was simply sugar in the pot, no water necessary.  The sugar over low heat, will slow begin to caramelize on it's own.

Starting to melt

Just use the pan to move the sugar around, no utensil needed

wait for it...

Wait for it..

Smooth!

The only thing to be careful about is not to leave it on the stove for too long because even though it will look the right color and texture, the sugar will begin to burn and there is no way to remove the burned taste and you'll have to start all over.  Once the sugar is melted, take it off the heat and add a liquid such as cream or butter.  This will shock the sugar and harden it.  Put back over heat and the sugar will warm to a nice thick sauce.  This particular recipe added creme fraiche to the caramel and I think it lessened the sweetness and gave it an even creamier texture.

Adding the creme fraiche

After this step, I was spent and didn't have enough time to cool the pie before serving.  It takes about an hour to cool and form.  The chocolate ganache is supposed to be a thick layer on top so be sure it sets before releasing the springform.

Released the springform before the chocolate could set

Despite my lack of patience, the pie was still tasty and looked even better the next day!  I was very happy to learn a new technique and I will definitely make this pie again!