Sweet Tea Pie

Inspired by the 2014 Texas State Fair's Deep Fried Sweet Tea, I decided I would try to recreate the texture of the custard in it in a pie. It was closest in texture, I thought, to a southern buttermilk pie, so I figured on replacing some of the buttermilk with tea with a little extra cream for texture. I used a store bought crust because I'm terrible at crusts and didn't have any graham crackers to make into crust, which would've been insanely delicious and the better choice than standard crust. So you can make and prep your own crust however you like. The State Fair version had a graham cracker coating before it was fried, and was served with a sweet tea syrup, I'm pretty sure it was just sweet tea made into a simple syrup, which I might try at a later date to drizzle over whipped cream on top of the pie.

Sweet Tea Pie Filling

3/4 c granulated sugar
1 tbsp arrowroot powder (cornstarch for those without corn intolerance)
1 tsp salt
2 eggs
5 egg yolks
1 cup strongly brewed black/orange pekoe/strong flavor of your choice tea
3/4 c low fat buttermilk
1/2 c heavy cream
4 tbsp unsalted butter
2 tsp lemon juice
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 tsp granulated sugar, reserved
1 tbsp cinnamon, optional

Place your cold oven racks on lower middle and upper middle positions, preheat to 300°F. Prep your pie crust of choice.

Brew your tea and let cool to room temperature. Whisk the 3/4 c sugar, arrowroot powder, salt, and cinnamon (if you're using it) in a large bowl with a pour spout. Melt the butter. In another bowl, whisk the eggs until they obtain slight foaming, whisk in the cream, butter, vanilla extract, and buttermilk. Combine wet and dry thoroughly, whisking as you go. Then whisk in the tea, and just before you pour into the crust, whisk in the lemon juice.

Once your pie crust of choice is ready to fill, whether you par bake or use graham cracker or store bought, place your crust in your pie plate on the lower rack, and push in until you can safely pour in the filling but not have to push the rack in too far, to prevent spilling. Bake 15 minutes, so it starts to gel up just a little bit, pull the rack out slightly and sprinkle the reserved 2 tsp sugar evenly across the top. If you don't spread it evenly, you'll have chunks of unmelted sugar on top like I did. Continue to bake for 25-35 minutes, until the pie jiggles slightly when shaken. Take the pie out of the oven and increase the temp to 450°F. Once it's at temperature, place the pie on the upper rack and bake until the sugar on top melts and turns golden brown, 5-10 minutes.

Allow to cool on a wire rack for 30-60 minutes, then refrigerate at least three hours before serving with whipped cream, it'd be really cute garnished with a lemon wedge.

It was pretty solidly well reviewed as delicious and creative, which I'll take.