Honey pie

December... one of my favorite months. The month when everything smells of cinnamon, vanilla, cookies, and other goodies.

Why not make it smell like honey? This pleasantly creamy and honey pie, with its golden color, is perfect for a festive table setting.

For the shortcrust pastry:

• 250 g cold butter
• 430 g flour
• 3 tablespoons powdered sugar
• a pinch of salt
• A few tablespoons of cold water

For the filling:

• 1l whole milk
• 100g brown sugar
• 75 g cornstarch
• 6 egg yolks
• 170g honey
• a little vanilla
• chocolate for decoration/topping (optional)

Procedure:

Shortcrust pastry

In a bowl, mix the flour, powdered sugar and a pinch of salt and add the cold, cut-up butter. Although it may sound almost impossible to work cold butter, flour and sugar into a dough, this is the #mastermove that makes the difference. If possible, use a mixer with a dough hook (I managed with a regular hand mixer, but don't overheat or ruin it), because your hands are warm. But of course, you can also use your hands 😊

Once you have kneaded enough that the butter is mixed with the flour to form small pieces, add a few tablespoons of cold water, but only enough to knead a dough that holds together. Form a ball and flatten it and wrap it in cling film or a freezer bag. Let the dough rest in the fridge for at least an hour.

Grease a baking tray with butter and flour it. Roll the dough into a large enough circle (including the edges, so the circle should be larger than the baking tray) and place it in the baking tray. Cut off the excess dough, let it rest for 15 minutes and prick it a few times with a fork. The dough bakes well even without a weight, but it is even better if you cover it with baking paper for the first 5-10 minutes of baking and evenly coat it with dried beans to help it keep its shape better. Preheat the oven to 170 degrees and bake the dough for approx. 20 minutes or until it is a nice golden brown color.

Stuffing

In the meantime, make the honey cream.

Heat ¾ of the milk in a saucepan over medium heat. In another bowl, combine the sugar, cornstarch, egg yolks, honey and remaining milk and stir until smooth and lump-free.

Once the milk is warm (not boiling!), remove it from the stove. Add a few tablespoons of hot milk to the mixture in the other bowl and whisk. Gradually add the milk and whisk. It is important to add the hot milk slowly and a little at a time so that the eggs do not curdle and lumps do not form. Once the mixture is very warm, you can slowly pour in the rest of the milk, stirring constantly.

Then pour the mixture back into the pan and heat over medium heat, stirring constantly until the cream starts to set. When you get a cream with the consistency of warm pudding, pour it into the baked dough and then bake the whole thing for another half hour or. if it looks very runny, a minute or so longer.

Then partially cool the pie to room temperature and place it in the refrigerator to set. I covered mine with cling film and left it in the refrigerator overnight.

You can serve it with a little melted chocolate, floral honey or one of our creamy honeys with different flavors . I haven't tried it yet, but it could be wonderfully delicious with the addition of berries on the side.