Governor's House Inn

Here is a great and favorite Charleston recipe from Local Palate.  Enjoy!

A reinvention of a southern classic. By Christina Tosi. Pastry Chef, Momofuku Milk Bar, New York City

Ingredients

For chocolate crust:

2 cups of your favorite deep, dark chocolate cookie, ground by hand or in food processor

2 teaspoons sugar

1/8 teaspoon kosher salt

1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted (more if needed)

For salty caramel:

1 cup heavy cream, divided

2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

1 teaspoon kosher salt

2/3 cup sugar

¼ cup glucose

1 ea gelatin sheet

½ cup heavy cream

For peanut butter nougat:

¾ cup sugar

¼ cup water

3 egg whites

¾ cup peanut butter

1 cup peanut brittle, finely ground

½ teaspoon kosher salt

Directions

For chocolate crust:

In a 10” pie tin, mix together all ingredients until moist enough to knead into a ball. If mixture is not moist enough, melt additional 1 tablespoon of butter and knead in.

With your fingers and the palm of your hands, press the chocolate crust firmly into tin, making sure to evenly cover the bottom and sides of pie tin. Cool in refrigerator while prepping rest of pie.

For salty caramel:

Combine ½ cup heavy cream, butter, vanilla and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.

To make caramel: Heat sugar and glucose in a heavy-bottomed saucepan over medium-high heat. As soon as sugar starts to melt, use a heatproof spatula to move it constantly around the pan (you want it all to melt and caramelize evenly). Cook, constantly stirring, until caramel is dark amber in color, about 3 to 5 minutes.

Meanwhile, bloom* the gelatin in cold water.

Once caramel has reached target color, remove saucepan from heat. Very slowly and very carefully pour the remaining ½ cup heavy cream into the caramel. Whisk in the bloomed gelatin.

Add the first mixture of heavy cream, butter, vanilla and salt and whisk like crazy until the mixture is smooth and even in consistency. Set aside.

*To bloom gelatin: sprinkle powdered gelatin into a liquid (here, cold water) and allow to sit for 3 to 5 minutes. After blooming, the gelatin will dissolve evenly when mixture is heated and texture will be smoother.

For peanut butter nougat:

Put sugar and water in a small saucepan and gently slush the sugar around in the water until it feels like wet sand. Place saucepan over medium low heat, keeping track of temperature with an instant-read or candy thermometer.

While sugar is heating up, put egg whites in bowl of a mixer with a whisk attachment. Whip until medium-soft peaks form, and then turn to a low speed.

Once sugar-syrup measurement reaches 120°C (248°F), remove from heat and very carefully pour into whipping egg whites. Continue whipping on low.

While whites are whipping, mix peanut butter, peanut brittle, and salt in a large bowl until well-blended.

When whites have cooled to room temperature, turn mixer off and remove bowl. Using a spatula, fold the whites into the peanut butter mixture.

Assembling the pie:

To assemble the pie, pour the warm salty caramel into the chilled crust. Return it to the fridge to set for at least 4 hours, or overnight.

Remove pie from refrigerator and cover the face of the hardened caramel with the fresh peanut butter nougat. Use a spatula to push nougat around and fill pie shell.

Return pie to refrigerator and allow nougat to firm for 1 hour. Serve cold!