Irish Car Bomb Pie
My mother-in-law makes a wonderful Irish Cream Pie. The more I thought about this sweet pie, I thought about the Beer Cocktail of Guinness Irish Stout, Jameson Irish Whiskey, and Bailey’s Irish Cream, otherwise known as a Car Bomb cocktail. So, I decided to turn the concept of this classic beer cocktail and re-create it into an Irish Car Bomb Pie creation.
I use Irish Whiskey in the pie crust, reducing the amount of water needed, increasing its ease of rolling out the pie dough while still making a delicious and flaky crust. In a pie crust, the more water that is present, the H20 not only hydrates the flour but mixes with the flour and creates gluten strands, ultimately creating a tough finish crust. As most Whiskey has a 40% alcohol by volume or 80 proof minimum, that is 40% less water by volume. As alcohol doesn’t create gluten when mixed with flour, more alcohol can be used to make a easier to roll out pie dough, using less water in the end. A secondary benefit from using alcohol like Whiskey is it also adds a delicious flavor to the crust. Think about vanilla, oak tannin, caramel, toffee, and all the other flavors, depending on the brand o Whiskey you use, which are left in the pie crust!
Then I combine Irish Dry Stout and more Irish Whiskey together to make a mousse filling for this Irish Car Bomb Pie. This adds a bulk of the pie filling, setting to make an almost custard-like filling, full of Beer Cuisine goodness. The roasty stout, cream, sugar in the form of Dry Malt Extract (or DME in home brewing terms) that brings sweetness to the final filling plus more malted barley (a key ingredient is in both beer and whiskey) flavor, along with gelatin and eggs to help the mousse set, with a touch more Irish Whiskey and a pinch of salt, to make all the flavors bright.
The beer pie is then topped with an Irish Cream Liqueur Infused Whipped Cream that is also sweetened with powdered sugar. To add a contrasting color and pop of flavor, malted barley, that has been roasted, to increase the bitterness and coffee | chocolate undertones are sprinkled over the pie, as a garnish. With one bite of this Irish Car Bomb Pie, all the flavors of this beer pie, combine in your mouth, re-creating that beer cocktail. Cooking with beer, in this case, cooking with stout adds all the flavor attributes of an Irish Dry Stout to a dessert, increasing the complexity, in ways a non-beer dessert can’t. Yet another reason why it’s better to Eat Beer!
To make this Irish Car Bomb Pie more flavorful and unique, try making your own Homemade Irish Cream Liqueur. This will add more richness, more complexity, and more umami elements to the finished sweet beer pie.
Makes: 1 each Irish Car Bomb Pie, 8 – 12 slices
For more Irish Beer Cuisine ideas, check out my Irish Menu Ideas
For more Pie recipes, including sweet beer pies, savory beer pies, hand pies, pot pies, and shepherd’s pie recipes, click HERE.
Adapted from BeerAdvocate Magazine: Cuisine à la Bière | Mar 2009 | Issue #26
| Servings | Prep Time |
| 8 - 10 servings | 10 minute |
| Cook Time | Passive Time |
| 30 minute | 2 hour |
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Taking a Car Bomb cocktail (Bailey's Irish Cream, Guinness Irish Stout and Jameson Irish Whisky) and turning it into a Irish Car Bomb Pie!
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- 2 cup flour, all-purpose
-
1/2 cup
flour, barley such as Bob's Red Mill Barley Flour
- 3 tablespoon dry malt extract (DME), Golden Light available at Beer Beer and More Beer
- 1 teaspoon sea salt
- 6 ounce butter, unsalted such as Kerry Gold Irish butter (1 1/2 sticks), cut into small cubes
- 1/2 cup vegetable shortening, cold and cut into small cubes
- 1/4 cup Irish Whiskey, cold, such as Jameson Irish Whiskey or Bushmills Original
- 1/4 cup water ice cold
- 1 envelope gelatin
- 1/2 cup sugar, organic
- 1/4 cup dry malt extract (DME), Golden Light available at Beer Beer and More Beer or light brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt, kosher
- 1 1/2 cup cream, heavy or whipping preferably organic
- 3/4 cup Irish Dry Stout, such as Guiness, Beamish or Murphy's
- 2 each eggs, large at room temperature, separated
- 1 tablespoon Irish Whiskey, such as Jameson Irish Whiskey or Bushmills Original
- 1 1/2 cup cream, heavy or whipping preferably organic
- 2 tablespoon Irish Cream Liqueur recipe HERE or Bailey's Irish Cream
- 1 tablespoon sugar, powdered
- 2 tablespoon Pale Chocolate Malt, Crisp, available at Beer Beer and More Beer, cracked, for garnish or shaved dark chocolate
- Note: Adding whiskey to the pie crust recipe results in less water being added in the dough (percentage of alcohol to water), making a forgiving pastry that is flaky and packs an extra punch of flavor for the filling to stand up to.
- In the bowl of a food processor, add the two flours, DME (or sugar) and salt. Pulse several times to mix the ingredients together. Add the cold butter and shortening to the bowl and pulse a few times to cut the fat into the flour. Keep pulsing until the mixture has small grain-sized chunks of fat evenly distributed throughout. Transfer the mixture to a medium-sized bowl. Add the whiskey and ice water. Using a spatula, fold the liquid into the flour/fat, until the mixture forms a ball. Since the alcohol mixed with flour cannot form gluten like water and flour can, over-mixing isn’t as much of an issue with this crust. Plus, the alcohol will evaporate (40-percent alcohol), resulting in a super flaky crust. Form the dough into two equal-sized balls. Take plastic wrap and wrap each ball of dough, pressing down on each to create a disk. Place these disks into the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes to re-chill the fat, preventing the crust from shrinking as it cooks.
- Preheat the oven to 400°F | 204°C. Take one dough ball and roll it out to 1/4 of an inch-thick round, on a lightly floured surface. If you don’t have a rolling pin, use a chilled 22-ounce beer bottle that is full of cold beer. Roll the finished disk onto the rolling pin. Unroll it in a 9-inch pie plate or tin. Fix any cracks with any extra dough. Crimp the edges of the crust and lightly poke the bottom with a fork (to prevent steam pockets), then place into the center of the oven and bake for 12 – 15 minutes or until golden brown. Let cool completely before adding filling.
- This recipe only requires one dough ball. The remaining Irish Whiskey Pie Crust can be frozen or saved for another use, e.i., creating a Chicken and Leek Stew Pot Pies.
- In a medium-sized saucepan, add the gelatin, sugar, DME (or equal amount sugar), salt and mix to combine. Place the pan over low heat and add 1/2 cup of the cream and Irish Stout. Stir until the gelatin has dissolved.
- In a medium bowl, whisk the egg yolks until pale and fluffy. Add 1 tablespoon of the cream mixture and whisk into the yolks. Repeat this step several times to temper the yolks, preventing them from scrambling. Add the tempered yolks to the cream mixture. Continue to stir, until the mixture thickens (reaching about 180°F | 82°C).
- Remove from the heat and place the pan in a bowl of ice water to chill down to 90°F | 32°C, just before the gelatin sets. Add the Irish whiskey to the mixture; stir well.
- In another bowl, beat the egg whites until they reach a soft peak.
- In a third bowl, beat 1 cup of cream until a soft whipping cream is reached. Fold the Stout mixture into the beaten egg whites, loosening up the filling. Add the whipping cream and fold into the Stout mixture, making a Irish Stout Whiskey mousse. Pour the mousse filling into the baked pie shell and cover with plastic wrap (preventing a film from forming) and chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours.
- Whip the remaining 1 1/2 cups of cream with recipe Homemade Irish Cream Liqueur and powdered sugar into a soft peak.
- Remove the pie from the refrigerator and take off the plastic wrap. Decorate the top of the Irish Stout Whiskey mousse with the whipping cream using a pipping bag fitted with a star tip, then garnishing with chocolate malt dust. Cut into 8 or 10 pieces and serve.
- If the pie is not fully consumed, store the leftovers in the refrigerator.
Looking for recipes that will compliment this recipe? Check out my Irish Menu Ideas for other Irish Beer Cuisine recipes.
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