My, Oh, My! Amaretto Pie!

Yum

Note: This post was originally written soon after Three Friends and a Fork visited Mt. Vernon Restaurant in Chattanooga, TN.  For some reason I never posted it and it just sat in my drafts.  As I was cleaning up the blog this morning I noticed this post, thinking it didn't have any labels attached to it.  When I got all the labels attached and hit a button thinking I was just updating an old post, I realized this post was way out of order...not at all where it should be in terms of when I wrote the darn thing.  So anyway, here it is...my attempt at making an amaretto pie Mt. Vernon style.  It sounds like I just did this when you read the post.  I didn't.  This was meant to be posted last year.  The things you find when you are cleaning up! 

I did it!!  I have been wanting to try my hand at duplicating Mt. Vernon Restaurant's Amaretto Pie since Three Friends and a Fork visited Chattanooga weeks ago.  Yesterday was my day.  First I searched for some cream pie recipes that I thought might work.  I decided I wanted to use mascarpone cheese in my pie.  Why?  Well, not necessarily because I thought Mt. Vernon used mascarpone, but simply because I HAD mascarpone!  That's a good enough reason, right?  I knew if I found a cream pie that used cream cheese, I could easily substitute mascarpone, but first I had to find a recipe that I thought would work with amaretto.  A coconut cream pie, minus the coconut,  seemed like a good bet.  I found a recipe at A Spicy Perspective, that  sounded wonderful...creamy and light, just like Mt. Vernon's pie.  This pie called for instant vanilla pudding, but I only had the cook and serve variety, so I was already having to make changes beyond leaving out coconut and adding amaretto.  Sigh!

I started with my old faithful pie crust recipe, but this time added sliced almonds like the one at Mt. Vernon.  Here is the crust recipe. It will make 2 crusts, so you can save half for another recipe.

2 cups all purpose flour
1 t. salt
2/3 cup vegetable shortening
5-6 T. ice water
1 c. sliced almonds

Mix the flour and salt together in a large bowl.  Cut in shortening until it looks like cornmeal.  Add ice water and almonds and stir until dough forms a ball.  Divide in half and roll out on a floured surface with a rolling pin.  Place in pie plate and poke holes all over bottom and sides of crust with a fork.  Brown in oven at 375 degrees for about 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown. Let cool completely.

Now for the filling.  Here is what I used.

1 (5.1 oz.) box of vanilla pudding (I recommend the instant variety to save you the step of cooking the pudding)
1 (15 oz.) can cream of coconut
1/2 c. coconut milk (you could use regular whole milk here if you don't have coconut milk)
12 oz. mascarpone cheese
2 c. heavy whipping cream
3 T. amaretto
1 t. almond extract
3 T. sugar
1/2 c. toasted sliced almonds


Because I did not have instant pudding, I needed to cook my pudding, If you have instant pudding you can skip the cooking step. Mix the vanilla pudding with the cream of coconut and coconut milk in a medium saucepan and cook, stirring constantly, until it thickens and comes to a rolling boil.  Pour into a glass bowl and refrigerate until the pudding is cool and thick.   If you are using instant pudding just mix it with the cream of coconut and coconut milk and chill.  While your pudding cools, whip the heavy cream with the amaretto, almond extract and sugar until the cream is thick and forms peaks.  Pour into a glass bowl and refrigerate.

Whip cream, amaretto, almond extract and sugar.

Now beat the mascarpone until light and fluffy. Slowly mix in the cooled pudding mixture.  Fold in half of the whipped cream and pour the entire concoction into your cooled pie crust.  Top with the remaining whipped cream.  Sprinkle toasted almonds on top.

I have no idea how Mt. Vernon makes their pie.  They probably use a cooked custard, but this version is really good and is very similar in taste and texture.  I can now have my amaretto pie fix even when I can't be in Chattanooga.  I hope you will give it a try and tell me what you think.