Carrot Cake Pie with Cream
Cheese Whip Topping

Carrot Cake Pie with Cream Cheese Whip Topping tastes like delicious carrot cake but it is a beautiful pie!

Yield: 1 (9 inch) pie

Ingredients

Crust

• 2 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup Crisco®
• 1/2 cup ice water

Pie Filling

• 1 cup dark corn syrup
• 3 whole eggs
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon nutmeg, freshly ground
• 1/4 teaspoon cloves, freshly ground
• 4 ounces (1/2 stick) butter, salted
• 1/2 cup chopped walnutes
• 1/2 cup slivered almonds
• 1/2 cup chopped pecans
• 1 cup California raisins
• 1/2 cup green apple, peeled, cored, medium dice
• 1/2 cup carrots, peeled and shredded

Cream Cheese Whip Topping

• 8 ounces cream cheese, room temperature
• 1 cup heavy whipping cream, chilled
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract

Instructions

Pie Crust

1. In mixing bowl (you can use a stand mixer with paddle attachment) place dry ingredients and mix together. Slowly add the chilled shortening and mix until mixture resembles coarse crumbs. Slowly add in chilled ice water until dough forms (you may not need all the water so add slowly).
2. Pat dough into a five inch disk, wrap in plastic, and chill (dough rolls better if chilled). Dough may be refrigerated overnight.
3. When dough is chilled, place on a floured surface and roll out to about 1/16 of an inch. Do not overwork dough. Line a 9-inch pie tin with the pie crust. Trim the edges.

Pie Filling

1. Heat oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Combine walnuts, almonds and pecans, place on a parchment lined sheet pan and toast until golden brown, 8-10 minutes.
3. Keep oven on to bake pie when ready.
4. Over medium heat, melt butter in a skillet. Add toasted nuts, raisins, diced apple and shredded carrots. Stir frequently until apples and carrots are tender.
5. Remove skillet from heat and cool filling.
6. Combine dark corn syrup, whole eggs and vanilla extract in a small bowl.
7. Separately combine granulated sugar, all-purpose flour, ground cinnamon, ground nutmeg, and ground cloves in a medium bowl. Add the liquid ingredients to the dry mixture and combine until well blended. Spread the nut and raisin mixture on the bottom of the pie crust and pour the batter over the nut and raisin mixture.
8. Place prepared pie in oven and bake at 350 degrees F until filling is set, about 40-45 minutes. Insert a wooden pick to determine doneness.
9. Set pie aside to cool completely.

Cream Cheese Whip Topping

1. In the meantime, combine softened cream cheese with powdered sugar and vanilla extract; blend until smooth.
2. Whip chilled heavy cream to medium peak.
3. Add cream cheese mixture to the whipped cream and continue whipping until all ingredients are well blended.
4. Using a piping bag fitted with a star tip, pipe whip cream cheese around the edges of the cooled pie, leaving the inner circle plain to show the beauty of the ingredients.
5. Serve extra cream filling in a small bowl on the side.
6. As a finishing touch, sprinkle cream cheese filling with a little cinnamon.

Attribution

Recipe and photo used with permission from: California Raisins
Submitted by: Chef Bryan Ehrenholm