PEPPERMINT CRISP PIE 0

Since we met, 1000 years ago, my husband and I have constantly debated one thing…..the origin of the Peppermint Crisp bar……the glorious, deeeee-licious, refreshing, crunchhhy, melt in the mouth Peppermint Crisp bar…..

“They’re South African!” says he, “They’re DEFINITELY Aussie!” says she…… and on and on and on…..until each time, we simply agree to disagree, go to Coles, buy 20, eat them and go to sleep.

Whatever the case may be, these bars of heaven make me BAWL even at the mere mention of them, so you can IMAGINE how I reacted, approximately 2 years ago whilst living in London, when we went to Husbies’ cousins house and they pulled out a PIEEEEEE – yes a PIE made from Peppermint Crisps!!! Apparently, the PC pie, IS a South African thing…..similar to say, Pav’s or Lamingtons here. Whether you make it in individual glasses or bowls or one massive one for everyone to share, it must ALWAYS be combined with generous amounts of biscuit, cream and caramel…..

When I visited S.A. I made sure that I only ate at restaurants where the Peppermint Crisp Pie (PCP) was served as a dessert (kidding!….kind of….) and I vowed, that when I came back to Sydney, I’d make it at least once a week……

Well…… of course time got the better of me…..It’s been OVER 12 months since my return from the trip and I’ve NEVER made the PCP…….that was until yesterday………

What better occasion to make it than the birthday of a loved one, my Mum to be specific, and a loved one who LOVESSSSSSSSS the P.Crisp, much like Husbies and me….(I mean who DOESN’T????)

So, although off the top of my head I knew the concept of the dish, I thought it might be wise to have a recipe by my side to glance over – Thanks again Tessa Kiros (Apples for Jam).

The below list of ingredients and method is what I used/did. It was adapted from Tessa’s as 1) my dish was a different size to hers (mine was 45cm in diameter), 2) I knew I would want more P.Crisp topping than the average person, 3) I like adapting recipes!

INGREDIENTS

500g Original Digestive Biscuits – crushed to smithereens

200g Unsalted butter – melted

800g Caramel (condensed milk caramel, caramel fudge – homemade or bought, dulce de leche etc)

600ml Cream – whipped

12 Peppermint Crisp bars

INGREDIENTS

METHOD

1) Crush all of the Digestives in a large mixing bowl, they need to be crushed into miniscule bits, like sand.

THIS IS NOT CRUSHED ENOUGH

THIS IS CRUSHED ENOUGH – SOME LARGER BITS ARE OK AS THEY MAKE FOR YUMMY CHOMPING IF YOU LAND ONE IN YOUR PIECE!

2) Add the melted butter to the crushed Digestive biscuits.

BUTTER ADDED

3) Mix butter and biscuits together thoroughly. I use my clean, dry hands to do this. LET ME JUST SAY RIGHT NOW, The combination of hot melted butter and crumbed biscuits is one of the most RIDICULOUSLY amazing things you will EVER smell!

MIXED THOROUGHLY

4) Transfer this mix to your pie dish – for this recipe, my dish was a large round, low bowl, 45cm in diameter.

BISCUIT MIX IN PIE DISH

5) Pat mixture down into dish, making sure that it is evenly spread across both the base, and up the sides, all the way to the top. Refridgerate until firm (the longer the better up to about 3 hours, no less than 1 hour.)

BISCUIT MIXTURE SPREAD INTO DISH

6) Fill the set biscuit pie crust with the caramel. I bought packets of caramel fudge from the store. If you buy a decent quality one, this tastes just as delicious as a home made one! Alternatively, if you have a good recipe for homemade caramel – use it! One simple option that Tessa suggests is boiling cans of condensed milk for 3-4 hours – but I’m scared of heating in a can! :)

CARAMEL ADDED INTO PIE CRUST

7) Whip the cream and spread it evenly across the top of the whole pie. Place the pie back into the fridge.

CREAM SPREAD ON PIE

AND ANOTHER PIC OF THE CREAM – I LOVEEEEE CREAM!

8) Chop the Peppermint Crisp bars into wedges and chunks – all different shapes and sizes. Ensure to cut one bar, eat one bar, cut one bar, eat one bar! Joke! But note – tasting at this stage is DEFINITELY allowed – it would be criminal if it wasn’t!

CHOP……

CHOPPITY….

CHOP-A-DOODLE-DO!!!

9) Finally, scatter the PC’s all over the pie, be generous, get excited, commence salivating!

PC’S GENEROUSLY SCATTERED

THE PIE IS DONE!

10) Take the pie to your friend…. or to you Mum….. or to your Hairdresser….. or to anyone who you think is worthy of eating it! (Note: When serving, if you’ve set it for long enough, you will be able to cut it into pie pieces, if not, just scoop bits out!)

Oh……and by the way……they’re South African! (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peppermint_Crisp) – BUT DON’T TELL MY HUSBAND HE WAS RIGHT!! :)

ENJOY!