Quantum Entanglement Caramel Pie
‘Quantum entanglement is the physical phenomenon that occurs when a pair or group of particles is generated, interact, or share spatial proximity in a way such that the quantum state of each particle of the pair or group cannot be described independently of the state of the others, even when the particles are separated’
(Wikipedia)
May 2nd was my Mum’s 69th birthday. Because of stupid COVID-19, she’s self-isolating in the country with my Dad, so I couldn’t send her a gift. Instead, I made her a Quantum Entanglement Caramel Pie! What’s a Quantum Entanglement Caramel Pie you ask? Alright. Get ready for me to botch some physics.
Something something researchers are now able to entangle particles and don’t ask me how they do it… but once they’ve done it, they find that - even if the particles are separated in space - altering one particle causes changes to occur to its entangled twin as well. It’s MESSED UP because these changes are instantaneous, which (I think???) has all sorts of interesting repercussions for how we conceptualised time and space and causality and alllll that stuff.
So how do you make your mother a Quantum Entangled Caramel Pie? First, you make up a recipe filled with everything she loves (salted caramel and roasted nuts) and then you send it to your Dad who stresses out slightly making a replica cake to your exact descriptions! Then you have your pie and she has her pie and your Dad needs a 24 hour cool-off period because he got quite anxious that the nuts were going to burn in his fan-forced oven. Anyhoo the pie went down a TREAT and now you can make it too if you like!
Pro tip: call a friend on the other side of the planet and you can BOTH make the pies simultaneously and then you can eat them and discuss how they’re sort of entangled but not really because I just said that because I like the idea and how amazing is physics and isn’t it crazy that we haven’t found a way to reconcile Einstein’s theory of relativity with quantum mechanics and what on earth is a Quark and why are they called names like ‘up’, ‘down’, ‘strange’ and ‘charm’!?
Note: Depending on the size of your tart pan you may be left with a little extra pastry. I recommend using a tart pan that is at least 30cm in diameter. And make sure to use one that doesn’t have a removable base, as the caramel mixture is quite runny before you cook it, and if there are cracks in your pastry the caramel might leak out. Play it safe - go for a ceramic tart pan, like in the photo (below).
Quantum Entanglement Caramel Pie
Serves 6-8
Ingredients
For the chocolate pastry
1 cup plain flour
1/3 cup almond meal
3 Tbsp cocoa powder
1 1/2 Tbsp icing sugar
A pinch of salt
125g butter, chilled and chopped into cubes
1 Tbsp instant coffee dissolved in 1 Tbsp warm water
1 egg, whisked
For the nut topping
1/2 cup pistachios
1/2 cup macadamias
1/2 cup pecans
1/2 cup hazelnuts
For the caramel filling
50g butter
1/2 cup brown sugar
2/3 cup maple syrup
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla essence
3 eggs, whisked
Method
First, make the chocolate pastry. Put the flour, almond meal, cocoa powder, icing sugar and salt into a medium bowl and mix together thoroughly. Chop the chilled butter into cubes and rub it into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse, ragged breadcrumbs. Try to work quickly to keep the butter as cold as possible. Make a well in the centre and add the egg and the instant coffee (if you don’t have instant coffee, 1 Tbsp of espresso will work too). Mix together with a fork until the dough starts to cling together, then tip it out on a bench and knead it until it forms a smooth dough. Wrap in cling wrap and place it in the fridge for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 200˚C (or 180˚C if your oven is fan forced).
Once the dough is chilled, take it out and roll it thinly on a lightly floured surface. It should be about half a cm thick. You’ll have extra dough left over as this recipe makes a double batch. You can wrap it in cling wrap and freeze it to use later. It will keep for a month or so in the freezer. Lay the rolled out pastry in a ceramic tart dish, making sure it comes all the way up to the edges, and trimming off any excess pastry that hangs over. Blind bake the pastry by laying a sheet of baking paper on top of the pastry and weighting it down with rice or pie weights. Cook in the oven for 20 minutes, then reduce the oven to 180˚C, remove the baking paper and weights, and cook a further 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and set aside.
Put the nuts on an oven tray and roast at 200˚C for 5 minutes, or until the macadamias have just started to go a light golden brown colour. Remove from the oven and set aside.
To make the caramel filling, put the butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, salt and vanilla essence in a saucepan and heat over moderate heat until the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is smooth. Allow to cool for 5 minutes, then whisk in the eggs. Pour the mixture into the baked pastry shell. Bake in the oven at 180˚C for 20 minutes (this will allow the filling to set slightly), then scatter the roasted nuts on top of the filling and bake for another 20-25 minutes or until the caramel filling is firm and not wobbly.
Serve warm from the oven, with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream (also goes surprisingly well with a cold beer!).