Caramel Crusted White Grape Pie

After reading the title to this post, you may be asking yourself what exactly a grape pie looks like... 

This... It looks like this.

Alright... Here's a test. in ten seconds, can you name three recipes that call directly for grapes (excluding jam etc.)? If you can, please leave them in a comment on this post - because aside from one salad, I've got nothing.  This recipe comes directly from the one and only Alton Brown, who was reportedly contracted to be a speaker at a fair, and the food theme he had to work with was grapes. He realized that there are hardly any recipes that call for grapes, and came up with this. 

Unsurprisingly, the heart and soul of this dish is, well, grapes. One pound of grapes, but it is not just grapes... The night before you plan on demolishing this particular dish, take your pound of grapes, wash and cut them each in half, then add in some honey, lime juice, and brandy. Throw all that business in a zip top bag, and throw it in the fridge. We'll reconvene in the morning. 

In the near future...

  The next day, drain the grapes from the liquid in a colander, and get to making a crust... 

Graham crackers are for amateurs... We're making grape pie here!

How do we make a graham cracker style crust even awesomer? Vanilla wafers of course... Grab 40 (not 2 cups, not about 7 ounces, 40. Yes I expect you to count them.) wafers and get to crumb-ifying them. If you have a fancy food processor, that's what I'd recommend using. I personally took the zip top bag and rolling pin to hulk smash the wafers to powder. While you're brutalizing the tasty vanilla goodness, throw 6 tablespoons of butter in a bowl and microwave it until it's melted. If your microwave is powered by a small nuclear reactor like mine is, it'll only take about 45 seconds. 

Since you're already pounding (or processing) things to tiny bits, go ahead and crush about 4 ounces of walnuts and add that to the wafer crumbs. If you're using a processor you can just throw 'em in there and give them a pulse or four until they are blended well with the vanilla wafer crumbs. 

Once you've got the wafers and walnuts processed and mixed together, add in a quarter teaspoon of salt, and the melted butter. the finished product should look like this:

It should kinda resemble wet sand.

 Now that the hard part is done, you can press this crust mixture into an 11x7 inch glass baking dish.

Lookin' good

Next, in a medium mixing bowl, whisk together one 16 ounce tub of sour cream, 1/2 cup of brown sugar (tightly packed), and a tablespoon of vanilla extract. Mix until there are no clumps of sugar, and everything appears to be evenly distributed. At this point, fold in the drained grapes. Once it's all mixed up, dump the filling on to the crust.

Almost there... 

Then spread it as evenly as you can manage to.

Like a boss.

Now for the sugary napalm (a.k.a. caramel) blend that we will be dropping on top of this thing.

In a medium sauce pan over medium-high heat, mix together 3/4 cup of brown sugar (tightly packed) and 6 more tablespoons of butter. When it's thoroughly mixed and at a decent boil, set a timer for a minute. Let it boil for a minute before removing the pan from the heat.

Don't worry if it looks a bit grainy, it's supposed to. 

Once the caramel mix is cooked, pour the bubbling mixture out on to the top of the pie.

Now we're getting somewhere. 

Try to evenly distribute the caramel over the top of the pie. If you leave some gaps, you can tilt the pan slightly to try and get it to go where you need it.

Or you can take your time, and be precise.

Once the caramel layer is on the top, sprinkle on some salt, and don't hesitate to be generous.

Resist the urge to dig in now... 

Once it's all done, cover the pie with aluminum foil or plastic wrap, and transfer to the fridge for it to set up. Try your best to give it about two hours in there... It'll be worth the wait!

To serve, cut into squares with your spatula. Don't hesitate to kinda stab at it - that caramel is crunchy.


Here's the full recipe!
Adapted from Alton Brown's recipe here

1 pound     White Seedless Grapes
1/2 cup      Honey
2 Tbsp       Brandy
2 Tbsp       Lime Juice (fresh)
40             Vanilla Wafers
4 ounces    Chopped Roasted Walnuts
1/4 tsp       Kosher Salt
12 Tbsp     Unsalted Butter, Divided
16 ounces  Sour Cream
1 Tbsp       Vanilla Extract
1 1/4 cups  Light Brown Sugar, Divided
1/2 tsp.       Coarse Ground Sea Salt, or Maldon Salt

1. Rinse, drain, dry, and halve the grapes
2. Place dried grapes in zip top bag with honey, brandy, and lime juice. 
3. Let grapes soak in refrigerator overnight
4. On day two, drain the grapes and let them sit in a strainer or colander while the next steps are completed
5. Break down the wafers to crumbs
6. Chop or process the walnuts (coarse grind) 
7. Melt 6 tablespoons of butter in a microwave safe dish 
8. Mix kosher salt, wafer crumbs, walnut pieces, and butter until it all has the consistency of wet sand
9. Pack the crust into an 11x7 baking dish
10. Mix the sour cream, vanilla, and1/2 cup of brown sugar thoroughly in a mixing bowl
11. Fold the drained grapes in to the sour cream mixture 
12. Pour filling on to the pressed crust
13. In a medium sauce pan, melt remaining 6 tablespoons of butter and 3/4 cup of brown sugar over medium heat. 
14. When the mixture comes to a boil, time one minute. 
15. After the caramel has boiled for a minute, pour it directly and evenly on to the top of the pie filling 
16. Immediately sprinkle caramel layer with coarse sea salt or Maldon salt
17. Cover pie and move to refrigerator for approximately 2 hours, until the filling and caramel are set. 

Yield: 1 pie, serves 8-10

Inactive prep time: 12 hours
Active prep time: 25 minutes
Cook time: 15 minutes