PIE-A-DAY #17
What happens if you’re on a camping trip and you suddenly have a hankering for pie?
According to Robin Donovan, you can put one together in the middle of the woods. All you need is a campstove and a skillet, and you can make a Magic Layer Pie based off the classic Seven-Layer Bar.
We found Donovan’s pie in her book Campfire Cuisine: Gourmet Recipes for the Great Outdoors.
Read below for the recipe, and click here to enter YOUR delicious pie (or pies) in the 5th Annual Good Food Pie Contest on Saturday, September 7th at LACMA.
Magic Layer Pie
(From Campfire Cuisine: Gourmet Recipes for the Great Outdoors, by Robin Donovan)
Every year at this time, as throngs of outdoor adventurers ready their camping gear and ponder whether to head for the mountains or the desert, the coast or the woods for their first camping trip of the year, all I can think about is the menu. Don’t get me wrong, I love the outdoors as much as the next guy, but for me, the food is the highlight of any camping—or life—adventure. And that sentiment goes doubly for dessert. There is just something deeply satisfying about sweet treats—gooey, toasty s’mores oozing with chocolate, fresh summer peaches baked over a fire with a rousing shot of rum, piping hot bananas baked with brown sugar and cinnamon—eaten under a sky lit up by millions of stars, in fresh air scented by tall trees, rich earth, and a crackling campfire.
What I’ve learned in my years of cooking and eating at campsites is that outdoor cooking doesn’t need to be elaborate to yield delectable results. This Magic Layer Pie is a perfect example. A skillet-cooked version of that elementary school bake sale staple known as Seven-Layer Bars, it’s super easy to make and only requires a frying pan, with a lid or foil to cover it, and a camp stove (it would work equally well on your stovetop at home). And it’s sure to delight campers of all persuasions.
Magic Layer Pie
This stovetop version of the bake sale staple Seven-Layer Bars, may be a bit messier than the original, but it is every bit as delicious. Be sure to allow the pie to cool completely before serving.
Serves 8 to 10
Ingredients
¼ cup butter
1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk
1 cup semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup shredded, sweetened coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Lower the heat to low and add the graham cracker crumbs. Using a spoon or fork, mix the crumbs with the melted butter to moisten them, then spread them out in an even layer covering the entire bottom of the pan. Next add the rest of the ingredients in layers, starting with the sweetened condensed milk, chocolate chips, coconut, and pecans. Spread out each ingredient as you add it to form fairly uniform layers. Cover tightly with a lid or aluminum foil and cook over low heat for 25 to 30 minutes, until the sweetened condensed milk has thickened. Remove the pan from the heat and let cool completely. Cut into wedges and serve.