Pecan Pie Semifreddo

Directions

1. Crust
2. Preheat the oven to 350˚ F.
3. Combine all of your ingredients; you want it to have the consistency of wet sand. Press into the bottom of your pan.
4. I like to use a tart pan for this. It looks very elegant, and quite pie-like, but using a spring form pan, loaf pan, whatever you choose works just as well!
5. Bake in the oven for 8 minutes, you will be able to smell the toasting crust.
6. Remove and allow to cool completely before putting your semifreddo in.

1. Semifreddo
2. Begin by whipping your heavy cream in your mixer, or by hand, until medium-stiff peaks form. You will know when this has occurred when you lift the whisk and your whipped cream has a slight curl to the end of it.
3. Reserve your whipped cream in another bowl in the refrigerator.
4. Combine the sugar, eggs and egg yolks in your mixing bowl.
5. Place on top of a small saucepot that has been filled with about an inch of water, making sure that it is not directly touching your bowl.
6. Turn the burner on low and, with a whisk, constantly whip your egg sugar mixture until the sugar has dissolved—this should be around 120˚ F.
7. Once you have reached this stage, turn off your burner and put the bowl on your mixer with the whisk attachment.
8. Whip on medium-high until your eggs have turned a pale yellow and have formed ribbons.
9. To do the “ribbon test”: when you believe that your eggs have been whipped long enough, stop the mixer and dip the whisk attachment into the batter, go back and forth, making a line with the eggs. If they hold for 3-5 seconds without sinking back into your mixture, then you are good to go!
10. Now, take the whipped cream from the beginning and fold into your whipped eggs.
11. How to fold in the cream? First, put a small bit of the whipped cream in to temper, mixing quickly with your spatula, next put into about ½ of your remaining cream. As a chef of mine used to say, “12:00, 6:00, give it a quarter turn,” meaning simply that start with your spatula at 12:00 on your bowl, drag down to 6:00, and give the bowl a quarter turn. Do this until all of the cream is mixed in and is homogenous.
12. Transfer on top of your crust that has been baked and cooler.
13. Now, you may either put this in the freezer as is to freeze, or, if you want to add a little extra sweetness, mix in some caramel or dulce de leche. I like to swirl in lots of dulce de leche so that I find yummy pockets in each bite!
14. Once frozen, remove from your pan, slice and serve.