Dominique Ansel’s Orange Ruffled Milk Pie

Serves 8
Ingredients:

1 package phyllo dough (frozen; thawed according to instructions)
85g (6 tbsp) unsalted butter, melted 282g (6 each) large eggs
157g (¾ cup) granulated sugar 558g (2¼ cups) whole milk
1g (½ tsp) ground cinnamon,
plus more for sprinkling
zest of 1 orange
1 g (¼ tsp) orange blossom extract 80g (¼ cup) honey

Equipment:

9″ pie dish
medium pot
whisk
large mixing bowl
pastry brush
baking sheet

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven to 350° F.

2. Prepare the phyllo dough: Unfold the thawed phyllo sheets. Working with 3 phyllo sheets at a time, brush melted butter between each layer. Cut into strips approx.
2¼” wide x 14″ long (generally, store-bought phyllo comes in sheets that are 9″ x 14″). (TIP: keep any phyllo sheets you’re not currently working with covered under a clean, slightly damp kitchen towel).

3. Arrange the phyllo strips into a ruffled flower/spiral shape in your pie dish, starting from the exterior and working your way to the center. Continue with more buttered phyllo strips until the bottom of the pan is covered. Bake for 10-15 minutes, until the phyllo is lightly golden and flaky. Set aside.

4. In a large heat-proof mixing bowl, whisk together eggs and sugar until combined.

5. In a medium pot, combine milk, cinnamon, ¾ of the orange zest, and orange blossom extract. Bring to a boil over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally.

6. Slowly stream 1/3 of the milk mixture over the egg and sugar mixture, whisking until evenly combined. Slowly stream in another 1/3 of milk, whisking until evenly combined. Pour the mixture back into pot with the remaining milk, whisking until evenly combined. (TIP: This process is called tempering, which is a cooking technique where you’re gradually raising the temperature of a cold or room-temperature ingredient (in this case, eggs) by adding small amounts of hot liquid, to prevent the cold ingredient from cooking too quickly or too much. If you add all of the hot liquid into the eggs at once, you’ll end up with lumpy scrambled eggs.)

7. Place the phyllo-filled pie dish (slightly cooled) on a baking sheet (this will help prevent any custard from dripping down/spilling into your oven). Pour the custard mixture overtop the par-baked phyllo – make sure to get into all the nooks and crannies and in between all the layers – until the pie dish is about 3/4 full (you’ll want some to remain uncovered so the top gets nice and crisp). Sprinkle a bit of cinnamon across the surface. Bake for 30 more minutes, until the custard is set and phyllo is golden and crisp. Drizzle honey overtop, finish with the remaining orange zest. Slice and enjoy!