How to Make the Best Tollhouse Pie Ever
The following post may contain affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra charge to you. To learn more about this, please visit my Disclaimer page. Thank you for your continued support!
I don’t know how anyone could dislike something as great as Tollhouse Pie. It’s a pie, it’s a deep dish cookie… it’s AMAZING. My family usually enjoys ours at Christmas, but it’s so fun to make, why not whip one up in March?
There are two elements to making our Tollhouse Pie. First, we need a really great flaky crust. Second, we need the ultimate cookie dough filling.
So, let’s get started!
The Perfect Crust for Tollhouse Pie
As usual, while I prefer to make my own pie crust, I understand wanting to use a store-bought crust. In fact, my mom always uses the pretty kind you find in the freezer section. It’s a really fast way to make sure you’ve got a good shell that will look bakery-perfect in the end.
For me, making a crust is simple enough and the end result is well worth the extra time. The result is flaky, flavorful, and rustically beautiful. I say rustically because my patience doesn’t extend to the Pinterest perfect flourishes you see on the fanciest of pies.
I start with a bowl that’s been chilled in the freezer for an hour filled with flour, sugar, and salt. Then, I fill a glass with ice and water or bourbon. It entirely depends on my mood. If we have vodka, I might use that instead. The point is that it needs to be icy cold liquid.
The Secret to Great Pie Crust
The real secret is keeping a few sticks of butter in the freezer. I grate that frozen butter into my cold bowl and work it into the dry ingredients. Personally, I love the flake I get from larger chunks of butter. Just know that means you’re more likely to experience some shrinkage when the crust bakes up.
Add in just enough liquid to bring your mixture together. Form it into a neat disc. Wrap it in plastic wrap, and set it in the fridge to chill, hydrate, and get awesome for an hour.
Perfecting Tollhouse Pie Filling
Now, let’s talk filling! This is obviously the best part, right? If you love baking cookies, you will notice this process is familiar.
I start with deeply browned butter. This is a simple process of melting your butter in a saucepan and letting it cook for a few minutes until the milk fats sink to the bottom and toast. We’re aiming for just past amber-colored.
To get this, you’ll turn the heat off once you’ve reached amber, and swirl for about 10 seconds. Then, transfer to a bowl to cool to room temperature.
While you’re browning butter, go ahead and get a small sauté pan going to toast your pecans. I prefer to toast them whole, let them cool, and then chop them. You can also just used chopped pecans and toast those. Pay attention to the smell to know when they’re done. They should smell fragrant, but not burnt.
Now, beat the eggs and sugar until they’re foamy and lemon-colored. This step is more in line with brownie making, but it helps to create a nice shiny, crackly crust on top of your pie.
To that, add in your vanilla, and mix in the flour and salt until just almost combined. Stream in the browned butter until your batter is velvety smooth. Finally, fold in your toasted pecans and chopped chocolate. Pour the batter into your pie crust, and you’re ready to bake!
How to Bake a Pie without Burning the Crust
Before we put our pie in to the oven, it’s crucial that we protect our crust. Whether you made your own or bought one, you need to use a shield. The simplest way to do this is by cutting strips of aluminum foil and pinching the ends together until you have a long enough strip to reach around your pie.
You’ll wrap it around your pie and fold it OVER your crust without letting it touch. The idea is not to hold it in place, but to create a barrier so it isn’t hit with direct heat. You’ll bake your pie this way for the first half-hour of baking, and remove it for the second.
When you’re ready to pull it from the oven, notice that the center is just a little bit jiggly but the edges are set. Let your tollhouse pie cool at room temperature for an hour or so before serving it.
Serving Tollhouse Pie the Best Way
When you’re ready to serve it up, have either vanilla ice cream or whipped ready, too. Just trust me!
To get perfect slices, run your knife under hot water and wipe it dry between slices. The first piece usually comes out a mess, so don’t stress about it. The chef usually gets the first slice to taste it for poison anyway.
Place each perfect slice on a plate, and top with a generous scoop of ice cream, a luscious swirl of whipped cream, or both! Heck, drizzle on hot fudge and sprinkles to really make it fun.
The point is you’ve made a really delicious pie, and you deserve to enjoy eating it just as much as you enjoyed making it. Bon appétit, my friends!
Here are the Tools You’ll Need
Here are the tools I use to make my tollhouse pie.
Comment below if you have questions, concerns, or opinions. And tag me @ellejayathome on Instagram or Twitter if you share pictures from any of my recipes. I love to hear from you!
Tollhouse Pie
Equipment
- 9-inch pie plate
- Large mixing bowl
- Rolling pin
- Electric hand mixer
- Medium saucepan
- Small Bowl
- Aluminum foil or pie crust shield
Ingredients
Pie Crust
- ½ cup unsalted butter frozen
- 1½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 tsp pink himalayan sea salt
- ¼ cup pure cane sugar
- ½ cup ice water
Toll House Pie Filling
- 2 large eggs room temperature
- ½ cup pure cane sugar
- ½ cup light brown sugar packed
- ½ cup all purpose flour
- 1 tsp pink himalayan sea salt
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup dark chocolate chopped
- 1 cup pecans toasted
Instructions
For the Pie Crust:
- Whisk together the flour, salt, and sugar with a fork.
- Shred in the frozen butter and lightly toss in your dry mix to coat.
- Add in the water (not the ice) starting with 1/4 cup. Still using your fork, stir to distribute moisture. Once you can convince a somewhat dry clump to stick together, dump the bowl out onto the counter.
- Using a bench scraper, fold the crumbly mixture over onto itself until it is smooth and hydrated. Work quickly so it stays ice cold. If your dough gets warm, put it in the fridge for 10 minutes before continuing to fold it to shape.
- Once you’ve achieved a mostly smooth surface (but the sides where you’ve folded may have cracked and show flaky layers), wrap in plastic wrap or beeswax food cloth. Rest in the fridge for 1 hour.
- Roll out your dough to ⅛-inch thick, and fit into your pie plate. Trim and crimp the edges. Refrigerate until the filling is ready.
For the Pie Filling
- Preheat your oven to 375ºF.
- In a medium saucepan, brown 1 cup of butter until it's just past amber-colored, but not quite burnt. Transfer to a small bowl to cool to room temperature.
- At the same time, in a small pan, toast your pecans until fragrant. Remove from heat, cool slightly, and chop.
- Chop your chocolate as well and set aside with the pecans.
- Then, in your large mixing bowl, beat your eggs until slightly thickened, foamy, and lemon-colored. Incorporate the sugars on low speed, and then fold in the flour and salt until just mixed in.
- With the mixer on low, stream in the melted and cooled brown butter. Beat to combine.
- Finally, fold in the chopped chocolate and pecans.
- Pour the pie filling into your prepared pie crust.
- Cover the crust with a shield or form a ring of aluminum foil and fold it down, loosely, over the crust to protect it from burning.
- Bake your pie for 30 minutes with the shield on, and then another 30 minutes with the shield off.
- Allow to cool for at least 1 hour before serving. Keep the leftovers covered in the fridge.
- Reheat leftover slices for 10 to 15 seconds in the microwave if desired. Serve with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.
