Pi(e) Day is here again, my friends! I look forward to this day every year, and then usually have some mild form of blogger panic attack when figuring out what to make to celebrate the occasion. Should it be fruity? Chocolate? Creamy and light or dense and rich? Whatever it is, it needs to be awesome. After mulling over a variety of ideas, I finally had my eureka moment when I considered the possibility of a layered salted chocolate and caramel filling combined with a malted pretzel crust. Oh yeah, I’m onto something.

This is definitely one of those times when the whole is greater than the sum of its parts, which were already pretty fantastic to start with. Made as a pie, this is an outrageously decadent dessert. To be honest, when I make this again I will try making either in a square pan and cutting into bars, or in a tart pan (probably rectangular) and slicing into thin rectangles for ease of serving and of eating. The filling is just a touch sticky to easily eat with a fork, and I eventually just picked it up and enjoyed sans utensils.

Another important thing to note is that this pretzel crust is super crumbly and makes for a messy dessert. I like it this way and think it adds to the charm overall. The texture is on point and I don’t want to mess with a good thing. However, if you wanted a more fine crumb to this and a more intact crust overall, you could surely grind the pretzels to a finer finish in your food processor and have something more akin to a graham cracker crust. If you try this, I would love to know how it turns out and if you needed to add more melted butter to keep the crust together!

A final note – I dedicate this and all of my Pi(e) Day posts to my extremely awesome high school calculus teacher Mr. Strawn. I will never forget the perfection of his homemade chalkboard compass, giant size protractor, his excellent handwriting, and above all of that, his unparalleled (wink*) talent and passion for teaching. Thanks Andy!

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