Super-chocolate-caramel-coffee-almond-alidocious!

Greetings home-slices,

We are saddened to report that our post-finals euphoria has faded into two bouts of upper respiratory illness. Luckily, Established was on hand in Mary Poppins-like fashion with a plateful of sugar to help our medicine go down.



This Sunday's caramel chocolate almond mess of a pie came as the cherry on top of a veritable feeding frenzy which kicked off this afternoon at St George's market. Round 1: a cream-filled cronut to tide us over while waiting in an hour-long line for Round 2: the King of All Breakfast Sandwiches - the Belfast Bap. Piled high with bacon, sausages, egg, crusty bread, fat, grease, and heart disease! When we couldn't stuff ourselves any more, we waddled over to Established for Round 3. And what a round it was.

While one Honorary Crusty Gal opted for a repiesal of last week's apple and blackberry, we got our gluttonous little hands on the newest offering. We are simultaneously filled with joy and shame. This beautiful pie seeped a pool of sticky and delicious caramel onto the plate, which provided the motivation we needed to see this marathon through.

The crust was a sandy almond biscuit base, topped with an oozing slick of caramel, a thick layer of coffee cream, a tableau of chocolate and espresso ganache, and finished with crunchy almond slivers. If the St Patrick's Day rocky road pie was a Saudi oil heir, this was its richer, silkier younger brother. Bad news.

Essentially a Mars Bar in pie form, it put some play in our day™ and we loved every last crumb. We've been able to stave off our food comas just long enough to write this blog, so please excuse us while we hibernate until next Sunday. A spoonful of sugar might help the medicine go down, but it's also sure to give you diabetes in the long run. I guess we'll take our chances.

Stay sweet till we all get diabetes,

Two Crusty Gals