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Custard Pie
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- Total Time
- 1½ hours, plus cooling
- Rating
- Notes
- Read community notes
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Ingredients
- 1disk All-Butter Pie Crust
- All-purpose flour, for rolling
- 5large eggs, at room temperature
- 1½cups/365 grams whole milk
- ½cup/130 grams heavy cream
- ⅔cup/133 grams granulated sugar
- ¼teaspoon fine sea or table salt
- 2teaspoons pure vanilla extract (see Tip)
- ½cup/10 grams freeze-dried strawberries or raspberries (optional)
Preparation
- Step 1
If the dough has been refrigerated for more than an hour, let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, use a lightly floured rolling pin to roll the dough into a 12½-inch round. Roll the dough up onto the pin, then unroll it over a standard (not deep-dish) 9-inch pie plate, centering it. Gently tuck and press it into the bottom and sides of the plate without stretching the dough. Fold the overhang of dough under itself along the rim so that the dough extends a little over the edge of the plate. If you’d like, crimp the edges of the dough.
- Step 2
If the dough has softened, refrigerate or freeze the dough until firm, about 30 minutes in the refrigerator or 10 minutes in the freezer. While the dough chills, position a rack in the lowest position in the oven and heat to 375 degrees.
- Step 3
Use a fork to poke holes all over the bottom of the dough without piercing all the way through, if possible. Line the dough with a sheet of crumpled parchment paper. (Crumpling helps it lie flat against the dough.) Fill the lined dough to the top with pie weights, such as dried beans.
- Step 4
Bake on the bottom rack until the edges are light golden brown and the sides look dry, 25 to 30 minutes. Remove the pie weights with the parchment and return the empty shell to the bottom rack. Bake until the bottom is golden, 5 to 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and reduce the oven temperature to 300 degrees.
- Step 5
While the crust bakes, prepare the filling: Whisk the eggs in a large bowl until the whites and yolks are blended. Heat the milk, cream, sugar and salt in a medium saucepan over medium, stirring to dissolve the sugar and salt. When the liquid steams — don’t let it bubble — turn off the heat. Pour ¼ cup of the milk mixture into the eggs while whisking them a thin, steady stream. (This tempers the eggs, preventing them from cooking or scrambling with the addition of the hot liquid.) Repeat twice, then pour the rest of the hot milk in, whisking all the while. Whisk in the vanilla. Let sit at room temperature while the crust finishes baking.
- Step 6
When the crust is out of the oven, give the filling another stir in case anything has settled on the bottom. If you want a very smooth custard or see eggy bits floating in your mixture, pour the blend through a fine-mesh sieve into the crust. (Otherwise, skip the strainer.)
- Step 7
Bake until the edges are set and the center jiggles slightly, 35 to 45 minutes. Cool to room temperature on a rack. You can serve the pie as is or you can grind the dehydrated berries in a spice grinder, then sift them over the surface of the custard. The whole pie also can be refrigerated for up to 2 days before serving. It’s nice cold, but even nicer at room temperature. (Just don’t reheat it.)
- You can play around with the flavors here, substituting ½ teaspoon of the vanilla for almond extract, coconut extract, rum extract or lemon extract. You want 2 teaspoons extract total and should be mindful of the potency of what you’re using when experimenting with combinations.
Private Notes
Cooking Notes
Custard pie is my all-time favorite pie, mostly because of childhood associations with a beloved great aunt, who often made her custard pies for me when I was young. I would suggest some small dots of butter and a rich grating of nutmeg on the top rather than either powdered sugar or dried berries. The berries are beautiful, but the butter, which browns a bit, and the nutmeg taste more like the holidays, I think, and also look quite pretty.
Reminiscent of? This IS the custard pie so popular in/near the US Midwest. I remember my grandma’s recipe had a special note at the bottom: “inspired by dan tats” ….
It says dehydrated strawberries or raspberries, but based on the picture, it should say “freeze-dried”, which is different than just dehydrated. That’s how you get the nice fine powder that is so richly colored.
Delicious and fairly easy to make. Needed a bit more flavor, maybe nutmeg or cinnamon. Definitely will be making again and is a great starter recipe. Almost overwhelming egg flavor.
Triple sec, vanilla, brown sugar, nutmeg. Lovely combo, lending nice flavor. Other bakers had suggested the flavor as written was wan, so I tried to cover all bases. I also used einkorn flour for the pastry, which was nice and light.
Made for dessert, Christmas 2023.
The freeze-dried berries may be the key to making this a tasty custard. I didn't have any so I served it with fresh raspberries. It was pretty bland.
Had a wrestle with a leaky base, I'll have to bake the base a little more to make sure it doesn't leak again.
I have to be honest, this looked beautiful but tasted awful. Too eggy, with not enough other flavor from the vanilla or strawberries to give it anything special. Brought it to thanksgiving, and everyone left uneaten half slices on their plate (including me). Oh well!
Just a heads up, I made this recipe as written, and a leftover piece in the fridge had blue dots on top by the next day, I think somehow the berry had a reaction with something?
I am a long time fan of creme caramel, so this pie was perfect for me. The freeze-dried strawberries are a great touch, I felt like I could have used more. I think vanilla bean would take it up a notch. Definitely has an eggy taste but that was fine with me.
I whisked this too much and it frothed up quite a bit, so beware! Overflowed my pie pan. But it still turned out well.
Dehydrated berries can be pulverized in a spice grinder to make beautiful colored dust OR you can buy freeze-dried berries and shred them on a micro plane for the same effect.
Delicious and fairly easy to make. Needed a bit more flavor, maybe nutmeg or cinnamon. Definitely will be making again and is a great starter recipe. Almost overwhelming egg flavor.
It says dehydrated strawberries or raspberries, but based on the picture, it should say “freeze-dried”, which is different than just dehydrated. That’s how you get the nice fine powder that is so richly colored.
Custard pie is my all-time favorite pie, mostly because of childhood associations with a beloved great aunt, who often made her custard pies for me when I was young. I would suggest some small dots of butter and a rich grating of nutmeg on the top rather than either powdered sugar or dried berries. The berries are beautiful, but the butter, which browns a bit, and the nutmeg taste more like the holidays, I think, and also look quite pretty.
Reminiscent of? This IS the custard pie so popular in/near the US Midwest. I remember my grandma’s recipe had a special note at the bottom: “inspired by dan tats” ….
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