Egg Custard Pie

Egg Custard Pie

I love British cooking shows and none more than the baking shows which have always been my favorite, probably because I have been baking from a very early age. I have made a few versions of baked custard tarts and pies myself over the years, including my now famous and very easy Sour Cream Flan.

I saw this pie being baked on a competition show recently and knew I had to try a version of it myself. To me, it does have a bit of a Christmasy vibe because with all the cream, eggs and nutmeg included it is very reminiscent of eggnog. I'm actually keeping this one in mind for Christmas dinner next year, maybe served with a cranberry and clementine compote.

Pastry

This pastry recipe is sufficient for 2 pie shells but the second half of the pastry is easily formed into a flat round, wrapped tightly in a couple of layers of plastic wrap and frozen for several weeks until you need it.

• 2 ¼ cups flour
• 1 tbsp brown sugar
• ½ tsp salt
• 1 cup butter (Very cold and cut in small cubes)
• 4-6 tbsp ice water + 1 tsp white vinegar

Pulse the cold butter into the flour, sugar and salt using a food processor or pastry cutter until the butter is reduced to pea sized pieces. Remove to a large bowl. Sprinkle the water and vinegar over the surface and toss with a fork until the water is just incorporated into the dough. Do not over work the dough; handle it only enough so that the dough stays together. 

Separate the dough into 2 balls and wrap in plastic. Place in the fridge to chill well. You can freeze one for another time. Roll out into a 12 inch round and place into a 9 inch deep dish pie plate or tart pan being careful not to stretch the dough or it will shrink during baking. Trim the excess pastry from the edges and chill the pan for 10 minutes.

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.

Lay a sheet of parchment paper or aluminum foil over the pastry in the pan and fill the pan with baking weights. If you don't have baking weights, dry kidney beans or rice will do in a pinch; anything that will weigh down the bottom pastry so that it doesn't puff up. Yo can reuse dry beans many time for blind baking so be sure to save them for that purpose.

Blind bake the pastry using baking weights for about 15 minutes, remove the baking weights and bake for another 10-15 minutes to crisp the bottom of the pie shell. Remove from oven while you prepare the filling. Reduce oven temperature to 300 degrees F.

Filling:

In a small saucepan over low heat add:

• 2 cups whipping cream
• 1 cup whole milk
• pinch salt
• 1/4 tsp freshly ground nutmeg
• the seed paste scraped from the onside of a small vanilla bean + the remaining vanilla pod

You want to heat this very slowly to almost boiling so the full flavor of the vanilla bean gets infused into the cream and milk. When heated remove the vanilla bean and set aside for a couple of minutes. (NOTE: In a pinch, 4 tsp of pure vanilla extract can be substituted for the vanilla bean.)

Whip together very well:

• 4 eggs
• 3/4 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

Slowly whisk in the hot milk a little at a time; too fast and you'll scramble the eggs. Remove from heat and pass the cream and egg mixture through a sieve into a large heat proof measuring cup or jug.

Heat oven to 300 degrees F. Place the blind baked pie shell in its pan on a baking sheet. Pour in the cream and egg mixture until it has almost reached the top of the shell. Finely grate or sprinkle on a dusting of

• freshly grated nutmeg

Place the baking sheet in the oven. If you have a little more cream mixture to bring the level to the top of the crust, you can carefully pour that into the pan when it is in the oven to avoid spillage. It's perfectly okay if you have a little of the filling mixture left over, pan sizes do vary.

Bake for 60 -70 minutes. The top should be pale golden brown and the center swill still juggle a little at the center.

Remove from the oven and let cool to almost room temperature before transferring to the fridge to cool and set completely. This will take several hours or overnight. Serve with fresh berries or seasonal fruit salad.

Summer Peach Custard Tart

This beautiful summer tart is so simple and so utterly delicious, folks will think that you slaved over a hot oven to make it. The truth is it takes only a few minutes to prepare for the oven. With fresh Ontario peaches in the stores at the moment, I couldn't resist using my favorite summer fruit in this incredible tart. We served it at dinner last week and then everyone in the house fought over the leftovers. I practically never have seconds of dessert but went looking for thirds of this perfect summer fruit dessert. 

Crust

1 3/4 cups graham crumbs 

1/3 cup melted butter

3 tbsp sugar

Mix together well and press into the bottom and sides of an 11 inch fluted tart pan with a removable bottom. Bake for 7 minutes at 350 degrees F.

Whisk together until the sugar is dissolved:

1 cup full fat sour cream

1/3 cup sugar

2 tsp vanilla extract

1 large egg

Pour this into the baked shell. Thickly slice into wedges:

4 to 5 ripe peaches, depending on size.

You want to slice the peaches thick so that they stick out of the cream filling. Add only enough of the slices to bring the custard to the top of the pan.

Bake for 25-30 minutes at 325 degrees F, until the center is set and jiggly. Cool completely in the fridge before cutting and serving.

Raspberry Chocolate Vanilla Custard Tart

This one was the result of cleaning out the fridge. The pastry was already in the freezer and so was the raspberry sauce which was leftover from a birthday cake I made earlier this week. I just made the custard and threw it all together for dessert last night...once agian indulging my love for anything raspberry.

For the pastry:
½ cup butter, cut in small pieces
1 cup + 1 tbsp flour
¼ tsp salt
1/3 cup sugar
¼ cup cocoa
1 large egg, slightly beaten
1 tsp vanilla extract

Sift together flour, sugar, cocoa and salt. Cut in butter with a pastry blender or two knives, leaving small peas sized pieces of butter throughout the mixture. Add egg and vanilla and mix together only enough to make a dough form. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and let it rest in the refrigerator for a half hour before rolling out.

You can make your dough the previous day but make sure you take it out of the fridge for 10 minutes to warm slightly before rolling out.

Roll the dough into a 12 inch round and place in the bottom of a 9 inch tarte pan or pie plate. You will need to blind bake this crust for 15 minutes at 375 degrees F before removing the baking weights and baking for an additional 5 minutes. Cool the crust completely. Blind baking is essential so that the bottom crust will not get soggy. Let the dough hang a half inch past the rim of the pan to allow for shrinkage as the pastry shell bakes. Any excess can be trimmed off when the shell is still hot out of the oven.

To blind bake a crust, simply place a piece of parchment paper or aluminum foil over the dough and cover the bottom of the pie plate with baking weights. (Marbles, dry beans, peas, rice or barley work just as well as anything else.)


Raspberry Topping

1 ½ cups fresh or frozen raspberries
1/3 cup sugar
1/4 cup water

1 ½ tsp corn starch dissolved in ¼ cup water

Slowly simmer raspberries, sugar and water for about 5 minutes. Stir in the corn starch mixture stirring constantly and cook for an additional minute. Cool completely.

Vanilla Custard

In a microwave safe bowl combine and scald almost to boiling

1 cup milk
1 cup whipping cream

Meanwhile, in a medium saucepan combine

1/4 cup flour1/2 cup sugar
pinch of salt

Over medium flame slowly add the scalded milk whisking constantly.Continue to cook over medium heat until mixture begins to slightly thicken. At this point remove from heat and pour about a half cup of this mixture onto

2 slightly beaten extra large egg yolks

whisking constantly. Pour the egg mixture immediately back into the pot, continuing to constantly stir. Cook for an additional minute or two until pudding consistency and remove from the flame.

Stir in

2 tbsp butter

2 tsp vanilla extract

Pour the custard into the cooled pastry shell and cool completely before adding the raspberry topping. Garnish with raspberries, and shaved or melted chocolate when serving.

Cinnamon Apple Sour Cream Custard Flan

I combined a couple of my favorite recipes to come up with this fantastic dessert. This was the first time that I did a sauteed apple topping for my famous sour cream custard flan. I brought it to a house party a couple of weeks ago and it was a huge hit. Just looking at the picture this morning makes me want to bake another one. This one very quickly jumps to my top ten favorite desserts list. Highly recommended!


Grease a 9 inch springform pan.

Mix together until well combined:

2 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
½ cup melted butter
¼ cup sugar

Press into the bottom and sides of the greased springform pan to about a ½ inch from the top of the pan.

For the custard part of this desert it is important to use full fat sour cream or the filling will not set. I use 18% milk fat sour cream that is sometimes sold as “restaurant style” or “extra thick”.

Whisk together until the sugar is dissolved:

Three, 8 oz tubs of sour cream
1 cup sugar
3 large eggs
3 tsp vanilla extract

Pour into the prepared graham crumb crust and bake at 350 degrees F for 50-60 minutes. The custard will still be quite jiggly when done and just beginning to brown slightly at the edges. Allow the flan to cool to room temperature then refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving with the sautéed apples on top.

Sautéed Apples

Peel and cut into thick slices

8 large apples

In a large skillet melt

1/3 cup butter

Add
1 ½ tsp cinnamon
¾ cup light brown sugar

Cook until the sugar dissolves and the mixture is bubbly. Add the apples and sauté until the apples are just fork tender but not mushy; they should still be semi-firm in texture. Remove from heat. The idea here is to let the residual heat to partly cook the apples. Drain the apples in a colander for about a half hour, collecting the juice and syrup that drains off.

Return the juice and syrup that has drained off the cooked apples to the sauté pan and simmer over medium heat until the sauce gets very thick. In a large bowl, gently toss this sauce with the cooked apples and spoon onto the top of the completely cooled flan.

Strawberry Cointreau Sour Cream Custard Flan

Strawberry Cointreau Sour Cream Custard Flan

One of many variations of this flan that we have made hundreds of times at our house over the years. Practically any fruit topping is great with creamy and oh-so-easy baked custard flan. It is an absolute go-to recipe in our family and no doubt the dessert that I have made the most times in my life. Dinner guests often request it in advance and most often, we are happy to fulfill the request because it is just so quick and easy to prepare. You will literally have this in the oven in minutes but your guests will think you slaved over it.

• 2 pounds strawberries

Cut into quarters or slices and sprinkle with:

• 4 tbsp sugar
• 3 tbsp Cointreau or other orange liqueur

(If you want to make this without alcohol, just substitute the Cointreau for 1 tbsp grated orange zest.)

Allow the strawberries to marinate for a couple of hours, tossing the berries occasionally.

Grease a 9 inch springform pan.

Mix together until well combined:

• 2 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
• ½ cup melted butter
• ¼ cup sugar

Press into the bottom and sides of the greased springform pan to about a ½ inch from the top of the pan.

For the custard part of this desert it is important to use full fat sour cream or the filling will not set. I use 18% milk fat sour cream that is sometimes sold as “restaurant style” or “extra thick”.

Whisk together until the sugar is dissolved:

• 3 cups sour cream (Three, 8 oz tubs)
• 1 cup sugar
• 3 large eggs
• 3 tsp vanilla extract

Pour into the prepared graham crumb crust and bake at 325 degrees F for 50-60 minutes. The custard will still be a little jiggly when done and just beginning to brown very slightly at the edges. Allow the flan to cool to room temperature then refrigerate for a couple of hours before serving with the marinated strawberries on top.