Custard Pie Recipe
This Custard Pie Recipe is like a less sweet version of a traditional chess pie! If you've been putting off making this classic dessert due to its extreme sweetness, here's your chance to enjoy a version that's much less sugary.
Servings: 8 slices
Equipment
- 8" Tart Pan
Ingredients
For the crust:
- 1 ¼ cup all-purpose flour 169 g
- 2 tablespoon granulated sugar 23 g
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 ounce unsalted butter cold and cubed, 113 g
- 3 tablespoon cold water
- Extra flour for rolling
For the filling:
- 4 ounce unsalted butter room temperature, 113 g
- 1 cup granulated sugar 190 g
- ¼ teaspoon kosher salt
- 4 large eggs room temperature
- ¼ cup heavy cream room temperature, 60 g
- 2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Instructions
- Prepare the crust: Add 1 ¼ cup of all-purpose flour, 2 tablespoon of granulated sugar and ¼ teaspoon of kosher salt in a small bowl and mix thoroughly with a whisk. Transfer to a food processor fitted with the dough blade.
- Cube the 4 ounce of cold unsalted butter and add to the flour mixture. Pulse several times until butter is about pea and lima bean size.
- Drizzle up to 3 tablespoon of cold water over the dough mixture, and pulse until the dough starts to pull together. Be mindful not to overmix, you still want chunks of butter in the dough to create a flaky crust.
- Turn the dough out on the counter or cutting board and shape into a disk. Wrap in plastic and rest in the refrigerator for an hour to allow the dough to hydrate.
- When the dough is ready, take it out of the fridge and roll into a circle about 2” larger than your tart pan or pie pan. Keep your surface floured to keep the dough from sticking as necessary.
- Carefully place the dough over the pan, lightly press the dough into the bottom and side of the tart pan, but don't stretch it. Let the excess dough hang over the side. Press the rolling pin along the edge of the pan to take off the excess dough. If using a pie pan, you can trim and flute the edge or crimp it.
- Cover the prepared dough with plastic wrap and freeze for 10 - 15 minutes. If you don't have room in the freezer, keep it refrigerated. We want the dough to be cold so when it hits the oven, the water in the butter will vaporize leaving the crust flaky.
- Preheat the oven to 425°F.
- Take the frozen crust out of the freezer and poke holes with a fork on the bottom and side. Line the frozen crust with parchment paper, large enough to cover the crust and edge completely. Add pie weights or dry bean on top of the parchment paper, enough to fill to the top.
- Bake the crust for 20 minutes. Take the crust out of the oven, and remove pie weights or bean just by lifting the parchment paper out of the crust. Bake for another 5 minutes without the pie weights.
- Remove the crust from the oven and let cool on a wire rack.
- Don't turn the oven off, just reduce the oven temperature to 350°F in the mean time.
- Prepare the filling: Beat 4 ounce of softened unsalted butter with 1 cup of granulated sugar and ¼ teaspoon of kosher salt until completely combined.
- Whisk together 4 large eggs, ¼ cup of heavy whipping cream, and 2 teaspoon of vanilla extract in a small bowl.
- Add the egg mixture to the butter mixture and beat to combine. Stop and scrape the side a few times to make sure all the butter is completely incorporated.
- Stir 1 tablespoon of flour into the custard mixture until combined.
- Pour the prepared custard into the par-baked crust. Cover the edge of the crust with foil. And bake for approximately 45 minutes or until the filling is set but still jiggly in the middle.
- Remove foil and bake for another 5 minutes to brown the edge of the crust further if necessary.
- Remove tart from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack. Dust with powdered sugar and serve with whipped cream and berries.
Notes
- You can use a tart pan or a shallow pie pan for this recipe. But don't use a deep dish pie pan as the filling is not enough to fill it.
- Make sure refrigerated ingredients for the custard filling come to room temperature before you make the filling so they can incorporate easily.
- The filling will deflate as it cools, this is normal.
Nutrition
Serving: 116g | Calories: 451kcal
