Custard Pie
serves 8
NOTE: Timing is critical in this recipe. You must pour hot
custard into a hot pie shell to keep oven time to a minimum. You
have two options. A fully prebaked pie shell can be made several
hours in advance, reheated in 375-degree oven for 5 minutes, and
then filled with hot custard. Or, if you want to make the pie in
one continuous process, follow the directions below and start
making the custard (step 2) once the foil and pie weights have been
removed from the crust during the prebaking process. By the time
the crust is fully prebaked, the custard filling will be ready to
be poured into the shell.
1 recipe American Pie Dough for Prebaked Pie Shell, prepared through step 4
3 large eggs
1/8 cup sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon fresh grated nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 cups whole milk
1 cup heavy cream
INSTRUCTIONS:
1. Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 375 degrees. Fully bake pie shell on middle rack as directed in step 5 of recipe American Pie Dough for Prebaked Pie Shell.
2. Meanwhile, whisk together eggs, sugar, cornstarch, vanilla, nutmeg, and salt in medium bowl. Heat milk and cream in medium saucepan over medium-low heat until steaming, about 6 minutes. Whisk steaming milk and cream mixture into egg mixture in slow, steady stream. Return egg-milk mixture to saucepan and cook over medium-low heat. Stir constantly with wooden spoon, scraping bottom of pan, until custard begins to thicken and forms a ridge on tip of spoon when bottom of pan is scraped and spoon is lifted, 6 to 8 minutes. (If using instant-read thermometer, stir occasionally until custard reaches 160 degrees, then constantly until the custard reaches 170 degrees.)
3. Leaving pie plate on oven rack, pour custard into hot pie shell. Bake until custard has set around edges but still jiggles slightly in the center when shaken, 12 to 15 minutes. Cool to room temperature on wire rack, about 2 hours.
VARIATIONS:
Lemon Custard Pie
Follow recipe for Custard Pie, decreasing vanilla to 1 teaspoon, substituting 11/2 tablespoons grated lemon zest for nutmeg, and whisking 11/2 tablespoons lemon juice into egg-cornstarch mixture.
Orange Custard Pie
Follow recipe for Custard Pie, decreasing vanilla to 1 teaspoon, substituting 11/2 tablespoons grated orange zest for nutmeg, and whisking 11/2 tablespoons orange juice into egg-cornstarch mixture.