Custard Pie Recipes | Taste of Home (2024)

FAQs

What is a custard pie filling made of? ›

Plain old custard pie? Well, this recipe may be old (as in classic, treasured, revered), but it's hardly "plain" — unless your definition of plain is a rich/tender filling of cream, eggs, and vanilla, with a hint of nutmeg, nestled in a buttery crust.

In North America, "custard pie" commonly refers to a plain mixture of milk, eggs, sugar, salt, vanilla extract and sometimes nutmeg combined with a pie crust. It is distinctly different from a cream pie, which contains cooked custard poured into a cooled, precooked crust.

In order for a successful gelling of a starch in the recipe, the enzyme has to be killed by cooking the custard almost to boiling (a little less than 212 degrees F). Otherwise the left-over enzymes digest all of the nice firm starch gel and your custard is nothing but liquid.

3 Varieties of Custard

There are three main varieties of custard: baked custard, stirred custard, and steamed custard. The first two are both popular in Western cuisine. Baked custard is typically firmer and made with whole eggs, while stirred custards can be much runnier and often only contain the yolks.

Many custard recipes/formulas use cornstarch as the thickening agent. The amount of liquid a starch grain can attract (absorb) and how concentrated the starch grains are in the liquid affect the thickness of the final product.

Chess Pie: Just Custard Pie by Another Name – Grub Americana.

Very often flour or cornstarch is used, but in certain instances tapioca, arrowroot and potato starch can also help achieve the desired consistency. Tapioca starch is preferable for products that will be frozen because it will not break down when thawed. We like tapioca in blueberry, cherry or peach pies.

Bavarian creams are custards stiffened with gelatin. Savoury custards are sometimes encountered, the most notable being quiche, a French tart with a filling of custard flavoured with cheese, onions, ham or bacon, or chopped vegetables.

The most common mistake people make in baking a custard is not putting enough water in the hot-water bath. The water should come up to the level of the custard inside the cups. You must protect your custard from the heat.

Why does my egg custard pie taste like scrambled eggs? Overbaked custard can lead to an eggy flavor and rubbery consistency. Make sure to bake the custard pie until slightly jiggly in the center.

Why does my custard pie taste like eggs? ›

The crust can be soggy, the outer ring of custard often overcooks, and the flavor can easily cross over into "eggy," which is a little ironic because a custard wouldn't be a custard without eggs.

Think of it this way: poor pie dough wouldn't stand a chance (aka be a soggy mess) with a custard filling if we don't give it a head start. Hence why we pre-bake, because custard pies are too delicious to have soggy bottoms.

Ultimately, the amount of jiggle is the most universal rule in judging the doneness of a non-crusty crusted custard pie. Unfortunately, it is also the most difficult to describe without being able to show in person. A majority of chess pies will be done they have a slight jiggly tremble to them.

Your custard was clearly overbaked, that's why it weeps liquid. Add more sugar. It reduces curdling, because the sugar molecules get in the way of the proteins trying to bind to each other. Don't rely on a "knife comes clean".

The main difference is the ingredient used as a thickening agent. Eggs are an essential ingredient in custard, as they give the dessert its gelatinous texture. Instead of egg proteins, flour or cornstarch are thickeners in puddings.

Custard is a decadent dessert made with eggs, milk, and sugar. Eggs are responsible for custard's thick and velvety texture, but some recipes (such as this one) call for thickeners such as cornstarch or arrowroot for extra richess.

The custard pie has a long and noble history. It's an indication of just how right the idea is that the term is almost a tautology, “custard” being a corruption of a French word for “pastry case”, croustade.