Blueberry Custard Pie

 

I am excited to share a fabulously tasty recipe for a good old fashioned blueberry custard pie with you today.  This is the kind of pie that women have been baking in their kitchens for many, many years now.  I first shared this recipe with you back in the summer of 2011.

Some things are just so delicious, they bear repeating and reminding of. Especially when you are talking about a fabulously tasty twist on the good old classic blueberry pie.

 

Classic blueberry pie has long been a favorite of mine, especially when made with fresh summer berries. This delicious twist is like that old favorite amped up, with a lush and creamy custard filling, topped with a wonderfully moreish sweet, crisp and buttery streusel topping.

It just does not get much better than this!  Incredibly easy to put together, this deliciously different blueberry pie makes a fabulous dessert for any occasion! 

 

Once upon a time this would have been a pie you could only make during the summer months when fresh berries were widely available and abundant. Thankfully these days fresh blueberries are available all year round.  Lucky us! 

If you do need to use frozen berries, don't thaw them out first. Just use them frozen from the package. Thawing them out first will give you a soggy result.  For the best result however, I always use fresh berries if I can.

 

This pie could not be any easier to make.  Berries are first layered onto the bottom of an unbaked 9-inch pie crust. I highly recommend my butter/lard pastry.  It is phenomenal. 

You can find that recipe here on my Apple Dumpling recipe. (Another phenomenal recipe by the way.) It does make 2 9-inch crusts, but don't worry about the extra one. You can simply shape it into a disc, wrap tightly and freeze it for another time. Simple

 

It makes for one of the flakiest most delicious crusts. It is tender and flaky and melts in the mouth. I cannot recommend it any more highly!  It is my crust of choice, always.

You begin by layering berries in the bottom of the crust.  You can use other berries if you wish such as raspberries, blackberries, black currants, etc. or even a berry mix. We love it best with blueberries however.

 

Once you have the berries in the crust a simple flour and sugar mixture is sprinkled over top. You can mix it through a bit. I use granulated sugar here in North America, but if you are in the UK, I recommend caster sugar as it is much finer and will melt easier in the cooking process.

A milky custard mixture will be poured over top of the berry/sugar/flour mixture.  This is created by beating together eggs, vanilla and evaporated milk. 

 

Evaporated milk is a shelf-stable type of cow's milk sold in cans. It has had 60% of its water content removed and is interchangeable with cream in most baked goods.  Do NOT confuse it with sweetened condensed milk.

Sweetened condensed milk is a completely different thing and has had a lot of sugar added to it, which makes it thick and syrupy.  Evaporated milk has had no sugar added to it. It is simply milk which has been condensed down. 

It is dense, creamy and concentrated but not sweet. You can also whip it if you chill it until it is really cold and contains ice crystals. I always keep several cans of it in my larder. It comes in handy for all sorts.

 

This quick and easy custard is poured over the base of berries and then a simple sugar streusel is sprinkled over top.  I always make sure my streusel topping is made before I begin making the pie. That way I can sprinkle it over top as soon as I pour on the custard and then bang my pie into the oven lickety split! 

Sugar, butter and vanilla with a bit of flour are rubbed together to make coarse crumbs.  This bakes on top and gives a lovely crunchy topping that goes incredibly well with that creamy custard base.

 

I have seen other recipes similar to this where the flour mixture is beaten into the milk and eggs.  I have also seen it made using sour cream. I have never done or used either of those methods or ingredients,  preferring instead to use this simple old fashioned recipe.

This blueberry custard pie recipe has been pleasing my family for many, many years now. Simply put it is my favorite of all the blueberry pies that I make.

 

 

It will need to bake for about an hour for everything to set up. If you think the crust edges are browning too quickly, you can cover them with a bit of aluminum foil.  This works very well for that purpose. 

The hardest part of this easy pie is waiting until it is cold enough to cut and to eat.  I leave it on a wire rack to cool to room temperature and then you can either cut it then, or you can refrigerate it overnight. It will cut like a dream then. 

In any case you will need to leave it sit for about 2 hours before cutting and serving.  I usually make this the day before I want to serve it.

 

 

You can of course serve this delicious pie with scoops of vanilla ice cream of dollops of softly whipped cream spooned over top. We like it just as it is without any adornment.

It is lush, delicious, incredibly moreish and destined to become a favorite in your home too I dare say. If you bake only one pie this weekend, let it be this one. You can thank me afterwards.

Yield: Makes one 9-inch pie

Author: Marie Rayner

Blueberry Custard Pie

A delicious berry pie layered with blueberries, custard and a vanilla streusel on top!

prep time: 10 Mincook time: 1 Hourinactive time: 2 Hourtotal time: 3 H & 10 M

Ingredients

You will need:

• one 9-inch unbaked pie crust

For the filling:

• 1/4 cup (35g)  plain flour
• 1 1/2  (295g) cups sugar
• 3 cups (450g) of blueberries
• 2 large free range eggs, beaten lightly
• 3/4 cup  (180ml) evaporated milk (NOT sweetened condensed)
• 1/2 tsp vanilla

For the streusel topping:

• 1/3 cup (47g) of plain all purpose flour
• 1/2 cup (97g)  sugar
• 1/4 cup (60g) cold butter, cut into bits
• 1/4 tsp vanilla

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/ gas mark 4. Line a 9 inch glass pie dish with your pastry, trimming and crimping the edges to please.
2. Put the berries into the crust.
3. Whisk together the flour and sugar for the filling to mix. Sprinkle this evenly over the berries, stirring them up a bit to mix.
4. Beat together the eggs, evaporated milk and vanilla. Pour this evenly over top of the berries and flour mixture.
5. Rub the streusel ingredients together until they resemble coarse crumbs. Sprinkle evenly over the berry filling.
6. Bake for about 1 hour in the heated oven until the pie is golden brown and set and the crust is nicely crisped.
7. Allow to cool at least two hours before serving. Store any leftovers in the refrigerator.

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