Cherry Custard Pie

 

 

When I was a very little girl I can remember singing a song in Kindergarten called Billy Boy Billy Boy. It was all about a boy named Billy looking for a wife.

One verse went like this: 

"Can she bake a cherry pie, Billy Boy, Billy Boy?  Can she bake a cherry pie charming Billy. She can bake a cherry pie, quick as you can wink your eye.  She's a young thing and cannot leave her mother."

This was one of my favorite songs to sing and I can remember singing it with great joy, largely because it involved cherry pie and cherry pie was one of my favorites!  (You can find all of the lyrics here.)

Cherry pie remains a firm favorite pie in my books!  Occasionally I will make one from scratch, but I'll be honest here, more often than not, I will use a tin of cherry pie filling.

It tastes good and is a lot quicker and easier to use. There is no faffing about with pitting cherries and the like.  No having to cook it up, just open the tin and spoon it out.  Easy peasy lemon squeezy.

  

 

I refuse to feel guilty about it either. I know I am not alone in this.  Most people use tinned cherry pie filling when they go to make cherry pie and similar things. Unless you have a cherry tree right in your back yard, fresh cherries are one of those prohibitively expensive things.

Oh how I miss the cherries we used to get this time of the year when I was living in Kent, in the UK.  The cherry sellers would come over from France and they would set up tables and stalls at the side of the roads.  

You could buy 1 kg bags of ripe cherries, for a pretty affordable price, and they were always incredibly delicious. I would always buy two bags whenever I had the chance.  One to eat in the car and the other for baking with.

 

This Impossibly Easy Cherry Custard Pie is one of my favorite bakes which uses the tinned pie filling. It also uses some boxed baking mix. In North America is it called Bisquick.  They had the big boxes on special at Giant Tiger not too long ago so my sister and I each picked up a box.

She likes to use it in her meatloaf.  I like to use it for desserts and things like this.  Don't worry if you can't buy it however. I have a darned good recipe for making  your own baking mix from scratch that I used to use when I was in the U.K.  You can find that one here.  Just make it and store it in the freezer, ready to use for recipes just like this one!

 

I love Impossible Pies. They are taste tempting pies that come in both savory and sweet versions that involve whipping together a few ingredients that somehow magically separate into crust and filling upon baking. 

You cannot beat them for ease of preparation. They are quick and very simple to make!  I have never met one that I did not like.  Seriously!  This  Impossible Cherry Custard Pie is one of my favorite versions!  

 

I got the recipe from a cookbook I own called Betty Crocker, Bisquick, Impossibly Easy Pies.  It is filled with a nice variety of these quick and easy pies.  Pies that magically bake their own crusts.

Sweet, savory and everything in between.  I love this little book.

 

WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE IMPOSSIBLY EASY CHERRY CUSTARD PIE

Very simple ingredients. This is a real store-cupboard kind of a pie!

For the pie:

• 1/2 cup (60g) dry baking mix (Bisquick or homemade)
• 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup (180ml) whole milk
• 2 TBS butter, softened
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 2 large free range eggs
• 1 can (21 ounces/595g) cherry pie filling

For the cinnamon streusel:

• 1/4 cup (30g) baking mix (Bisquick or homemade)
• 1/4 cup (50g) soft light brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 TBS cold butter

As you can see the baking mix is used in both the pie itself and in the streusel topping. You don't really need a lot of it in either one.  Make sure your butter is at least at room temperature for the filling. You will want it cold for the streusel topping.

I always use free range eggs. I refuse to use eggs from caged hens. You need to pick your battles and this is one of mine. I think in the U.K. most of their eggs were free range. You could also get RSPCA approved eggs which I would buy if I saw them.

 

RSPCA Approved means that the eggs have come from farms where the hens are raised according to the organizations very detailed animal welfare standards. Hens on RSPCA Approved farms have nests, perches, litter to dust bathe and enough space to move.

I don't know about you, but I would rather pay a little bit more and support a humane industry. When I was still in high school, my boyfriend was from a farming family. They had caged hens for eggs.  I used to grade eggs at the weekend in the hen house battery. 

It was a real eye opener and I found the practice to be quite repugnant. It is easy to ignore things like that if they aren't staring you in the face, or if you are ignorant of what is happening, but once you see it, you simply cannot ignore it. I am so grateful we live in a time where there are other options.

HOW TO MAKE IMPOSSIBLY EASY CHERRY CUSTARD PIE

Nothing could be quicker or easier to make than this pie.  I threw it together just before I went to take my shower this morning, and it was out of the oven and cooling before you could say Jack Rabbit!

Preheat the oven to 400*F/200*C/ gas mark 6. Butter a 9-inch pie dish really well, or spray with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.

Put the baking mix for the pie, sugar, milk, butter, almond extract and eggs into a blender or food processor. Blitz briefly to blend. Pour into the prepared pie dish. Spoon the cherry pie filling evenly over top.

Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 25 minutes. While it is baking make the streusel.

 

To make the streusel put all of the ingredients into a bowl and rub them together with your fingertips until crumbly. Set aside.

The pie is done when a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the streusel evenly over top.

Pop back into the oven and bake for a further 5 minutes, until the streusel is browned.

Leave to cool for at least two hours prior to cutting into wedges to serve. Store any leftovers, covered, in the refrigerator.

This really is a very quick, easy, simple and delicious pie to make.  I love that it uses ingredients that I almost always have on hand so that I can whip it together at the last minute any day of the week.

   

Its really delicious serve cut into wedges with a nice dollop of whipped cream or ice cream on top.  Believe it or not, it tastes even better after refrigerating overnight. 

You really can't beat it for a fabulously simple dessert for those days when you are really busy and don't want to spend a lot of time faffing about just to get a dessert on the table!

You can use just about any type of Pie filling you like, but don't be tempted to use Blueberry. The pie turns a very unappealing tinge of grey!

Some other impossible pies that I have baked that we really REALLY love are:

IMPOSSIBLE PUMPKIN PIE - This one is completely from scratch and uses no baking mix at all. I don't mind saying that it is my favorite pumpkin pie.  Nicely spiced and beautiful cut into wedges and served with whipped cream.

BAKED COCONUT CUSTARD PIE - This one is also made completely from scratch, using no baking mix at all. It is rich and creamy and filled with loads of coconut flavor.  I love this with a dollop of whipped cream also. If you love coconut pie, you will adore this one!

Yield: 8

Author: Marie Rayner

Cherry Custard Pie

Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 40 MinInactive time: 2 HourTotal time: 2 H & 50 M

Rich and delicious, creamy filling with loads of pockets of cherry pie filling, and a moreish cinnamon brown sugar streusel on top. Quick and easy to make as well. This is destined to become a favorite!

Ingredients

For the pie:

• 1/2 cup (60g) dry baking mix (Bisquick or homemade)
• 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
• 3/4 cup (180ml) whole milk
• 2 TBS butter, softened
• 1/4 tsp almond extract
• 2 large free range eggs
• 1 can (21 ounces/595g) cherry pie filling

For the cinnamon streusel:

• 1/4 cup (30g) baking mix (Bisquick or homemade)
• 1/4 cup (50g) soft light brown sugar, packed
• 1/4 tsp ground cinnamon
• 1 TBS cold butter

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 400*F/200*C/ gas mark 6. Butter a 9-inch pie dish really well, or spray with non-stick cooking spray. Set aside.
2. Put the baking mix for the pie, sugar, milk, butter, almond extract and eggs into a blender or food processor. Blitz briefly to blend. Pour into the prepared pie dish. Spoon the cherry pie filling evenly over top.
3. Bake in the preheated oven for 30 to 25 minutes. While it is baking make the streusel.
4. To make the streusel put all of the ingredients into a bowl and rub them together with your fingertips until crumbly. Set aside.
5. The pie is done when a knife inserted near the center comes out clean. Remove from the oven and sprinkle the streusel evenly over top.
6. Pop back into the oven and bake for a further 5 minutes, until the streusel is browned.
7. Leave to cool for at least two hours prior to cutting into wedges to serve. Store any leftovers, covered, in the refrigerator.

Notes

You can make a low fat version of this by using reduced fat baking mix and low fat milk/skim milk. Substitute 3 egg whites for the whole eggs.

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