Rhubarb custard pie

Amish Rhubarb Custard Pie with Crumb Topping

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These times, strawberry rhubarb pie gets all the consideration, but there’s an old university rhubarb pie that’s producing a comeback. Amish rhubarb custard pie brings together the tart flavors of rhubarb with a abundant custard for a properly balanced dessert. Add a little crumb topping on prime for crunch and you’ve received a recipe for the excellent rhubarb custard dessert.

My dad’s been speaking about rhubarb pie considering that I was a tiny kid, but rhubarb isn’t one thing that grows in California. When I moved to Vermont more than a ten years in the past, a single of the initial thing’s he requested before visiting was, “Is it going to be rhubarb season?” He’d explain to tales about how my great grandmother created it every yr for his birthday, which occurs to drop proper in the coronary heart of Rhubarb year in the northeast.

The factor is, while May is Rhubarb season in Vermont, it’s not strawberry time. The very first early strawberries won’t be prepared till late June, and most year’s we won’t harvest a meaningful quantity right up until early to mid-July. By then, it’s as well hot for rhubarb, and the when succulent stalks have absent stringy and bitter. Strawberries and rhubarb are a reasonably modern pairing due to the fact in most climates it just won’t take place with no freezing previous year’s strawberries.

I’m a massive fan of maple sweetened strawberry rhubarb pie, making use of up some of our refreshing homemade maple syrup. But rhubarb has been a staple of homestead gardens for generations, prolonged before freezers turned commonplace. Therefore, there are a lot more ways to use rhubarb than pairing it with strawberries.

A single of the most classic employs doesn’t contain any strawberries, but it’s even now a pie. Rhubarb has a naturally tart flavor that can make a good contrast for a abundant custard, and an Amish Rhubarb Custard Pie is a real delight.

The pie is straightforward to make, start by incorporating a bit of chopped rhubarb into an unbaked pie shell.

The rhubarb goes in initial, but it rhubarb will float, producing a all-natural layered seem. A small crumb topping added over the rhubarb layer results in a pleasant crunch and adds texture to an or else comfortable pie.

The crumb topping is sprinkled more than the leading of the pie following the custard filling is poured in excess of the rhubarb. It naturally stays correct on top in which it belongs.

A rhubarb custard pie with crumb topping all set to be baked.

This rhubarb custard pie has an additional gain to an Amish home, namely that it uses up cream and eggs correct when they’re most plentiful in the spring. If you actually want to go total-on traditional, you can make this with a lard pie crust, but actually any unbaked pie crust will do (even a pre-made retailer bought pie crust shell…I won’t tell…).

My pie crust recipe is straightforward, and it makes use of just butter (1/two cup), flour (1 cup), a pinch of salt and a bit of chilly h2o (2-three tablespoons). Reduce the butter into the flour/salt, and incorporate the h2o and stir until it just arrives jointly just before rolling out the pie crust.

Amish Rhubarb Custard Pie with Crumb Topping

Like most pies, this rhubarb custard pie is baked in a very hot oven (400 F) for a quick period of time (twenty min) ahead of the oven temperature is reduced for the rest of the bake time. This scorching preliminary bake assists the bottom crust established so it doesn’t get soggy from the custard filling. I bake this pie in a forged iron pie pan, and that added retained heat will help the crust crisp wonderfully (and is completely proper for an Amish pie).

Seasoned properly, you never ever even have to clean (or grease) a cast iron pie pan. Just wipe it clean with a dry towel as soon as the pie comes out and it’s spotless and completely ready to bake yet another pie. Straightforward cleanup, and no sticking!

Amish Rhubarb Custard Pie with Crumb Topping