Crème Brûlée Pie

horizontal overhead image of a Créme Brûlèe Pie garnished with sugared cranberries and fresh herbs next to a stack of white plates.

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: Eastern European, French

Keyword: custard, mealy pie dough, pie

Prep Time: 30

Cook Time: 35

chilling time: 12

Total Time: 13 5

Servings: servings

Calories: 344kcal

Author: Marta Rivera

A pastry marriage of velvety custard and flaky pie dough. Begin a day in advance.

Prep time includes an overnight chilling period.

Print Recipe

Equipment

9-inch pie plate
rolling pin
butane torch

Ingredients

1 half-portion (8 ounces or 227 grams) Mealy Pie Dough
2 cups (500 milliliters) heavy cream
1 tablespoon (15 milliliters) vanilla bean paste
1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
6 large egg yolks (3 whites reserved for the garnish, optional)
3/4 cup sugar

Caramelized Sugar Topping

2 1/2 tablespoons (31 grams) granulated sugar

Optional Garnish

15 fresh cranberries
6 sprigs rosemary
3 sprigs sage
3 large egg whites (reserved from separating the yolks above)
1 cup granulated sugar

Instructions

Blind Bake the Pie Shell

Roll the pie dough out into an 11-inch circle.
Transfer this circle of dough to a 9-inch pie plate. Prick holes in the bottom of the pie dough using the tines of a fork.
Refrigerate the pie shell for 15-20 minutes to allow the dough to firm up.
While the shell is firming up, move your oven rack to the middle position and preheat your oven to 425°F (218°C).
Once the chilling time for your pie shell is done, place a sheet of aluminum foil inside the cavity and weigh it down with 2 pounds of dried beans or ceramic pie weights.
Bake the pie shell for 20 minutes.
After 20 minutes, remove the pie plate from the oven and allow it to cool down for 5 minutes.
Reduce the oven's temperature to 350°F (177°C).
After 5 minutes, remove the foil liner with the weights and allow both the weights and pie shell to cool while you prepare the custard.

Make the Egg Custard

In a 1 or 2-quart saucepan, stir together the heavy cream, vanilla bean paste, and salt.
Bring this cream mixture up to a steaming point over medium heat, stirring occasionally to avoid scalding the cream.
Don't allow the cream to come to a simmer. You only want steam to rise off the surface.
While the cream is heating up, add the egg yolks and sugar to a medium-size mixing bowl.
Using an electric hand mixer, or a whisk, beat the egg yolks and sugar together vigorously until they are lemony-yellow in appearance and very thick. The beaters (or whisk) should leave behind a thick ribbon when lifted from the surface of the egg mixture.
Add the warm cream to the egg mixture in a slow and steady trickle, stirring constantly with a whisk. If you add it too fast, the eggs will curdle. The slower the better.
Once the cream is added to the egg mixture, pour the custard into the blind-baked pie shell.

Bake the Crème Brûlée Pie

Carefully slide the pie into the preheated oven.
Bake the pie for 30-35 minutes or until the center is just barely jiggly.

Cool, then Chill the Pie Completely

Once the pie is barely jiggly in the center, carefully remove it from the oven.
Allow the pie to cool to room temperature, then cover it lightly with plastic wrap.
Refrigerate the pie for 12 hours (or overnight) to allow it to firm up completely.

Brûlée the Pie (See Notes if You Don't Have a Butane Torch)

Sprinkle 2 1/2 tablespoons (31 grams) of sugar evenly over the surface of the chilled pie. Make sure the sugar is spread evenly and not clumped up.
Use a butane torch to melt and caramelize the sugar topping. The sugar will bubble and change from yellow to a golden brown to dark brown in seconds, so be conservative in how long you torch each section.
Once the sugar is a deep amber color, turn the torch off and allow it to set (and harden) for 1 minute.

Prepare the Sugared Cranberries and Herbs Garnish (Optional and Can Be Done 2-3 Days Ahead)

Add the whites to a small mixing bowl. Beat the egg whites with a fork until they run smooth. Keep the fork handy because you'll use it to dip your cranberries.
Drop 3 or 4 cranberries into the bowl of whites and use the fork to toss them around.
Lift the cranberries out of the whites with the fork and place them gently into the sugar. Sprinkle sugar over the cranberries to coat them before transferring them to a cooling rack.
Use a pastry brush to brush both sides of sage leaves and coat them in sugar as well.
Brush the rosemary stems with egg whites and dip them in the sugar. Shake off excess sugar from each item before transferring them to the cooling rack.
Allow the cranberries, sage, and rosemary to dry for at least 2 hours, but overnight is best.
Store them uncovered, so they dry hard. If you make them days ahead, store them in an airtight container with a pack of food-safe silica gels.

Decorate the Pie and Serve

Arrange the sugared cranberries, sage, and rosemary in a half or full-wreath design on top of the sugar crust.
To serve the crème brûlée pie, hit it with the blade of your knife to get through the sugar shell.
Once you get through the shell, cut it as you would any other pie.

Notes

Tips and Techniques:

If your pie plate is ceramic or glass, allow it warm up for 10 minutes on the countertop to take the chill off of it. This will prevent it from shattering in the hot oven. If your pie plate is metal, you can slide it into the preheated oven right after you fill the foil liner with the beans.
The beans keep the dough from puffing up and distorting as it bakes. The foil helps conduct the heat while separating the beans (or weights) from the pie dough. The holes you poked into the dough also help prevent bubbles form forming as the pie shell bakes.
Both dried beans and weights can be reused, so be sure to save them once they've cooled.
Don't press the plastic onto the surface of the crème brûlée as it will mar the top. Just drape it over the pie crust and the pie plate.
Try to avoid sugaring the cranberries and herbs on a humid or rainy day. The moisture in the air will keep them from drying properly.
You can serve this with fresh berries if they're in season, on its own, or topped with whipped cream.

To brûlee without a butane torch:

This isn't my favorite method because it also heats the pie underneath, but it'll work in a pinch.

Protect the edges of the pie by covering them with aluminum foil, first.
Set and oven rack so that it's 6-inches from your oven's broiler. Set the broiler to high, and slide the sugar topped pie under it.
Broil the pie just until the sugar begins to bubble, then carefully remove it from the oven. The sugar will continue to brown as it sits.

Make-Ahead Instructions:

For blind-baking the pie shell:
1. Freeze the pie shell, uncovered, after allowing it to cool (after you blind bake it).
2. Once it's frozen, wrap it carefully in plastic film and a layer of foil and store it in the freezer for up to 2 months.
3. When you're ready to use it, you don't even need to thaw it, Just unwrap it and fill it.

Storage and Freezer Instructions:

Remember that this is a custard pie. As such, you need to keep refrigerated as much as possible.
The downside of this brûlée topping is that it loses its crunchiness after an extended period in the fridge, which is up to 2 days. Enjoy it as soon as you can.
This pie is not freezer-friendly with the sugar topping. To freeze the pie after chilling it:
1. Wrap the pie carefully in plastic film.
2. Freeze the pie for up to 2 months.
3. Thaw completely in the fridge, then top with the sugar before brûléeing it.

To make 4 3-inch Crème Brûlées:

Omit the pie shell baking steps.
Bring a pot of water to a boil, and preheat your oven to 350°F (177°C).
Divide the custard equally between 4 3-inch ramekins. Set the ramekins in a deep roasting pan, pushing them to one end of the roasting pan.
Pour the boiling water into the opposite end of the roasting pan. This is done to avoid splashing water into the custard. Only pour enough water to reach halfway up the sides of the ramekins.
Carefully slide the ramekins into the center of the roasting pan, leaving at least an inch of space between each one.
Bake the custards for 15 minutes or until set.
Remove the pan from the oven and chill completely in the fridge.
Brûlée as instructed above.

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