zaterdag 7 maart 2009

Apricot custard streusel pie

This pie is a modified recipe that I found in a Good Housekeeping dessert book. I have made it several times with different kinds of fruit, and it is a nice all-occasion pie that keeps well and appeals to many.
Originally, it is made with a regular pie crust (and Good Housekeeping tells you you can buy ready made, which of course you don't want to ;o)) and fresh peaches.

I substituted the crust with my favorite paté sucrée from the get-go: 50 grams of beaten egg,100 grams of sugar, 200 grams of butter, 300 grams of flour and a dash of salt. You can make this in your mixer, preferably with the paddle attachment, or by hand. Mix butter and sugar, just intil incorparated, you're not looking to aerate the mixture here. Add the egg, mix shortly, add flour and salt until a dough forms. Shape into disk and wrap in saran wrap. Refrigerate for at least an hour, up to three days ahead. Let the dough warm up slightly before rolling it out on a floured surface.
Transfer dough to buttered pie pan, and just patch up any tears. It will all be fine in the end. You will have some dough leftover if you use this quantity for lining a 9-inch pie pan (I also use it for tarts that go up to 12 inchis in size). In the summer, I use this dough to make (blind baked) tart shells that I fill with custard and fresh strawberries.

Cover the dough in the pie plate with any fruit you like, sliched fresh peaches (you'll need about 4 ripe peaches), apricots (I use canned in winter), cherries, just use your favourite. In a bowl, whisk together 8 oz of sour cream with 1 cup of sugar (I use less, depending on the fruit I only use 1/2 cup, but never more than 2/3 cup), 1/4 cup of flour, 1 tsp vanilla and and 3 large egg yolks. No beating is necessary here, just whisk until homogenous in consistency. Pour custard over fruit and bake for 30 minutes in a preheated 375 degree oven.

While the pie is baking, make a streusel topping by rubbing 4 TBS of cold, cubed butter (no margarine, please) into 1/2 cup of flour and 1/4 cup of sugar until crumbs form. Sprinkle crumb topping evenly over custard, then bake for another 10-20 minutes, until custard is set (you can check this with a knife or by slightly jiggling the pie pan. You'll see whether it has set or is still awfully jiggly). If the crusts browns too quickly, cover it with a ring of foil when you sprinkle on the streusel.

Remove pie from oven, and let cool completely. You can store the pie in the plate at room temperate, where the custard will stay softer and slighlt creamier, or in the fridge where the custard will firm up a little more. In the fridge it will keep for up to four days. Just decide for yourself which you prefer :o). If you want, you can put on some slices of fruit on top of the pie prior to serving.

And here is what it looks like (although the picture is not great!)

If you look closely, you'll detect my fabulous new high-heel cake server in the background ;o)

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