It’s finally rhubarb season here in northern Minnesota, and the rhubarb is plentiful. While I love all things rhubarb, I think it’s at its best and most beautiful in a pie. This rhubarb custard pie is by far my favorite treat of the season – tart, tangy rhubarb enveloped in a sweet nutmeg-laced custard and enclosed in the flakiest, buttery pie crust. It’s heaven.
This recipe isn’t my own. I got it several years ago from a customer while working at a local kitchen store (shout out to Duluth Kitchen Co! Also, I don’t remember exactly who that customer was, so if you’re reading this and it was you, please let me know – I’d love to give credit where credit is due!). That is one of my favorite things about working at a kitchen store – I have learned so much from customers sharing their cooking and baking tips and favorite recipes. I’ve made this pie pretty much every year since, and it has quickly become one of my favorites. I hope you enjoy it as much as I do!
The pie crust recipe I used here is also not my own. Basically, I totally cheated on this one – but when a recipe is this good, there’s just no need to improve on it. I used the crust recipe from an old Williams-Sonoma Pie & Tart Cookbook. This cookbook has been a trusty friend for many years – I’ve loved every recipe I’ve made from it, and this is the pie crust I almost always use. It’s buttery, flaky, and easy to make. What’s not to love?
A few tips to make your best flaky pie crust:
- Butter and/or lard make the best crusts. I generally use butter over lard, mainly because I don’t keep lard on hand. If you want a non-dairy option, shortening will work, though it’s not as flavorful as butter so you may want to add a bit more salt to compensate. Shortening also has less moisture in it than butter, so you might need to add more water.
- Make sure to use COLD butter. You want to end up with chunks of butter in your crust when you roll it out. Those chunks melt during baking and result in intense flakiness (in the case of pie crust – a very good thing!). In the same vein, you want to use VERY cold water – I like to measure mine out, then pop it in the freezer while I work the butter into the flour.
- Don’t overwork the dough. Unlike bread dough, you DON’T want to knead it much at all. Just press it together enough to form it into a ball, then roll out. Again, you want to keep those butter chunks cold.
- If your crust is getting a tad warm while you’re working with it, pop it in the fridge for a bit before you continue. If it gets too warm, it will start to fall apart. In other words – keep that crust cold! (Do you see a pattern here? :))
- When rolling out your dough, use enough flour to keep dough from sticking to your counter and rolling pin, but no more. Adding too much flour will dry out your crust. I generally start with a little sprinkling, and add more as needed.
- To transfer your dough from the counter to your pie pan, fold it in half, then in half again. Move it to the pie pan and unfold.
- When you bake your pie, use the lower rack in the oven. This will help ensure the bottom crust gets cooked all the way through, and the top won’t get overly browned. To keep the edges from burning, cover for part of the baking time with aluminum foil or one of those fancy pie crust covers (I have this one and love it!).
And whatever you do, don’t be afraid of making your own crust. It’s really not that complicated, it just takes some patience and practice. Consider it your meditation for the day. 🙂
That’s all I have for today. Pull out your pie pan and rolling pin and give this Rhubarb Custard Pie a try. You’ll be glad you did.
Enjoy!
Rhubarb Custard Pie
Ingredients
For the Crust:
- 2 1/2 c flour
- 2 T sugar
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 c cold butter cut into small chunks
- 6-10 T cold water
- flour to roll out
For the filling:
- 1 1/2 c sugar
- 1/4 c flour
- 1/4 tsp nutmeg
- dash salt
- 3 eggs
- 4 c rhubarb cut into about 1" pieces
- 2 T cold butter cut into small pieces
Instructions
For the crust:
- In a large bowl, combine flour, sugar, and salt.
- Using your hands, massage butter into the flour mixture until butter chunks are about pea-sized (or a little larger is ok too – but no smaller than pea size).
- Drizzle cold water into butter-flour mixture, gently mixing with hands or a fork as you go.
- Once your dough gets to the point where all flour is moistened and it's starting to come together, knead GENTLY to form a ball. Make sure not to overwork the dough – you want those butter chunks to stay cold!
- Split dough ball in half and put one half in the fridge. On a floured surface, roll out the other half until roundish and about 1/8" thick. Place in the bottom of your pie pan, trim the edges so you have about a 1" overhang. Fold the overhang under so you have a clean, thick edge. Put pie pan in the fridge while you work on pie filling.
- For the lattice top, roll out the second half of dough to about 1/8-1/4" thick. Note: you may want to do this one on a large cutting board, to protect your counter when you cut up the dough.
- Using a knife, cut dough into strips of equal width. You can do as thin or thick as you like, depending on the look you're going for. I like mine to be about 1/2-1" thick.
- Starting in the center of your filled pie, place your longest strip of dough across the pie. Place more strips to the left and right of your center strip, leaving a gap in between, until pie is covered in strips of dough.
- Then, peel back every other strip halfway, and starting in the center, place a strip of dough across. Fold peeled back strips over the new strip. Then peel back the strips you didn't peel back last time. Add another strip of dough across, then fold the strips back down over it. Continue until the whole side is woven with strips of dough, then repeat on the other side. (See photos for this part – it's easier to show it than explain it:)).
- Once your pie is covered in woven strips, trim the ends of the strips. Crimp edge as you like, pressing the ends of the strips into the edge of the dough as you go.
For the filling:
- Combine sugar, flour, nutmeg and salt in a medium bowl.
- In a separate bowl, beat eggs with a whisk until well combined.
- Add eggs to sugar-flour mixture and stir until combined.
- Stir in rhubarb pieces, make sure each piece is well coated.
- Fill your lined pie pan. Dot with the 2T of cold butter pieces. Add lattice top (see instructions above).
Bake and Chill:
- Place pie in your preheated oven on the lower rack. Bake for about 50 minutes, or until top crust is browning and filling is bubbling away. Check on it periodically to make sure the crust edges aren't getting too dark. I like to cover the edges about 20 minutes in so they don't burn. (See notes in blog post for more details).
- Remove from oven and move to a cooling rack. Allow to cool completely.
- Refrigerate for at least 4 hours or overnight, then enjoy!