Maple Cream Pie

Here in the dead of winter, there isn't a lot of fresh fruit in season. But we do have sugar and dairy. So why not make a Maple Cream Pie?

This recipe hails from Ken Haedrich's excellent book Pie, like many others on this blog. I modified it a little on purpose, and, as usual, a little out of laziness... and a little by accident.

Let's start with the crust. Ken advocates a half-butter, half-shortening crust. I'm usually more comfortable with all-butter versions, but I played along here, and the results were good.

The pie crust:

1.5 cups flour (I used 1 cup unbleached organic Bob's Red Mill, .5 cup Bob's Red Mill Dark Rye flour)

1 Tbsp sugar

1/2 tsp salt

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4" pieces

1/4 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into pieces

1/4 cup cold water

Combine flour, sugar and salt in a large bowl. Toss well by hand to mix. Scatter the butter over the dry ingredients and toss to mix. Cut or rub the butter into the flour until it's broken into pea-sized pieces. Add the shortening and continue to cut together until all the fat is in tiny pieces. Sprinkle half the water over the mix and toss well with a fork. Add the remaining water, a couple tablespoons at a time, and continue to toss and mix until the pastry is packable. Pack the pastry into a ball with your hands and flatten into disks, then refrigerate for at least an hour.

Roll it out to about the right size, and drape it into a pie pan! Feel free to shape the edges if you want to get fancy. (Ken offers a whole decorative floral thing, but I didn't do it and so I won't tell you about it. I'm just happy when my crusts look decent. Fancy is way out of my league.)

Here's a top view. So pretty.

Now, bake the crust! I like to freeze the shaped crust overnight, so that it goes into the oven pretty hard. I'm not sure that's the best advice but it works for me (Ken says freeze for 15 minutes, so that's probably fine). Then, butter a sheet of foil, and press the butter side down over the pastry. Weight it with pie weights (I use dried pinto beans, which at this point have been baked about 15 times and have probably undergone some strange chemical changes). Preheat to 400 degrees and bake the shell on the center rack for 15 minutes. Slide out the oven rack and carefully lift off the foil. (Careful not to play 552-bean pickup). Prick the bottom of the dough with a fork all over, lower the temp to 375 degrees, and backe 15-17 minutes more. It should look fully golden-brown when done. Brush with a whisked egg white (why have I never once remembered to do this? It sounds like a great idea!) Cool on a wire rack.

 

Now for the filling!

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup cornstarch

1/8 tsp salt

1 1/4 cup light cream or half-and-half (I forgot to buy this at the store... and substituted a blend of heavy cream and milk, which seemed fine)

1 cup whole milk

1/2 cup maple syrup

4 egg yolks

2 Tbsp unsalted butter, cut into 1/2" pieces

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

topping:

1 cup cold heavy or whipping cream

2 Tbsp confectioner's sugar

Combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a medium saucepan. Whisk in the cream, milk, syrup and yolks. Cook over medium heat, whisking nonstop, until it starts to thicken and comes to a low boil, 5-7 minutes. Keep whisking and heat another 1 1/2 minutes or so. Remove from heat and whisk in the butter, one piece at a time, then the vanilla.

Pour 1 cup of filling into a small bowl and set aside (I totally forgot to do this, with tragic consequences). Pour the rest of the filling into the cooled pie shell. Press a piece of plastic wrap over the top to prevent a skin from forming. Cool on a wire rack, then refrigerate at least 3 hours, preferably overnight.

Shortly before serving, beat the heavy cream until it holds soft peaks. Add the confectioner's sugar and beat until stiff. Fold a little of the whipped cream into the reserved filling (if you remembered to reserve it- otherwise, like me, you just have a whipped-cream topping, not a maple-whipped-cream topping- which you can try to fancy up with some vanilla and cinnamon), then fold in the rest until it's evenly blended. Smooth over the pie and serve.