Chai Cream Pie

After making home-made chai a couple times... I was in love with the flavors. My lovely wife, fountain of wisdom that she is, said, "Why don't you make a chai pie?"

I found a recipe online, and did.

I made a few small adjustments to the recipe, originally credited to Deb Wise, Cooking Light. Hats off to her. (Hats off also to Georgia G., whose magic smartphone captured the image above).

Here are the details (my notes in blue):

Ingredients

1 Pie Dough (the original recipe calls for Pillsbury, which I can't approve of-- it's downright immoral-- I used the Four & Twenty Blackbirds recipe first noted here, which has proven reliably wonderful)

2 cups low-fat milk

8 cardamom pods, crushed

8 whole cloves

1 (3-inch) cinnamon stick, broken

1 (1/2-inch) piece peeled fresh ginger, crushed  (I used a slightly larger slice, but not much)

1 black tea bag (I used two Darjeelings)

1/2 cup sugar

3 tablespoons cornstarch

1/8 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 1/2 tablespoons butter, softened

1 1/2 cups whipped cream (the original recipe calls for "frozen fat-free whipped topping", which sounds revolting; I used heavy whipping cream and an electric mixer, with a hefty shake or two of cinnamon near the end of the whipping)

1/8 teaspoon ground cinnamon

Preparation

1. Roll dough into a 12-inch circle; fit into a 9-inch pie plate coated with cooking spray (ahem- smeared with butter). Fold edges under, and flute. Bake piecrust according to package directions. Cool completely on a wire rack.
2. Combine milk and the next 4 ingredients (through ginger) in a medium, heavy saucepan over medium-high heat; cook until the mixture reaches 180° or until tiny bubbles form around edge. Remove from heat. Add tea bag; cover and let stand for 15 minutes. Strain the mixture through a sieve over a bowl, and discard solids. Return milk mixture to pan, and cook over medium-high heat until the milk reaches 180° or until tiny bubbles form around edge.
3. Combine sugar, cornstarch, salt, and eggs in a large bowl, stirring well. Gradually add the hot milk mixture to sugar mixture, stirring constantly with a whisk. Return milk mixture to pan, and cook over medium heat 10 minutes or until thick and bubbly, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in butter.
4. Place pan in a large ice-filled bowl for 10 minutes or until filling cools, stirring occasionally. Spoon mixture into crust; cover surface with plastic wrap. Chill 3 hours or until set; remove plastic wrap. Top pie with whipped topping; garnish with ground cinnamon.

Here's my raw shaped dough:

Pre-baked (note the melty butter):

Heating the milk:

The egg mixture:

Combining:

I overcooked the custard, and it got lumpy. I thought it'd be disgusting but it turned out okay... though you can tell from the photo that the lumpy custard is a little ugly.

Lumpy but delicious:

The pie was subtly chai-flavored, not too spicy or too sweet. The crust was nicely flaky and well-suited to the custard's texture (which, despite appearances, was pretty pleasantly smooth and fluffy on the tongue). On my next time around, I'd ramp up the spices a little: add a lot more cinnamon, for instance, a little more ginger, and a small amount of black pepper. Also perhaps a third teabag. Obviously this is a fine line-- one wouldn't want the spice to overpower the sweetness. And of course I'd try not to lump-ify the custard.

And, one more photo, just because: