Cream Pie – 4 Variations

Ingredients:

Cake

• 1 sheet (22 cm) perfect pie crust, recipe below, baked and cooled

Filling

• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1/3 cup flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 4 egg yolks
• 2 cups whole milk
• 2 tablespoons butter
• 1.5 tsp vanilla extract or 1 vanilla pod, cut in half lengthwise, seeds scraped out

Perfect pie dough

• 1.5 cups of flour
• 0.5 tsp salt
• 165g unsalted butter, cut into small pieces, chilled or frozen
• 4-6 tablespoons of ice water

Preparation:

1. In a medium saucepan with a heavy bottom, combine sugar, flour and salt.
2. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks and milk. Stir the egg mixture into the flour mixture in the saucepan. Continue whisking over low heat until the mixture coats the back of a spoon and is smooth and thick.
3. Remove from heat and stir in butter and vanilla extract.
   
   
   Note: At this stage, you can add any additives you wish.
   
   
   Banana Cream Pie:
   Make the base filling and let it cool. Slice 3-4 bananas and arrange the slices on the pie crust. Cover the bananas with the base filling (or chocolate filling).
   
   Coconut cream pie:
   Stir 1 cup of coconut flakes into the base filling just before filling the pie crust. Once the pie is finished and topped with whipped cream, sprinkle with toasted coconut.
   
   Caramel cream pie:
   In the basic filling recipe, replace 3/4 cup of white sugar with brown sugar, tightly packed into a measuring cup, and increase the amount of butter to 3 tablespoons. Prepare the same way as the basic filling.
   
   Chocolate Peanut Butter Cream Pie:
   Prepare the base filling and, while it's hot, add 1/4 cup creamy peanut butter and 3/4 cup chopped high-quality semisweet chocolate. Stir until the chocolate is completely melted.
   
   
4. Let the cream cool and spoon it into the baked pie crust. Cool the pie completely and top with fresh whipped cream or other topping of your choice.
   
   

   Perfect pie dough

   
   Preheat oven to 220°C.
   
   In a bowl, combine the flour and salt; use a pastry blender or your fingers to mix the butter into the flour until it forms pea-sized chunks. Alternatively, you can mix the dough in a food processor or a stand mixer with the paddle attachment on low speed.
   
   Slowly add the ice water, stirring with a fork or in a food processor or mixer until just combined. Be careful not to overmix the dough. Divide the dough into two pieces, form them into two disks, and refrigerate them separately for at least 15 minutes.
   
   Roll out the chilled dough into a 22 cm diameter circle. Set the other circle aside for another use. Transfer the dough to the pie dish, pressing it lightly into the dish; trim the edges. Prick the dough evenly all over the bottom with the tines of a fork. Line the dish with foil and fill with pie weights or dried beans.
   
   Bake the pie crust until the edges are golden brown, about 15 minutes before removing it from the oven and removing the weights. Return the crust to the oven and bake for another 5 minutes.