Creamy Delight

All pies have their own unique beauty, but in my eyes, none compare to the glory of my favorite type of pie, the cream pie. This time, it is a vanilla cream pie. Still taking guidance from the renowned scripture, A Year of Pies, A Seasonal Tour of Home Baked Pies By Ashley English, I dove into this project with delight. The recipe called for these materials: 

• "1 Pie crust
• 5 Egg Yolks
• 1  cup of evaporated milk
• 1 1/2 cups of milk
• 1/2 cup + 2 tbsp of Sugar
• 1/4 cup of corn starch
• 1/8 tsp of salt
• 1 vanilla bean" (English 85).

I started by mixing the sugar corn starch and salt together, then I separated the egg yolks from the egg whites, and mixed the two together along with some evaporated milk. Then, following instructions from a different page, I pre-baked my pie crust. First for about 25 mins with foil and a pie weight. The book said that instead of using specialized pie weights, I could just fill a pot a quarter of the way full and place it on top (English 82), Then for 10 minutes without anything on top. While that was in the oven, I split open the vanilla bean, and scraped its insides into the mixture of eggs and such. I then cooked that until thick.

Me stirring said mixture

When the crust was ready and the mixture was thickened to a cream, I poured the mixture into the crust

Mixture and crust separated

Finished product

Afterwards, the pie was complete. This pie is a great stepping stone for other pies in the creamy genre. It is the base of almost all cream pies. I will probably make another cream pie because like I said before, this is my favorite kind of pie. When I made this pie my dad had previously baked the crust, and it was sitting in the fridge waiting to be used. When you make a pie, do you prefer to make your own crust, or buy a pre-made crust from the store?

English, Ashley. A Year of Pies. New York: Lark Crafts, 2012. Print.