Great Grandma Waite’s Holiday Pie

There are few things that spark a twinkle in the Farmer’s Wife’s eye like Great Grandma Waite’s Custard Pie–it’s all the loveliness of Christmas and childhood in one smooth, creamy bite. But, only if it’s done right. If it’s done wrong, it’s a bunch of sweetened scrambled eggs in a soggy crust.

So, let me show you how to do it right.

First, the Crust is made. Now, this particular crust recipe may or may not be the one Great Grandma Waite made with her pie, but it is the one the Farmer’s Wife uses all the time. So, that’s the one we’re going with.

You take 4.5 ounces all purpose flour. This is the one and only time the Farmer’s Wife brings out her kitchen scale, but she’s found it really does make a difference to get it exactly right. For those of you without a kitchen scale, it’s one cup. To that she adds 1/2 teaspoon table salt, and mixes it well with a fork. She cuts one stick of cold, salted butter into little pieces, trying not to touch it too much. This she puts in with the flour mixture and blends it with a pastry blender.

Never heard of a pastry blender? Well, here’s a picture of hers:

If you don’t have one yourself, you can use a food processor, or just your hands. Any and all work. Once the butter is broken up into small pieces (about the size of peas), the Farmer’s Wife adds 3 tablespoons very cold water. This gets stirred in with a fork, at first, but once it starts to come together, she gets her hands in and works it just long enough for it to form into a ball.

The Farmer’s Wife has a workbench, the butcher block type. She’s a bit short, so she and the Farmer made one that’s just the right height for her to get in there and get the good work done without being a strain on her back. Some day down the road, I’ll show you how the two of them put that all together, but for now, try to work at a height that’s comfortable for you, and that’s at your bellybutton. Sound’s strange, but it’s true. Whatever space you’re working on works best when it’s at that height.

But back to that pie…

The workbench is dusted lightly with flour–and lightly is key. She weighed that flour for a reason–she doesn’t want to muck it up now! The dough ball is placed front and center and rolled this way and that with a rolling pin. The Farmer’s Wife uses the French type, but whatever works for you. She flips it front and back, up and down, just to make sure it doesn’t stick, and when it’s just the right size (slightly bigger than the tin she’s using), she folds it in half and sets it on the pie tin. For this pie, that’s a nine inch pie pan. It’s unfolded and allowed to drape in, making sure no part is pulled or tucked. The excess dough is cut off and the edges crimped with a fork.

Now for some Custard pies, the baker would have you “blind bake” the crust, as in cover it with foil, weigh it down with a bunch of beans, and bake it first. But, that’s not the way Great Grandma Waite did it, so that’s not the way the Farmer’s Wife does it, either.

So, it’s on to the Filling.

Place four farm fresh eggs into your blender and add to them 1/2 cup sugar, 3 cups half and half (Here’s the only deviation the Farmer’s Wife makes from the original recipe. Great Grandma Waite’s calls for plain old milk. But the Farmer’s Wife says, and I quote “Why on earth would you use milk when you have cream?” So that’s what she does.), a dash of salt, and one teaspoon of good vanilla. She lets it blend until it’s nice and creamy and then lets it sit for twice as long–until all those bubbles are gone. Once they are, the mixture gets poured into the waiting crust and nutmeg is grated and applied liberally on top. This is placed in a preheated 425 degree oven. Nothing simpler, right? Oh, no. Here’s where it can go horribly wrong. Make sure you set your timer for fifteen minutes and not a second more. Reduce the heat to 350 degrees and bake for another 30-45 minutes. Why the range? Because you have to check it. The Farmer’s Wife begins right at 30 minutes. And by checking it, I mean a knife is inserted toward the middle. If it comes out clean, the pie comes out, too. It is oh-so-important to get it just as it makes the jump from runny egg nog to solidified vanilla ice cream. If you get there too late, you’ll be having those scrambled eggs mentioned earlier.

Not to be bragging, but what you want is just what the picture up there looks like: smooth and heavenly. Get it like that, and trust me, Great Grandma Waite’s Custard Pie will put a twinkle in your eye, too.