In this video, learn how to make Chef John's Peach Custard Pie! Follow along as he guides you through this delicious recipe, perfect for summer gatherings or any special occasion. He’ll show you step-by-step how to create a flaky crust, luscious custard filling, and perfectly ripe peach topping.
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00:00Hello, this is Chef John from FoodWishes.com with Peach Custard Pie.
00:08That's right, I decided to add peaches to a classic Southern dessert called Chess Pie,
00:13which as you'll see went very well and solved one of my big problems with regular peach
00:17pie, which is that it contains too many peaches.
00:20And besides tasting great and looking gorgeous, this is one of the easiest pies you'll ever
00:25make.
00:26And to get started, we'll need one single shell ready to use pie crust, which I made
00:31from scratch and we have plenty of videos to show you how to do that, but this would
00:35absolutely be fine with a store-bought crust.
00:38And what I like to do first once I lay some parchment paper in is pour in some pie baking
00:42weights, since for best results we want to do something called blind baking the crust,
00:47which simply means pre-baking this a little bit first before we fill it.
00:51And by the way, if you don't have weights, you can use dry beans.
00:54And while most of the recipes don't have you do this, I think you're going to get a
00:57much better crust if you do.
00:59And that's it.
01:00Once our weights are in, we'll transfer that into the center of a 400 degree oven for about
01:0515 minutes or so, or until it looks like this, which yes, looks exactly the same.
01:11But once you carefully remove the weights and the parchment, you should see that the
01:14crust has indeed cooked a little bit and started to turn a very light golden brown.
01:19And that's really all we need at this point, since it's going to cook the rest of the way
01:23once the filling's in.
01:25So we'll simply set that aside and let it cool while we move on to prep some peaches.
01:29And the first step with that would be the optional peeling, which I don't always do
01:33for peach pie, but this time I did.
01:36And once peeled, we will carefully take our knife and cut directly around the center with
01:40the blade of the knife going all the way to the pit, which theoretically protects your
01:44hand, but be careful anyway.
01:47And if we're lucky and we bought something called a freestone peach, that should separate
01:51fairly easily, at which point we can remove the stone, as it's called.
01:55And the riper the peach, the easier this is to do, although as you can see for me, this
02:00wasn't super ripe, and that took a little bit of effort.
02:03And the good news is, for this pie, a firm peach is fine.
02:06And that's it.
02:07We'll simply take those halves now and slice them into pieces.
02:10And I decided to cut these into eighths, which ended up being a perfect size, but of course
02:14you'll have to adjust based on the size of your fruit.
02:17I mean, you are after all the southern bell of making sure this comes out well, but I
02:22would attempt to get them somewhere close to this size.
02:25But anyway, we'll go ahead and do that to one or two peaches, or whatever it takes to
02:28get enough to fill the bottom of our crust.
02:31And once our fruit's set, we can move on to prep this very easy custard batter, which
02:36starts with four whole large eggs, to which we will add more than a little bit of sugar.
02:41And then we'll take a whisk and give this a thorough mixing.
02:44And we really don't have to get this light and fluffy, but we should probably whisk this
02:48until it feels like that sugar's dissolved, at which point we can stop and add most of
02:52the rest of the ingredients, including some brown sugar, which I could have just added
02:56to the white sugar, but forgot.
02:59We will also do a little bit of flour, as well as some cornmeal, which is one of the
03:03signature ingredients in Chess Pie.
03:05We will also need a little touch of salt, plus some real pure vanilla extract, followed
03:10by one of the secret ingredients, which is a nice splash of apple cider vinegar, or you
03:15could use lemon juice, or plain vinegar if you want.
03:18And then we'll finish this with a little bit of milk, before we take a whisk and mix it
03:21thoroughly.
03:23And as you'll see, we're also going to be adding some melted butter to this, which we
03:26really could have added at any point, but I had just melted mine and it was really hot,
03:31so I decided to add it last.
03:33But as long as that gets thoroughly whisked in, it really doesn't matter.
03:37So we'll go ahead and pour in that melted butter, and finish this batter up by whisking
03:41enthusiastically for as long as it takes for everything to look emulsified.
03:45And yes, I do recommend doing this all by hand, since according to recent made-up studies,
03:50the amount of calories you burn doing this is the exact same number of one slice of pie.
03:55So that works out nicely.
03:57And that's it.
03:58Once our batter's set, we can grab our now-cooled pre-baked pie crust, and we can arrange our
04:02peach slices on the bottom.
04:04And I think we want to be careful not to put too many peaches, since we are making
04:08a peach custard pie, and not a peach pie.
04:11And if we really load this up with peaches, it's just not going to bake up right, because
04:14there'll be too much moisture.
04:16So I recommend spacing them just like I'm doing here.
04:20And by the way, how these look on the bottom now, is pretty much how they're going to look
04:23on the top later.
04:25So that's another reason we want these evenly spaced.
04:28And that's it.
04:29After we peach, we will reach for our custard batter, and we will use a ladle to carefully
04:33and slowly transfer it in.
04:36And the reason we just don't want to pour all this in, is because it's going to move
04:39our perfectly placed peach slices around, and we won't end up getting that nice uniform
04:44design on the top.
04:46So while this will take an extra minute, it's definitely worth it.
04:49Oh, and I didn't show it, but probably should have.
04:52We do want to whisk our batter thoroughly before we start ladling, just in case that
04:56melted butter started to separate.
04:58And that's it.
04:59With our batters in, we're ready to transfer this into the center of a 350 degree oven,
05:05for about 50 to 60 minutes, or until our custard is just set, the top is browned, and it looks
05:11like this.
05:12And yes, it might puff up in a few spots, but don't worry, everything will quickly deflate
05:17as this cools.
05:19And I'm actually going to give this pie a quick shake, so you can see that there still
05:22should be a little bit of a jiggle to it.
05:25Although if this was an actual chest pie, the center would be a little more wiggly than
05:29the outside.
05:30But since I did use peach here, I did want to cook it a little longer, just to give that
05:34fruit a little extra time to soften.
05:37And that's it, we'll let that cool completely before we try to slice it and serve it.
05:41And as far as I'm concerned, I will always chill this thoroughly before I try to eat
05:45it, since I do think it's significantly better in both flavor and texture.
05:50But the light was nice, so I decided to serve one up even though it was still a little bit
05:53warm, which some people enjoy, but I don't because everything is going to be too slippery.
05:59Once this chills and the butter firms up, that's not going to happen.
06:03But anyway, I grabbed a fork and went in for a taste.
06:06And speaking of slippery, you can see right here that custard separated from the bottom,
06:10which if cold is probably not going to happen.
06:13But optimum texture aside, that was absolutely amazing tasting.
06:17And if you like peach pie and or custard pie, I think you're going to absolutely love this.
06:23And by the way, the challenges of eating a too warm pie is not really considered an
06:27actual real problem, especially by people that have actual real problems.
06:33But I'm going to stop filming that one and switch to this slice, which I cut after letting
06:37my pie chill in the fridge overnight.
06:40And that my friends tasted every bit as delicious, plus I got that beautiful, smooth, luxurious
06:44texture you get if you let a custard pie chill.
06:48And if it wasn't for the way too tough crust I made, this would have been perfect.
06:52Oh yes, I have to admit, I made the crust way too fast and I was in a big hurry.
06:57And I over mixed it, not thinking it would really matter, since it has nothing to do
07:01with how to make the pie.
07:02But as you know, I like to admit any and all mistakes.
07:05So if you do use one of our videos to make the crust, please follow the directions and
07:10do it how I actually do it in the video.
07:12And yours will be nice and flaky and not tough and hard like a rock.
07:16And as I touched on in the intro, I do enjoy peach pie, but after a few bites I get tired
07:21of it, because it's so much peach.
07:24Which is why I enjoy this style of pie so much.
07:27It has just the right amount of peach to balance with the custard and the crust.
07:32And yes, this will work with any summer stone fruit, like plums, apricots, etc.
07:37But no matter which you use, it is beautiful and delicious, and I really do hope you give
07:42it a try soon.
07:44So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts, a printable written recipe and much
07:49more info as usual.
07:51And as always, enjoy!