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Custard Pie Messed Up

6 years ago

Although I've made many pies over the years, it's always been fruit or nut pies. Never cream or custard. This past weekend I decided to try to use up some milk before it expired and I also had some oranges. So I couldn't really find the right recipe online so I decided to make a standard baked custard pie with orange flavoring in it. I made a graham cracker crust and prebaked it. I made the custard with the normal stuff and added some orange zest and some orange juice, only 1/4 cup, replacing that amount of milk. The pie took a little longer to set than the recipe said, but it finallydid. It tasted wonderful, but - the graham cracker crust had risen up to the top of the custard. Does anyone who is experienced with this type of pie tell me what I did wrong? Was it the orange juice that caused it?

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Comments (8)

writersblock (9b/10a)
6 years ago
I've never heard of using graham cracker crust for a custard pie. Your result was what I would have expected. I can see using graham cracker for a pie with a pre-cooked filling, like when you use pudding to fill a shell, or for something dense enough to keep the graham cracker bits down, like a cheesecake, but not for a loose filling that needs baking.
colleenoz
6 years ago
I've never made a custard pie in a graham cracker type crust, only pastry crusts. Did your recipe specify a graham cracker crust?
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lindac92
6 years ago
Cracker crumb crusts are commonly used for prebaked fillings...but for cheese cake.....but that filling is very thick.
Also I always add a fair amount of sugar to my crumb crust....when you bake it the sugar melts and helps "glue" the crust together.
User
6 years ago
Custard pies are always made with pastry crusts. Have never used a graham cracker for one. Like others have said, graham cracker crusts are for precooked fillings (or cheesecake).
User
Original Author
6 years ago
Well I guess I've been set straight!!! The reasons why I used the graham cracker crust was because I had some left over from making a cheesecake recently and I had seen on Cook's Country where they had made a sour orange pie and they used an animal cracker crust which I thought looked about like a graham cracker crust.
lascatx
6 years ago
I think this is the pie you were remembering:

http://www.thirteen.org/blog-post/sour-orange-pie/

That is like a key lime pie made with oranges instead of limes. It is not a baked custard. The acidity of the juices reacts with the condensed milk and egg yolks to give a soft set, though I have seen and used directions to put in the oven for about 10 minutes, IIRC. My understanding is that is a safeguard for the uncooked eggs, but not everyone does that. Whether you do or not the filling is thick when you pour it into the shell.
writersblock (9b/10a)
6 years ago
last modified: 6 years ago
Yeah, any sour orange pie I've ever seen isn't baked after adding the filling. (ETA Many are just an orange version of the fake gelatin-based green key lime pies, actually.)

Real key lime pie (which has meringue and a pastry crust) goes in the oven just long enough to brown the meringue and the pie shell is pre-baked.
annie1992
6 years ago
Rita, the pie actually sounds really good, but like others here, I've never baked custard in a graham cracker crust, only in pastry. The graham cracker crusts is normally reserved for dishes that do not require further baking, with cheesecake being a notable exception.

I often bake custard without any crust at all, so I'm thinking your custard would still be delicious, with a crumb topping.

Annie

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