Mary's Raisin Cream Pie

This is the kind of pie that ruled Sunday dinners across the American Midwest and Canada for generations: a creamy stovetop custard packed with plumped raisins and crowned with a billowing meringue. It’s a thrifty pie too, using the egg yolks for the custard and the whites for the meringue so nothing gets wasted.

The raisins do their best work after a quick simmer in water for 5 minutes, which plumps them up so they stay tender and juicy in the finished pie instead of going leathery in the cold custard. That brief soak transforms hard dried fruit into something almost jammy that distributes evenly through the cream filling.

The custard cooks in a double boiler, which is essential here. Direct heat on a thin egg-yolk-thickened cream like this curdles instantly into scrambled eggs. The gentle steam heat of a double boiler lets the flour and yolks set the custard slowly without breaking.

A half teaspoon of lemon extract is the surprise ingredient. It might seem out of place in a raisin pie, but the bright citrus note cuts through the richness and keeps the dessert from reading as one-note sweet.

The meringue browns at 400°F (200°C) for about 10 minutes, just long enough for the peaks to hit golden brown without overbaking the soft custard underneath.

Pro Tips

• Bring the custard to a fully cooled cool-warm temperature before pouring into the baked pie shell; pouring hot custard onto a fragile crust makes it soggy.
• Spread the meringue all the way to the crust edge to seal it; gaps between meringue and crust shrink during baking and lead to weeping.
• Don’t skip the cream of tartar in the meringue; it stabilizes the egg whites so the peaks hold up.
• Cool completely on a wire rack before slicing; warm cream pies set up as they cool and slicing too early gives you a runny mess.

Variations

• Sub golden raisins for a milder, more refined-tasting filling.
• Add 1 teaspoon of cinnamon to the custard for a spiced version that leans toward rice pudding territory.
• Use a graham cracker crust instead of pastry for a quicker version with a sweet crumb base.