Favourite Fruit Custard Pies

This is the kind of pie your grandmother might have pulled out of a wood-burning oven, with no fancy folding or tempering tricks. The custard comes together with sugar, flour, salt, and beaten eggs, thinned with hot scalded milk so the texture turns out silky instead of curdled.

Scalding matters here. Bringing the milk just to the edge of a simmer dissolves the sugar and shocks the eggs into setting evenly, which is what gives this custard its quiver-but-don’t-crack finish. The fruit gets dotted across the top after pouring, so the berries half-sink, half-float, baking into juicy pockets that streak the pale custard with color.

Pro Tips

• Scald the milk by heating until tiny bubbles form around the edge, then pull it off the heat. Boiling will scramble the eggs when combined.
• Add the hot milk to the egg mixture in a slow stream while whisking constantly to prevent lumps.
• The classic doneness test still works best: insert a thin knife near the center; it should come out clean. The middle will jiggle slightly and set as it cools.
• Cool completely before slicing, or the custard will weep.

Variations

• Use blueberries, raspberries, or pitted sweet cherries depending on what’s in season.
• Stir a teaspoon of vanilla extract or a scraped vanilla bean into the milk before scalding.
• Sprinkle a pinch of nutmeg over the top before baking for a warm, old-fashioned finish.