I was blessed with many lovely gifts for my birthday. An especially appropriate gift made me chuckle when I opened it. I was the recipient of Martha Stewart's new edition of Pies and Tarts, fresh from the publishing house. My original Martha Stewart pie cookbook mysteriously disappeared years ago. I may have relegated it to a yard sale, but all I know is that the sadly neglected cookbook contained scads of recipes that never saw the light of day thanks to my pie-baking moratorium.
So far I have been very impressed with my lone pie cookbook by Ken Haedrich. But who am I to turn up my nose at Martha, the doyenne of domesticity? Flipping through the crisp pages of her Pies and Tarts, a tantalizing photograph of a vanilla cream pie caught my eye. Remember, my virgin voyage into pie making 37 years ago involved a vanilla cream disaster in Miss Miranda's home economics class. My recent reprise of Miss M's recipe was not much of an improvement. Could Ms. Stewart turn my vanilla cream nightmare into a vanilla cream dream? I set out to give her recipe the old junior high try.
Martha's vanilla cream pie is a grown-up version of my middle school recipe. For starters, it's laced with rum, infused with the seeds and pod of a vanilla bean, and uses a pastry crust versus a graham cracker crust. In true Martha fashion, she calls the crust Pâte Brisée, a fancy French name meaning "broken pastry" which refers to the cutting of the butter into the flour. For us common folks, it is simply a butter crust. Martha's recipe calls for the dough to be rolled on a floured surface. I use Ken Haedrich's tactic of rolling the pastry out on waxed paper which is easier and less messy.
I'd be curious to hear Miss Miranda's critique of this sophisticated, spiked version of her basic pie recipe. She may not approve of Martha's Stewart's adaptation of vanilla cream pie, but the proof is in the pudding, or more aptly, the custard. I was delighted with the deep vanilla flavor and the jazzy rum overtones in the smooth yet firm filling. Make this pie at your next dinner party and if you're feeling highfalutin, impress your guests by saying you made the Pâte Brisée from scratch.
Pâte Brisée:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon sugar
1 stick cold unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
1/4 cup ice water
Pulse flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor (or whisk together by hand in a bowl). Add butter and pulse (or quickly cut in with a pastry blender) until mixture resembles coarse meal. Slowly drizzle 1/4 cup water over mixture. Pulse (or mix with a fork) until mixture just begins to hold together. If dough is too dry, add more water, 1 teaspoon at a time, and pulse (or mix with fork).
Gather dough into a ball, wrap loosely in plastic, and press into a disk using a rolling pin. Refrigerate until firm, well wrapped in plastic, 1 hour or up to 1 day. (Dough can be frozen for up to 3 months; thaw in refrigerator before using).
On a sheet of lightly floured waxed paper, roll the dough into a 12-inch circle with a floured rolling pin. Invert over a 9-inch pie pan, center, and peel off paper. Tuck the pastry into the pan, sculpting the overhang into an upstanding ridge. Crimp edge for a decorative touch, if desired. Place in freezer for 15 minutes.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line shell with foil; fill with pie weights or dried beans. Bake until edges begin to turn gold, 15-18 minutes. Remove weights and foil. Bake until crust is golden brown, 12-15 minutes more. Let cool completely on a wire rack.
Filling: (Martha's recipe calls for the yolks to be added later but I added them to the milk mixture and cooked everything together as Ken Haedrich advises in his cream pie recipes)
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 cups milk
1 vanilla bean, halved lengthwise and scraped, pod reserved
4 large egg yolks
1/4 cups plus 1 tablespoon golden rum (2 teaspoons rum extract can be substituted)
4 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons and softened
1 cup heavy whipping cream
1 tablespoon confectioners' sugar
Combine granulated sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a medium saucepan. Whisk in milk, vanilla seeds, and yolks and cook over medium-high heat, stirring constantly, until bubbling and thick, about 7 minutes. Pour mixture through a fine sieve into a large bowl, and stir in 1/4 cup rum. Add butter, 1 tablespoon at a time, whisking until melted. Let cool, whisking occasionally, about 10 minutes.
Pour custard into crust. Press plastic wrap directly on surface of custard. Refrigerate until custard is firm, about 4 hours or up to a day. Meanwhile, place cream and vanilla pod in a bowl. Cover and refrigerate 4 hours or up to a day. Just before serving, remove pod from cream and discard. Whip cream until soft peaks form. Add confectioners' sugar and remaining tablespoon rum and whip until stiff peaks form. Spread whipped cream over pie. Serve immediately.
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