The name of this pie was chosen by Miss Schneider’s students. She would bring several of these pies to her class each spring for them to enjoy during break. This decadent treat earned the nickname “school teacher pie” over the forty years that Miss Schneider taught. (I just refer to it as Creme Brulee Pie since that is exactly what it is!)
| Prep Time: | 30 mins |
| Cook Time: | 35 mins |
| Additional Time: | 4 hrs 30 mins |
| Total Time: | 5 hrs 35 mins |
| Servings: | 8 |
| Yield: | 1 9-inch pie |
Ingredients
- 12 large strawberries, hulled and halved
- ⅓ cup brown sugar
- 1 cup all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon white sugar
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ½ cup butter, softened
- 2 tablespoons milk
- 1 pint heavy whipping cream
- 6 egg yolks
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¼ cup white sugar
Instructions
- Toss strawberries with brown sugar in a bowl and let stand while you complete remaining steps, about 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Whisk flour, 1 tablespoon white sugar, and 1/4 teaspoon salt in a bowl until thoroughly combined. Cut butter into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse crumbs, and drizzle in milk. Mix just until the dough holds together. Turn dough out onto a floured surface and roll out into a 10-inch circle. Fit dough into a 9-inch pie dish. Prick the dough several times on the bottom and sides; fill with dry beans or pie weights.
- Bake the crust in the preheated oven until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Remove crust and let cool.
- Bring cream just barely to a simmer in a saucepan over low heat. Whisk egg yolks thoroughly in a bowl with 1/4 teaspoon salt and add about 1 tablespoon of the hot cream to the beaten yolks, whisking constantly. Continue to add and whisk hot cream into the yolks until about 2/3 cup of cream has been added, then whisk the yolk mixture into the remaining hot cream in the saucepan, pouring it in a thin stream. Continue whisking until cream mixture is thick and smooth, about 5 more minutes; do not let boil or custard will curdle. Remove custard from heat and let stand until it reaches room temperature, about 30 minutes.
- Drain juice from strawberries and layer them into the bottom of the baked pie shell. Spread cream custard over the berries; refrigerate until set, about 4 hours.
- Set oven rack about 6 inches from the heat source and preheat the oven’s broiler.
- Sprinkle 1/4 cup white sugar evenly over top of pie and broil until the sugar is browned, about 5 minutes. Let pie stand 5 minutes for sugar topping to cool before serving.
Nutrition Facts
| Calories | 479 kcal |
| Carbohydrate | 33 g |
| Cholesterol | 266 mg |
| Dietary Fiber | 1 g |
| Protein | 5 g |
| Saturated Fat | 22 g |
| Sodium | 260 mg |
| Sugars | 18 g |
| Fat | 37 g |
| Unsaturated Fat | 0 g |
Reviews
I’m really bad at following a recipe verbatim. Things I changed: 1) Used a pre-made crust and skipped steps 1-3. 2) Added 1/3 cup brown sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla to the custard as it was cooling. I did this to get more of a vanilla custard pie instead of a plain custard pie. Also, I definitely didn’t need to let the pie sit in the refrigerator for more than 2 1/2 hours before doing the caramelized sugar on top. And although the broiler technique is great for caramelizing the sugar on top and giving it that creme brulee look, it also burns any exposed crust. I had to cut off the excess crust. That wasn’t too big of a deal though, took less than 2 minutes. Finally, the recipe says cool for 5 minutes before serving. No. Nonono. Refrigerate for at least 25 minutes before serving. Despite my critiques, overall this is a really delicious pie, and definitely something I’ll make again.