Red Currant Pie

  4.4 – 44 reviews  • German

This recipe for red currant pie was sent to me by a friend in Germany. Red currants can be added in this wonderful way to your baked goods.

Prep Time: 20 mins
Cook Time: 35 mins
Additional Time: 30 mins
Total Time: 1 hr 25 mins
Servings: 10
Yield: 1 10-inch pie

Ingredients

  1. 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  2. 1 teaspoon baking powder
  3. ½ cup butter, softened
  4. ½ cup white sugar
  5. 2 large eggs, separated
  6. 1 ½ teaspoons grated lemon zest
  7. ½ cup white sugar
  8. 2 teaspoons cornstarch
  9. 2 ¼ cups red currants

Instructions

  1. Make the dough: Sift flour and baking powder into a medium bowl. Mix in butter, sugar, egg yolks, and lemon zest until a dough forms. Cover and let rest in a cool place for 30 minutes. Set egg whites aside for the filling.
  2. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Grease the bottom and sides of a 10-inch springform pan.
  3. Roll dough into a 10-inch circle; place into the prepared springform pan.
  4. Bake in the preheated oven until golden, about 25 minutes.
  5. Meanwhile, make the filling: Beat reserved egg whites in a glass, metal, or ceramic bowl until stiff. Gradually mix in sugar and cornstarch, then beat for 5 minutes. Fold in currants, then pour over crust in the springform pan.
  6. Return to the oven and bake until top is lightly browned, about 10 minutes. Cool to room temperature before serving.

Nutrition Facts

Calories 257 kcal
Carbohydrate 39 g
Cholesterol 65 mg
Dietary Fiber 2 g
Protein 4 g
Saturated Fat 6 g
Sodium 115 mg
Sugars 22 g
Fat 10 g
Unsaturated Fat 0 g

Reviews

David Ford
This was so tasty. The sweetness of the cookie-like crust was the perfect counterpoint to the tart currants.
Kimberly Gordon
I thought I had lost this recipe and had to seek it out again. Phew. It’s a lovely way to use up the glut of redcurrants. It’s a bit like a Pavlova on a biscuit base, and you need to bake it for at least 20 minutes, not 10 (I have made this numerous times and had guests begging for the recipe every time.
John Roberts
I had some fresh red currants from my neighbor. I am so glad I found this recipe. It’s a keeper! We love the tartness with just the right enough sugar to get the taste buds firing. My neighbor liked it so much she gave me more currants and I made a second batch the next day. I used a 9×9 pan and called them currant bars. They remind me of lemon bars only better. These are more interesting than the currant jam we’ve been making. We can’t wait until next summer when the currants turn ripe again.
Cynthia Snyder
I am so glad that I read the reviews as it saves my time by simply pressing the dough in the pan. I doubled meringue as my currants are very sour. I was not crazy about red currants but now I am crazy about this pie! I have plenty in my backyard. My German parents will be thrilled that I finally love them.
Darlene Hughes
Made this as is the first time. Terrific. Now I mostly just buy pie dough, bake a crust, and make the filling with whatever fresh fruit we have (blueberries, raspberries, currants).
Jimmy Hogan
I made this recipe as-written, but did need to bake for slightly longer. I had picked and cleaned all the currants the day-of baking. What we found was that the short crust was far too sweet for us, and within hours of baking the meringue started to become soggy. I think the meringue needed to bake much, much longer which may have helped. It was an odd combination of bitter, cloyingly sweet and soggy. I gave 3/5 stars because it has been humid here, and that may have impacted the results. It not being to our taste isn’t the fault of the recipe. If I were to make something like this again I would reduce the amount of currants and bake longer.
Jacob Reed
Fantastic! I made small tarts in 8cm tart pans and they were awesome! The sour taste of the currants is balanced with the sweet meringue and they look super! I dusted them with a bit of icing sugar…alltogether they were a big hit. I used the exact recipe this time, but next time I’ll use less sugar in the meringue. One tip: Don’t skip the cornstarch, it makes the meringue stickier and more marshmallow-y, so it stays better in the tart pans.
Vincent Livingston
Bakery quality-I stuck to the original recipe except I substituted coconut sugar for white sugar in the crust and I skipped the rolling out and patted the crust directly into the 9″ springform pan. I didn’t let my meringue get as brown as the picture and it was perfect. Thanks for a great recipe!
Ronald Gutierrez
Tastes like I remember Germany. Not too sweet; not too tart; just right but rich in flavor. We had picked most of the red currants and made jelly. Then the other day we looked and the currants that were left were dead ripe; kissed by the sun they were a glorious color. I saw this recipe on here last year and now thought I would try it. So glad I did. I am hoping my husband doesnt like it as I could eat the whole thing. I am not looking at the calories; I dont care. Lovely dessert. There are enough berries left to freeze a couple of bags so I will try using the frozen berries til winter and see if it works. I made it exactly as the recipe was written so that I could give it a fair review. It is excellent. Made this through the past winter, 2017, with frozen berries. Just add 1 extra tsp cornstarch and it wont be runny. It was wonderful at Christmas and for Valentines Day.
Alexander Duke
This is amazing! I did as ANIMAP suggested and pressed the crust into the pan and let it rest in the fridge for 30 minutes before baking. Also, I halved the recipe and baked in 2- 5 inch springform pans and it turned out great. I loved this so much, and I’m not big on fruit desserts and I despise meringue, so it had to be amazing to overcome those.
Michael Koch
I recently moved into a new house with red currant plants. I have never eaten currants and came across this recipe. I tried this recipe tonight and it is delicious! I only wish I had more berries to pick to make this again. When I made the crust, it was very loose, but I packed it down as suggested in another review.
Joyce Blair
I just made this pie, it is cooling off. Without trying it, I can only say it looks lovely. The meringue has swirls of red in it, and it is a combination of white, red, and golden. Can’t wait to try it. My only note: do not bake the meringue filling at 325 degrees, do it at 400 F (200 C) and check it every couple of minutes after minute 7. I live in Finland, and plan on serving this with the whipped vanilla cream that someone else mentioned, it always works wonders for tart desserts.
Linda Morrison
This is a big hit! Baked for 20 minutes though and meringue was still not browned so I put it under the broiler for 1 minute and it browned right up. Will definitely make again.
Bonnie Sloan
I liked the idea of using almonds in the crust but I forgot, so I added it to the meringue. It turned out great! The meringue was like marshmallow fluff but the pie wasn’t too sweet. I also added some water to the dough and then just pressed it into a pan after chilling it. I will make this again.
Troy Gardner
AMAZINGLY DELICIOUS!! In less than 24 hours after baking this cake I’ve already forwarded it to four of my baker friends. Sure, it takes a long time to pick 250g of individual currants from their stalks, but it’s well worth it, I promise. The only difference between my method and the one specified in the recipe is that I had to add water to make the dough stick together, but no big deal. I also used flour instead of cornflour and that was fine. TRY THIS RECIPE!!
Anthony Bishop
Good but fairly sour. Loved the lemon in the crust, will keep this recipe just for the crust.
Richard Smith
This is delicious! I beat the egg whites by hand and it still worked great. I had to bake it more than 10 minutes (I think I baked it about 20 minutes) to get a ‘lightly browned’ top. Red Currants never tasted better!
Alexander Saunders
The boyfriend and I really liked the pie crust. We would give that 4.5 stars.. the topping.. only 1 star (if that). There are a bunch of red currants that grow down the road and we wanted to try a recipe using them. I searched for a recipe online to use them and found this one. The boyfriend considered the pie inedible without a whipped topping as the pie was simply too tart. We topped it with a vanilla whip topping (from Sweden) and the pie was terrific! It just needed a little more sweetening for our taste.
Jonathan Williamson
This is good. It’s a great use for red currants. If you skip the dough chilling/resting and press it into the pan instead of rolling it out, it’s pretty quick and easy too.
Michelle Hughes
Made this with fresh currants from our garden, and without any alterations or substitutions to the recipe. Company loved it. It’s pretty simple. You don’t have to roll out the dough, you can just press it into the bottom of a springform pan. Even easier. Can use raspberries also.
Jessica Steele
Family and friends in Germany make this pie every summer. It is a great recipe, but keep in mind that this pie is all about the contrast between the tart red currants (which can be overwhelming for some people) and the sweet meringue. Don’t expect something pretty to look at, just enjoy the taste of summer.

 

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