Vanilla Cream Pie with Caramelized Apple Topping

Does it occur to you that you have a surplus of egg whites (or egg yolks) and you have no idea what to do with it? Over a year ago, I tried to make a lemon custard which required a fair amount of egg yolks. I disastrously overcooked the egg yolks and end up with a curdled mess. I felt so bad of wasting them that I gave up making custard desserts, fearing that I will mess up again. I also didn't want to end up with a big batch of egg whites lying around my fridge.

Last week, my Taiwanese friend wanted to make a vanilla cream pie. Since I'm using his eggs, I don't feel bad if I mess the custard so I went for it.  It is very similar to the Lemon Meringue Pie, but the pastry cream is made first, refrigerated and then transfered onto the baked pie shell. Also, we used caramelized apples as our topping instead of the meringue. Unfortunately, I did not take any pictures of the pastry cream which ended up to be a great success. Oh well, there is always next time. The cream recipe is adapted from allrecipes.com.

Serves 8

Preparation Time: 45 mins
Cooking Time: 40 mins
Printable Recipe

Ingredients

1 pie dough

Vanilla Pastry Cream

2 cups whole milk
6 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 cup white sugar
4 tbsp all-purpose flour

4 tbsp unsalted butter

1 pinch salt

Caramelized Apple Topping

1 tbsp butter
5-6 Golden Delicious apples, peeled and diced
1/2 lemon, juiced

1/3 cup + 1/2 cup brown sugar

Procedure

1. In a saucepan, place milk, half of the sugar and vanilla extract over medium heat.

2. In a bowl, combine egg yolks and sugar, whisk until pale and thick. Mix in flour and salt.

3. When milk starts to boil, remove from heat. Slowly pour half of the hot milk into the yolk mix, stirring constantly.

4. Place all the yolk mixture into saucepan over medium heat.

5. Remove from heat and stir in butter. Strain for a smoother texture. Transfer to a bowl and cover with plastic wrap directly on the cream to prevent skin formation.

6. Preheat oven to 350F.

7. Butter a 9'' pie pan. Prepare pie dough. Roll out dough onto 9'' pie plate. Prick the bottom with a fork.

8. Bake for 15 mins until golden brown.

9. In a saucepan, melt butter over medium-low heat. Add apples and cook in lemon juice and 1/3 cup brown sugar

10. Remove baked pie dough from the oven. Spread with pastry cream and topped with cooked apples.

11. Sprinkle the remaining brown sugar under a broiler until sugar caramelizes. Serve hot.