This Italian baked custard pie recipe is a creamy pie that is both easy to make and unbelievably delicious. Perfect for any occasion or for just a sweet treat for yourself!
This delicious creamy Italian pie is one of those recipes that you can only find when eating at an Italian family restaurant in Italy or in an Italian's home whose family makes this. That is because this pie is one of those recipes that was integrated into Italian food culture by the French. It is not as common as some other Italian desserts.
This pie is similar to a French cream tart but better. My first introduction to this was in my absolute favorite Italian family restaurant in Florence, called Ristorante del Fagioli. A true family Italian restaurant with the most amazing authentic Italian meals and your food is cooked and served by the family. This pie is my recreated version of theirs and after many trials in the kitchen, this one is perfect!
Make sure to serve it warm or even heat each slice for a few seconds in the microwave before eating it for the most amazing experience.
Ingredients And Substitutions
- Heavy Whipping Cream
- Large Eggs
- Vanilla extract
- Pie Crust: My pie crust recipe is below and the one I prefer since it is nice and strong and can hold up to a creamy filling. If you have your own or store bought, feel free to use that.
- Salt
- Unsalted butter: If you do not have unsalted butter, you can use regular salted butter and just omit the salt in the recipe.
How To Make Italian Custard Pie
- Make the pie crust: Add your pie crust ingredients to a food processor (butter, sour cream, egg, sugar, vinegar, cold water and salt) and pulse until they all come together.
- Prepare the pie plate: Roll out the pie crust then gently place it into a 9 inch pie dish and crimp the edges.
- Make the cream filling: In a medium bowl, mix all of the cream filling ingredients together until smooth (softened butter, cream, vanilla, sugar and salt)
- Assemble and Bake: Pour the filling into the prepared pie crust and bake for 20 minutes then cover with aluminum foil and bake for an additional 30-40 minutes (for a total time of 50-60 minutes).
Tips
- Serve the slices of pie warm: I like to serve the pie at room temperature by leaving it out the day I bake it. After that it is refrigerated which firms up the filling. To really enjoy this the way it was served to me in Italy (my favorite way) slice a piece and place it in the microwave for about 5-10 seconds so it softens.
- Top with powdered sugar or whipped cream
- Don't over bake: When working with cream fillings or custard, it can be easy to over bake. make sure to check the pie early for doneness since all ovens vary.
- Cover halfway through baking: Since this is a baked custard, the top can brown too much if not covered halfway through baking with aluminum foil.
Storage
Since this is made with cream and eggs, you want to make sure to refrigerate it after the first day. You can also freeze this pie by wrapping the cooled pie in a double amount of plastic wrap then freeze for up to 2 months.
Thaw the pie overnight in the fridge.
More Delicious Desserts to Try!
Creamy Italian Custard Pie Recipe
This creamy Italian pie recipe is both easy to make and unbelievably delicious. Perfect for any occasion or for just a sweet treat for yourself!
Equipment
- 9 inch pie plate
Ingredients
- 1 Pie crust one disc of dough (recipe below) or store-bought.
- 1 ½ cups Granulated sugar
- 1 cup Heavy whipping cream
- ¼ cup Unsalted butter room temperature
- 3 Large eggs
- 3 tablespoon All purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- Pinch of salt
Pie Crust (makes 3 discs of dough or 3 pie crusts)
- 4 cups All purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups cold unsalted butter cut into cubes
- ½ cup ice water
- 1 egg beaten
- 3 tablespoon sour cream
- 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
Instructions
Preparing the Pie Crust
- Roll the pie crust (see recipe below) out a little larger in diameter than a 9-inch pie pan.1 Pie crust
- Add your pie crust to a 9 inch round pie pan and crimp the edges and remove any excess crust.
- Set aside.
- Pre-heat your oven to 350 degrees.
Cream Filling
- In a large bowl add your eggs and beat with a hand mixer for about 3 minutes or until frothy.3 Large eggs
- Next add the butter, flour and sugar and mix until combined.¼ cup Unsalted butter, 3 tablespoon All purpose flour, 1 ½ cups Granulated sugar
- Now add the vanilla, heavy cream and salt and mix well.1 teaspoon Vanilla extract, Pinch of salt, 1 cup Heavy whipping cream
- Pour your cream mixture into your pie pan and place in the pre-heated oven.
- After 20 minutes, gently cover the top with aluminum foil (making sure not to disturb the custard) to prevent the custard top from burning and continue baking for another 30-40 minutes (for a total time of 50-60 minutes) or until the texture of the pie is firm and not jiggly in the center. When checking the doneness of the pie, only give it a slight nudge to check if it is set.
- Remove from the oven and let cool completely on a wire rack.
- Dust the top with powdered and serve as is, or with with whipped cream. I also like to warm the slices in the microwave for 10 seconds after the pie has been refrigerated to soften the custard up.
Pie Crust Recipe
- Add dry ingredients to a food processor.4 cups All purpose flour, 1 tablespoon sugar, 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- Add the cold butter to the flour in the food processor and pulse until butter is combined and looks like coarse sand.1 ½ cups cold unsalted butter
- In a small bowl mix together your egg, water, sour cream, and vinegar.1 egg, ½ cup ice water, 3 tablespoon sour cream, 1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
- Add to the food processor with the flour mixture and pulse until just combined.
- Dump flour-butter mixture into a large bowl and set aside
- Dump out onto a lightly floured board and shape into a ball. Divide the ball into 3 sections and form into round balls.
- Take each ball of dough shape into a ball and press down into a disc. Wrap each disc with plastic wrap
- Refrigerate dough for 20-25 minutes to make the butter cold again (this helps with flakey layers)
Notes
Pie Crust Recipe:
This recipe makes 3 pie crusts and only one is needed for this recipe. You can freeze the extra pie dough by wrapping them in a plastic bag and freezing them for up to 3 months. To thaw, just place them in the refrigerator over night to thaw gently.Nutrition
Serving: 1pieCalories: 3430kcalCarbohydrates: 407gProtein: 37gFat: 190gSaturated Fat: 102gPolyunsaturated Fat: 13gMonounsaturated Fat: 59gTrans Fat: 2gCholesterol: 882mgSodium: 957mgPotassium: 623mgFiber: 5gSugar: 307gVitamin A: 5631IUVitamin C: 1mgCalcium: 284mgIron: 8mg
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Meg
Thank you for sharing this recipe