Egg Custard Pie only requires one mixing bowl and makes its own crust. This post was originally published April 20, 2011. I updated the photos and made a minor adjustment to the recipe.
In the mid to late 1960’s, my grandparents were finally able to afford a washing machine. That simplified their lives to some degree because it meant no more lugging everything and everybody to the laundromat, however, it presented another set of challenge. Washday had to be scheduled around the weather.
They couldn’t afford the dryer to go along with the washer, so the clothes were solar dried.
On this particular day, we were up bright and early to start the wash and get it hung out because, “it looks like we might have a cloud comin’ up”. The first load out of the washer was plopped into a big green plastic clothes basket.
Granny grabbed her apron that held her stash of wooden clothes pins, tied on the apron and we both lugged the basket of clothes to the backyard clothes line. As she picked through the basket of clothes to give me the “easy” ones to hang out, she told me to reach in the apron, grab a handful of the wooden clothes and pin them on my clothes making it easier for me to have access to them.
My bundle of wet clothes to hang consisted of handkerchiefs, undershirts and socks. As I struggled trying to manage the wet clothes and keep them off the ground and on the clothesline, I noticed that she moved deftly and swiftly, not missing a beat.
Her clothes were perfectly straight with similar types sorted and hanging together. Meanwhile, I manage to get three handkerchiefs and two pairs of socks up during the time she got the rest of the clothes hung up.
I don’t know what it is about seeing clothes flapping in the wind hanging on a clothesline but something about the sight of it appeals to me. Clothesline are not allowed in most neighborhoods. Some consider a clothesline tacky.
It’s not the clothesline itself that I love to see, it’s the clothes swaying back and forth in the breeze. Especially white clothes. They almost glisten in the sun.
Nothing smells better to me than bed linens that have been line dried. Snuggle up in bed, take a big whiff of that clean fresh scent and your mind is cleared and ready for sleep. It’s like a magic potion.
With the last load out of the washer, we are almost finished getting the clothes on the line. There’s not any evidence of imminent rainy weather and it appears the timing was perfect.
Granny says, “Let go in and get our dinner started. I’ve got a new pie recipe I want you to try to make fer us.”
Dinner to her meant the noon meal. This is a holdover from times when farmers needed their largest meal in the middle of the day to carry them through the very long and tiring workday.
We entered the back door to the kitchen, she opened a drawer and handed me a piece of paper written in someone else’s handwriting that said:
Blender Custard Pie
4 eggs
1/2 c. flour
2 c. sweet milk
sugar
1/2 c. butter
vanilla flavor
Blend in blender. Pour into pie pan.
She gleefully explained to me that you don’t even need a pie crust or a mixer to make this pie. And you don’t mess up a bowl because you put everything right in the blender.
Glancing at the recipe I saw only a few ingredients and a few words and thought the pie must be really simple. She set about her little kitchen gathering ingredients and implements for me.
I sat down at the black and white enamel table in front of the pie safe that held the remnants from breakfast, bacon and biscuits, and maybe some cornbread from last nights’ supper. She instructed me to reach in the safe and get me something to eat because she knew I must be hungry.
She was right! A cold biscuit and bacon hit the spot. As she placed a pot of Southern peas on to cook, I started measuring ingredients for this magic pie. Eggs, flour and milk were measured directly in the blender.
Next is sugar. Ummmm. There’s no amount. “Granny”, I asked, “how much sugar do I need to use?” She answered, “Well, shug, it’s just owin’ to how sweet ya want it. I usually put in about a cup and a half, maybe a tad bit more.”
With a cup and half of sugar measured and poured in the blender, I next unwrapped a stick of butter, 1/2 cup, and threw the stick into the blender with the rest of the ingredients. She scowled.
“What did I do wrong?”, I asked.
She replied,”You’ve got to melt that butter.”
Looking back at the recipe three more times, I still didn’t see a word about melting the butter. And the stick of butter was swimming around in the blender with eggs,milk and sugar. Nothing else to do but to fish it out, melt it in a pan on the stove in the absence of a microwave and let it gain re-entry into the blender.
The next ingredient said, “vanilla flavor”. Oh, brother! As if she could read my mind, I heard, “Just put cha a capful of vanilla in it.”
All ingredients of the magic pie are now present and accounted for. The blender whirls until everything is consolidated. I carefully pour the mixture into a deep dish pie pan and place it in a 375 degree preheated oven for………how many minutes? Good grief!
Responding to my question, “How long do we bake it?”, she said, “You just have to know when it’s done.”
And I thought this was going to be easy.
The pie finished baking in about 55 minutes. It was a perfect finish to our meal of salmon patties, peas and cornbread.
I’ve made Granny’s magic pie many, many times since that day. Having a granddaughter of my own now, it will be a happy day when I can teach her to bake the magic pie.
I won’t hold out on the ingredient amounts, either. My Granny wasn’t doing that to be mean and hard to get along with. That was the way she cooked and the way she taught me to cook. She just reckoned you had enough sense to know basic things and didn’t see the need to tell you something you already knew.
So, when Ella gets in the kitchen with me, I will have the recipe written on her own special recipe card that she can keep forever and ever.
On second thought, I’m passing down the recipe card that I have right now that has yellowed and shows food stains. I think that will mean more to her.
Gosh, I wish I had a clothesline.
Y’all come see us.
Egg Custard Pie
While Granny delighted in mixing this in the blender, I use my 40 plus year old avocado green hand mixer. I also mess up a mixing bowl. Only one bowl, though! This is a simple basic little custard pie that would never win a beauty contest but has such a comforting flavor. It’s meant to look rustic because that’s what it is. I will give you the complete recipe. I swapped out milk for half and half for an extra creamy filling. Be sure to use a deep dish pie pan.
4 eggs
1/2 cup self rising flour
2 cups half and half
1 1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup butter, melted and divided
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
Mix. Pour. Bake.
Coat a deep dish pie pan with oil or butter. You’ve got a whole stick of butter in this recipe. You can spare some. The only deep dish pie plate I have happens to be an apple pie one. (*note: I now have a solid white deep dish pie pan)
Add eggs before you add anything else. No need to put eggs in a separate dish first and mess up that dish. You can see if you have egg shells. If you do, take them out.
Everything else goes in. I’m not so sure the butter has to be melted. I think you could dice it up and it would work just fine. I haven’t tested that out yet. Mix all ingredients well.
Pour into a pie pan. See the bubbles in the upper right hand corner? We want to get rid of those by rapping gently, ah say gently, on the counter.
See, no more bubbles.
Bake at 375 degrees for about 55 minutes. The middle of the pie will start to spit and sputter and the pie juggles but doesn’t slosh when move it. It sets better if you chill it thoroughly before slicing. Got any clothes you need hang out on the line?
Egg Custard Pie. A favorite memory of my Granny was hanging clothes on the line with her and then coming into the kitchen for her to teach me how to make this special magic pie.
Egg Custard Pie
Ingredients
- 4 eggs
- 1/2 cup self rising flour
- 2 cups half and half
- 1 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup butter melted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
Instructions
- Coat a deep dish pie pan with oil or butter. You’ve got a whole stick of butter in this recipe. You can spare some.
- Add eggs before you add anything else. No need to put eggs in a separate dish first and mess up that dish. You can see if you have egg shells. If you do, take them out.
- Everything else goes in. I’m not so sure the butter has to be melted. I think you could dice it up and it would work just fine. I haven’t tested that out yet. Mix all ingredients together.
- Pour into a pie pan. Gently tap on the counter to get rid of air bubbles. If you're using a glass pie pan and tapping on a granite counter, be vewwy, vewwy caweful.
- Bake at 375 degrees for about 55 minutes. The middle of the pie will start to spit and sputter and the pie juggles but doesn’t slosh when move it. It sets better if you chill it thoroughly before slicing.
Check out these pie recipes:
Peach Pie
Susan says
Did you use a pie crust for this recipe? I love egg custard with or without a shell so either way I’m sure it will be wonderful. I don’t have a deep dish pie dish though so wondering if another dish would work?
Jackie Garvin says
Susan,
It makes it’s own crust. You need the deep dish pie plate to hold the volume. You could make two small pies.
Susan says
Oh cool! lol I am definitely going to make this then tonight or tomorrow! I love your stories and your recipes!
Thank you.
Lynn Bowman says
Hi, just wondering what you mean by “sweet milk”? Canned condensed milk or maybe milk with sugar added? I really love custard and would like to try this. Help. Lynn
Lynn Bowman says
ok, I guess I had things a little out of order when I printed this, because the story was so fun of course I printed it all. So now I get that there’s the original Grandma’s recipe and your more complete version with all the blanks filled in. So now I have cut and pasted the story and recipes I feel more confident to make my first custard. I am truly excited by this project and wanted to say thanks so much for sharing it all. Lynn
Jackie Garvin says
Lynn,
You got it figured out before I had a chance to respond to your comment! I hope you enjoy the pie. I’ve shared it with so many people who tell me they will make it over and over again. Please let me know what you think about. 🙂
Ronda says
Love the story and can’t wait to try the pie. My Mamaw passed away way back in 1972 when I was 7 years old and I still miss her! Most of my memories of baking and clothes lines came from my Mom. She has been gone for almost 18 years now but I still remember hanging clothes, canning, making butter, etc. I wish I had spent more time in the kitchen learning all her little secrets as she was an awesome cook. Miss her like crazy. Thanks for sharing!
Jackie Garvin says
Ronda,
Even though I learned so much about cooking, and life, in Granny’s kitchen, I have about a million questions I’d love to ask her. I miss her terribly.
What Sarah Bakes says
I love learning the stories behind great recipes. This pie looks like a great no-fuss and yet delicious recipe! Thanks for sharing Jackie 🙂
Jackie Garvin says
Thanks for stopping by, Sarah.
grace says
my mom has a pie like this! she adds coconut and calls it the impossible pie. 🙂 it’s a personal favorite!
Jackie Garvin says
I’ve had the coconut version, too. It’s really good!
Joe Anne says
We called this “impossible pie” and added shredded coconut. . . . .my Dad loved coconut custard. Excellent dessert.
Jackie Garvin says
Joe Anne,
I’ve had the coconut version, too. It’s very good but the plain version is my favorite.
Fred Nonterah says
I’m a big fan of pies and I think and think I just found a new recipe which I should try before the end of the week.
Jackie Garvin says
Thank you, Fred. I hope you enjoy!
Alyce Bird says
Jackie,
I love this recipe my Mama made a custard pie when I was a young girl and we would laugh because her’s had a bottom crust and no later what she did that crust would float to the top of the pie. It would make her so mad when my Pa would request her to make a custard pie which was one of his favorites..
She would have loved this one.
My Mama was raised in Mississippi. Then moved to Michigan in her mid teens.
Maybe you can help me locate a recipe for the molasses cookies she made us as kids which is one of my favorites. My Mama passed a few years ago at the age of 90 and I have lost the recipe , it was different from the ones I can find on the web. I can remember her holding a measuring cup over the bowl and she would mix two ingredient together and I would watch her with great delight as this mixture would bubble over into the bowl with the rest of the ingredients and she would count down from 5 and then mix it quickly then we would drop them by spoonfulls onto the cookie sheet. They were light and fluffy and had that great molasses flavor.
Thank you for your blog, it is a joy to read.
Jackie Garvin says
Alyce,
Thank you for sharing your sweet story about your Mama. The mixture that you described bubbling over might have been molasses and baking soda. I don’t have a molasses cookie recipe but I do something similar when I make peanut brittle. Once baking soda is added to the syrup mixture, it bubbles up and almost comes out of the pot. I hope you can find what your looking for. Treasure those memories.
Barb says
Found a link to your page on Facebook today, love the story and I have to try this recipe as I love custard pie and have never made one. I moved to a place in the country 10 years ago, first thing I had my husband do was to string me a clothesline between three trees in our back yard. That lasted about three week…until the squirrels chewed them to pieces. Had to buy a dryer.
Jackie Garvin says
Barb,
Those blasted squirrels can be destructive. We have loads of them but there’s so many food sources they don’t chew on non-edible things. I hope you enjoy the recipe. Thank you for the support!
Patti Rosendahl says
I made 2 of these pies today ( I always make one to share with a neighbor. Easiest pie I’ve ever made. My husband really liked it, he just said that he’d like some fresh blueberries or black raspberries to go with it. It’s a keeper first sure! P.S.: I mixed it in a blender. Can’t get much easier!
Jackie Garvin says
I’m so glad you enjoyed it, Patti!
Ian Bryant says
Hello Jackie, I have had your recipe for some time but have never made it. I am ready now but have a probably stupid question. When it says ‘Deep Dish Pie Pan’, how deep is deep?
Jackie Garvin says
I’ve never measured the dimensions but if you look in your grocer’s frozen food case, you’ll see deep dish frozen crusts. That will give you an idea. The filling is too much for a pie pan that’s very shallow.
Sherry says
Hi Jackie can the half and half be substituted with evaporated milk or 2% milk?
Jackie Garvin says
2% milk would be a good substitute. I’m not certain about evaporated milk.
Mary L Sullivan says
Hi Jackie I’m in the kitchen making this a custard I want to let you know I have a clothesline I use my clothesline every time I wash clothes nothing goes in the dryer my clothes that I wear I hang out there is nothing like a clothesline that sun and the wind. I am a country girl cooking baking mom died early when she was 39 years old my dad taught me to cook Brothers ttaught me to cut grass work on cars nothing but a country girl and I love it. Thank you for sharing your story
Jackie Garvin says
Hi Mary,
I appreciate your sweet comments. Thank you so much! ❤️
Trisha weir says
Loved your story ..several comments reminded me of my momma and her sisters when they would say ‘a cloud’s a comin’ and having dinner at the noon meal…..we also had a clothes line..and you are so right about the fresh smell of bed clothes when you crawl into bed…made all the hard work worth it….momma made egg custard pies and is definitely my favorite….when my son was 16 I asked him what kind of cake he wanted for his birthday….he said he wanted an egg custard pie…he’s 52 now and he still gets that egg custard pie….the whole family loves it……thanks for this walk down memory lane….
Jackie Garvin says
What a sweet memory. Thank you for sharing with us. I hope your son has many, many more egg custard pies in his future.
Patricia Helms says
Best and easiest pie EVER!!!!!! WOW Thx so much 🙂
Jackie Garvin says
You’re most welcome. Enjoy!
Karen says
Baking mine now. Easy to put together.
Jackie Garvin says
Thank you! I hope you enjoy.
Robyn Finneran says
Sorry to trouble you but in your recipe you mention “half and half”
WHat does that mean.
Haven’t heard that expression in Australia
Thank you and best wishes
Rob Finneran
Jackie Garvin says
Hi Robyn,
Half and half is a diary product that’s half milk and half cream.
Kimberly Coombs says
Hi Jaackie…I see we live the same memories, recipes and yearnings…I learned this recipe in jr. High home ec. class and at that time (oh about 50 years ago) the teacher called it Magic bisquik pie.I used 1/2 cup of Bisquik instead of flour , then after mixing i added a loose cup of sweetened flaked or shredded coconut. The pie came out with a crust and golden coconut top. My family loved it but my Dad could be bribed with it. It was good to put in lunchboxes, made a good mid morning snack with a cup of coffee..it could be doubld and made in a sheet pan for Sunday church supper or just when I would watch my mama and daddy sitting together talking over coffee and mama would cut him a piece but they shared it. Thank you for a tiny trip back…wish i had some wash to hang out…
Jackie Garvin says
I’ve made it with coconut, too! Love it. ❤️
Jill Henderson says
Please help! I still don’t understand the ‘half and half’ instructions – half and half – of what?.?
Sorry to be vague, I’m really looking forward to trying this Egg Custard Pie as soon as possible!
Cheers Jill
Jackie Garvin says
Half and half is a diary product that’s have milk and half cream.