Rhubarb Custard Pie

It's high season for fresh, local rhubarb right now - the perfect time to make a rhubarb custard pie. This pie is a simple and old-fashioned combination of diced rhubarb, sour cream, and sugar with a brown-sugar streusel topping. Darn - spring eating doesn't get much better than this!

You can go directly to the printable recipe, or I'll show you how to make it step-by-step...

Here are the ingredients. A note about the rhubarb: I made the rhubarb fool at the end of March with hothouse rhubarb, which is available year-round.  For this pie, I'm using field rhubarb - fresh and local (from a friend's garden). In the Seattle area, field rhubarb is available April through June. Field rhubarb is firmer and tarter than hothouse rhubarb; the stalks are also generally greener in color (hothouse rhubarb stalks can be a deep, bright, pink).

You'll also need an unbaked chilled 9" pie crust. If you're looking for an easy-to-make pie crust recipe,  check out my "foolproof" pie crust roundup. For this pie, I tried the Cook's Illustrated "no-roll" pie crust. I'll have more to say about this crust in a future post, but I thought its shortbread-like texture worked well for this pie and it was definitely easy to prepare. Update: I show how to make this crust, step-by-step, here.

~ Preheat the oven to 450° F. We'll start by making the streusel topping. ~

1) Into a medium bowl, measure out 1/2 cup of flour...

...and 1/2 cup dark brown sugar.

2) Mix the flour and sugar together to combine.

3) Melt 1/4 cup unsalted butter...

...and add to the flour/sugar mixture.

5) Stir to combine and set aside.

6) Next, we are going to prepare 1 lb. of rhubarb to yield 4 cups of diced rhubarb. Begin by cutting the stalk lengthwise into quarters...

...then cut the quarters crosswise to create the dice.

7) Transfer the diced rhubarb to a large mixing bowl.

8) To the rhubarb, add 1 cup of sugar...

...and 1/3 cup flour.

9) Mix the flour/sugar with the rhubarb.

10) Add 1 cup of sour cream...

...and stir to combine.

11) Transfer the pie filling to the unbaked and chilled 9" pie crust...

...and sprinkle the struesel over the top.

~ Here's the pie ready to go into the oven. ~

Bake the pie on the lower-middle rack of the oven at 450° F. for 10 minutes. Lower the heat to 350°F. and continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes more, until the filling starts to bubble.

Baking tips:

Preventing the edge from browning too much. Check out this video that shows how to cover the pie edges with foil.  Remove the foil 15 minutes before the pie finishes baking.

Spillover Clean-up. As the filling  starts to bubble, there may be some spillover. For easier clean-up, place one oven rack in the very bottom position. Cut a piece of foil that's slightly larger than the pie pan and turn up the edges all around it. Place the foil on the bottom rack, under the pie. Do not line the entire rack or the bottom of the oven with foil, as this will cause uneven heat distribution in your oven.

Let the baked pie cool completely on a rack.

Serve when cooled completely - or chill before serving.

 

Rhubarb Custard Pie

Serves 6.

9" unbaked pie crust, chilled

1/2 cup flour
1/2 cup firmly-packed dark brown sugar
1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted

4 cups diced fresh rhubarb (about 1 lb. of rhubarb)
1 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
1 cup sour cream

Preheat the oven to 450° F.

For the topping: Mix together the 1/2 cup flour, brown sugar and melted butter. Set aside.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the diced rhubarb, sugar, 1/3 cup flour, and sour cream. Transfer the pie filling to the prepared pie crust. Sprinkle the topping over the pie filling.

Bake the pie on the lower-middle rack of the oven at 450° F. for 10 minutes. Lower the heat to 350° F. and continue baking for 35 to 45 minutes more, until the filling starts to bubble.

Let cool completely before serving. Serve room temperature or chilled.

I hope you enjoyed this recipe! To view more step-by-step recipes, see the complete recipe index.

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