Custardy Rhubarb Pie
Updated November 2, 2022
Daniel van Ackere for The New York Times
- Total Time
- 1 hour
- Rating
- Comments
- Read comments
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Ingredients
Dough for a 9-inch double-crust pie
2 large eggs
1 ¼ cups sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
⅛ teaspoon kosher salt
4 cups fresh rhubarb (about 1 pound), cut into ¾-inch pieces
1 tablespoon cold unsalted butter
Preparation
- Step 1
Heat oven to 425 degrees. Divide dough into two pieces, one slightly larger than the other. Roll out larger piece into an 11-inch disk and place it in a 9-inch pie plate. On a sheet of wax paper, roll out smaller piece into a 9 ½-inch disk. Place lined pie plate and disk in refrigerator while making filling.
- Step 2
In a mixing bowl, beat eggs until frothy. Add sugar, cornstarch and salt, and mix to blend. Stir in rhubarb. Place filling in pie shell. Cut butter into thin chips and dot them over filling.
- Step 3
Cover pie with smaller piece of dough, peeling off wax paper. Trim, and crimp dough. With a sharp knife, make 4 slits in center of top to allow steam to escape.
- Step 4
Bake for 20 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees, and continue baking until crust is golden brown, about 30 minutes more. Cover edges with foil if needed to prevent burning. Cool pie on a wire rack before slicing.
Private Notes
Comments
I've just turned 80 and have been waiting for this recipe to turn up for a long time. In my family it was the only rhubarb pie and much loved. We added flour rather than cornstarch and made a lattice top. I haven't actually tried this recipe, but the proportions sound good. Pitty it's so hard to find local rhubarb. I often end up with it from the Pacific northwest. I'm finally trying to grow it.
I subverted this delicious recipe to make breakfast crepes: made the filling as written, without the crust; baked in an 8" souffle dish. It browned and caramelized beautifully on top. This would be great as a pudding on its own; we spooned it onto crepes (jazzed up a little with orange zest). Served with greek yoghurt, it was spectacular. Consider reducing the sugar a bit; watch the baking time. Will definitely make the pie version as well but this filling is versatile and a winner.
This pie was wonderful. I made it with a crumble on top (1/2 cup brown sugar, 1/2 cup butter, 1 cup flour) because my kids like that better than crust. I cut the sugar in the filling down to 3/4 a cup so it wouldn't be overly sweet with the topping. The rhubarb flavor is beautiful and the balance of sweet/sour is perfect. Served with vanilla ice cream. I found 1 lb of rhubarb to be only 2 cups worth when chopped. You will want to buy 2 lbs to get the full 4 cups.
This is a great recipe. You don’t need crust if you want a simple delicious fruit dessert. My 1 pound of rhubarb yielded about 2 1/4 cups, so I filled in with defrosted wild blueberries. After that, it took all of about a minute to assemble it and pour it into a deep dish 9 inch pipe pan. Because of the blueberries, I only used a half a cup of sugar.
I adores this recipe!! Made it as written with two small adjustments: 2 lbs of rhubarb which wasn’t quite 4 cups and 3/4 c sugar. I would buy more rhubarb on the next iteration and maybe increase the sugar back toward the specified amount in the recipe. Nonetheless, it’s delicious!!!
Almost exactly as my grandmother wrote it! Although her recipe said to “bake in a medium oven until done”, and use butter “the size of an egg”. I always reduce the sugar, but be careful not to reduce it too much or you’ll just have scrambled eggs and rhubarb. I never use a top crust. The baked pink rhubarb suspended in frothy egg is too pretty to cover up! Sometimes I add a dash of cream or some melted butter to the egg mixture so it’s less eggy and more custard-like.