I’ll admit it guys: I don’t love apple pie. It’s kinda boring. But I LOVE this Apple Custard Pie! Fruit pies are just better with a creamy custard layer, what can I say. The flaky crust and cinnamon streusel don’t hurt either. My new favorite fall dessert!Â
Last week Eric and I took the kids to Disneyland for the week. Yes, I said “for the week,” not “for the day.” This is because Eric’s sister, Britta, was in charge of planning the trip, and she is absolutely obsessed with Disneyland. She is crazy, but I can’t complain because I had to do basically zero planning for the trip. Thanks Britta!
Disneyland is totally fun for a day or two, but a week is a bit much for me. Jim Gaffigan said it best: “If you haven’t been to Disneyland as an adult, just imagine you’re standing in line at the DMV……and that’s it.”
I felt this way BEFORE I spent a week at Disneyland 8 months pregnant. But we survived, I didn’t go into labor, and the kids LOVED IT. I have never seen my kids walk for so long and complain so little. Charlotte got to meet tons of princesses, and Truman got to ride the carousel at least 50 times, because when you’re 3-years-old and your mom is 35-weeks-pregnant, you ride the carousel a lot. They were in heaven.
One of the best parts of the trip was the Halloween party. It’s a special event at Disneyland: adults and kids alike dress up, there’s a Villain Parade, and candy everywhere, in addition to the normal rides. It was so fun to see all the amazing costumes.
Eric and I knew we wanted to dress up, but both of us are pretty lazy and cheap when it comes to costumes. My friend Rachel (hi Rachel!) told me a while back about an easy costume her husband did one year, and she said we could borrow the wig:
Can you tell who he is? Bob Ross of course!! We decided to turn me into a “Happy Little Tree.” I wore a green shirt, made a sign, and took the fall leaves off my mantle and wrapped them around my neck. I was feeling pretty proud that we spent so little money and effort on it.
But I was not prepared AT ALL for the reactions we got. Eric walked around all night with whispers following him: “That’s Bob Ross!” So many people stopped to compliment him that he started counting after a while: over 20 people told him how much they loved his costume. Some came up and told him how much they loved his work. “I watch you every Sunday night to help me relax before bed.” One Disney worker, directing us on our path, told us to “take a happy little step to the right.” The highlight of the night was when we went on the Pirates of the Caribbean ride, and one of the Disney workers saw us and started laughing so hard SHE CRIED.
I’m telling you guys, if you ever need a cheap and easy costume, grab a blue button-up, an afro wig, and a pallet.
(Also I want you to know that since linking to Bob Ross above, I’ve been listening to him painting “nice little bushes” and “happy little trees” while writing the rest of this post. Why is it so addictive??)
I know I said this already, but I just have to tell you again: I’m not an apple pie lover. I know, I know, it’s totally un-American. But I just think it’s boring. Mushy bland apples in a mushy crust with too much or too little cinnamon…ugh.
But I wanted to do something with apples for fall, so I started looking at my favorite fruit-pie recipes to see if I could adapt one for apples. Here are 3 of my  favorite fruit pies:
Peach Custard Pie
Cranberry Custard Pie
Rhubarb Custard Pie
Are you noticing a trend here? CUSTARD MAKES EVERYTHING AMAZING.
And thus, behold: Apple Custard Pie.
Plus Cinnamon Streusel, because streusel makes everything better. (This recipe is adapted from the Peach Custard Pie up there. It’s a summer favorite, and the only way I will eat peaches in pie form.)
Apple pie is good. Apple pie with a layer of custard AND streusel on top? Better. WAY better. Normally an apple pie is full of apple pie filling. This one is only HALF full of apple pie filling: the rest is custard and streusel. How can you argue with this ratio?
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Apple Custard Pie with Cinnamon Streusel
Ingredients
- 1 pie crust, 9 inch
- 5 large apples, **
- 1/2 lemon
- 4 tablespoons butter, 1/2 stick
- 1/2 cup white sugar
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
For the custard layer:
- 1 & 1/3 cup sour cream, + 1 tablespoon
- 5 large egg yolks, not the whites
- 1 & 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
- 1 & 1/2 cups white sugar
- 6 tablespoons flour
For the streusel topping:
- 1/2 cup flour
- 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice
- 1/4 cup white sugar
- 4 tablespoons butter, cold, cut into chunks
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Prepare the pie crust and arrange in a DEEP pie plate, crimping edges. Set aside.
- Peel and core the apples. Slice them very thin (think 1/8 inch or so--I used a mandolin but a sharp knife works too).
- Put them in a bowl and squeeze lemon juice on them after every apple you slice, tossing to coat. This is to add flavor and also to keep the apples from browning.
- In a large skillet, heat 4 tablespoons butter over medium heat. Add 1/2 cup sugar and 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice.
- Add the apples. If you used a lot of lemon juice, don't add all of it. Add 1 teaspoon maximum.
- Cook over medium heat for about 3 minutes. Turn the heat up to high and cook for another 2-3 minutes, until the liquid is bubbling and has reduced somewhat. (See photo above).
- Pour the apples into the unbaked crust and set aside.
- Make the custard. In a medium bowl, whisk together sour cream, egg yolks, and vanilla.
- Add the sugar and whisk well.
- Gradually add the flour while whisking. Whisk out any lumps.
- Pour the custard over the apples, but be careful not to overfill! See photo above. How much you need depends on the size of your pie pan. I used all but about 1/3 cup of the custard.
- Place the pie pan on a baking sheet in case it spills over the edge.
- Bake at 400 degrees F for 20 minutes. The custard should be starting to set and be golden on top when you take it out of the oven. Decrease the oven temperature to 375 degrees F.
- Meanwhile, make the streusel. In a medium bowl, whisk together 1/2 cup flour, 1 tablespoon pumpkin pie spice, and 1/4 cup sugar. Use a fork or pastry cutter to cut in 4 tablespoons cold butter. Cut until you have pea-sized chunks of butter. Keep refrigerated until you are ready to add it to the pie.
- Once the pie has baked 20 minutes, remove the pie from the oven and add the streusel topping.
- ( Don't forget to LOWER the oven temperature to 375.)
- Use a pie crust cover*** to cover the crust so it doesn't burn.
- Bake an additional 20 to 25 minutes at 375, or until a toothpick comes out clean.
- Let sit at room temperature for at least an hour or 2 before cutting into it. I can never wait this long so I always put it in the freezer for 45 minutes or so. Serve with ice cream and caramel sauce! (Recipe below)
Notes
Nutrition
More recipes you will love! Â
If you want to make this pie REALLY decadent, make this Caramel Sauce to go on top! It’s sooo good. You can see the drizzle in the photos above.
Caramel Apple Upside Down French Toast Bake: << this is an AMAZING breakfast.
4-Ingredient Apple Cider Doughnuts: <<canned biscuit doughnuts ftw! This glaze is so good.
And here’s the recipe for the Cranberry Custard Pie I mentioned. Cranberry season is coming!!! Hooray!!
This looks amazing! I love apple pie and am always looking for ways to kick it up a notch. I’m thinking of making it for Thanksgiving this week. Just one question – the white sugar adds up to 2 and 1/4 cups between the 3 layers. Is that right? It sounds like an awful lot. I just wanted to double-check before I made it. Thanks!
The recipe is indeed correct as written Lisa! It’s a verrrry delicious and sweet pie :) I hope you love it!
Made this pie this weekend. I loved the idea of having custard and apple pie. The apple part was delicious but the custard part wasn’t like custard. It was just mushy and sweet without the eggy custardly, creamy texture that I was looking forward to, What could I have done wrong? The pie was perfect except for that.
Hey Allison! I’m sorry it didn’t work out for you! That’s a bummer. I’m stymied though. I’m not sure what could have gone wrong. Are you sure it baked long enough?
Made this pie and it’s unlike any apple pie I’ve ever had! I would say that warm it was good, but for me it really shines when it’s cold. You get the full effect of the custard when it’s cold. It’s like having built in ice cream. Very interesting recipe and I enjoyed trying it.
My only note was that I added 1 Tbs. of flour to the apples when they were done cooking in the pan because I was a bit afraid of all the liquid that had come out of them. I didn’t want the filling to be runny with all that good custard. Worked like a charm.
Yay! I’m so happy you love the pie Anna! You are so right, custard is best when it’s cold, I will have to try this chilled next time I make it. Who can say no to built in ice cream?? And good tip with the flour. Thank you so much for coming back to comment! You have no idea how much it means to bloggers! :)
Can you use an oatmeal streusel topping? And can you freeze this?
Hey Kathy! Yeah an oatmeal topping sounds delicious! As for freezing, I don’t know because I’ve never tried it. But people freeze pies all the time so I think it would work. Let me know if you try it!
Made your amazing Apple Custard Pie this past weekend for my family. Followed the directions perfectly. Thank you for the great details!! One word for you…BLISS! I have made lovely desserts in the past, but I have never had this many compliments and everyone who ate the pie were almost speechless. Wish you could have joined us for the pie with ice cream and coffee because you are the new best friend of our family.
Haha I really do wish I could have joined you Gretchen! I love this pie and I love good company! I’m so glad you came to leave a comment. It makes me so happy to hear these stories. Thanks for sharing! Have a great week!
This was amazing and everyone raved about it. This was a pretty step- intensive pie but it was worth it. I, too, think apple pie is boring and I never eat it but not this pie. I’m going to try it with the caramel sauce next time! I think I have finally found a way to end people bringing the dreaded Costco apple pie to thanksgiving…
The Costco apple pie, noooo!!! Any store bought apple pie is bound for the trash around here. You’re right, it is a little step intensive, but most pies are I guess, and they are always worth it!! I’m so glad you liked it and thanks so much for the review :)
My husband’s family really likes store bought desserts. It absolutely boggles my mind. I hate them and refuse to buy a pie at the grocery store.
I’m going to try to make these in a 9×13 pan as bars for 4th of July- since it’s america’s birthday and ‘there’s nothing more American than apple pie.’ Haha. I think it will work.
Oooh genius! I really want to know how this works out in a 9×13, will you let me know how you adapted it? I would love to try that! Happy 4th of July!
I was disappointed with this pie. The apples took much, much longer than the recipe indicated to cook through. The custard seeped through the apple layer, getting the bottom crust soggy, and there weren’t two distinct layers–just a giant filling of apples and custard all mixed. Overall, this was just too much work for an average apple pie. I prefer putting raw apples in a pie and letting the oven do all the work.
That’s a bummer Brittany! I’ve made this pie a few times, and other readers have tried it with success. I wonder what went wrong! It’s always frustrating when a recipe doesn’t work out.
In the recipe it calls for 6 tablespoons of flour but on the instructions it doesn’t mention when to add it to the apples?!?!? I really want to make this but want to get it right.
Oops! No it’s in the custard layer my mistake
Oh whew! Glad you figured it out Jullie! I hope you love the pie, let me know how it turns out!
Hi! This looks amazing and I’m thinking about making it for Thanksgiving this year! Will it still be good if I make it the day before? Is it better stored in the fridge because of the custard or can it be left out?
Thanks!
Hey Alexis! Yeah you can totally make this a day ahead! I will add that to the recipe notes. I would store it covered on the counter, the custard will be fine and I prefer to eat it room temperature. Enjoy! Happy Thanksgiving!!
You are such a trouper to go to Disney Land when you are pregnant! I’m a big apple pie fan, and this version is right up my alley! I wouldn’t mind polishing off a slice or two!
You have to try it our Laura! Such a good pie :) I could easily polish off a slice or two or half of it.
I am not a big apple eater but I absolutely love baking with them. And although I love apple pie I agree that a layer of custard will add a whole other level of goodness.
I’m the opposite Mariana, that’s so funny! I eat apples all the time but rarely bake with them. But you’re right, the custard layer is a game changer!
Ooh good idea Alison! I bet this would be good even without the crust. You will have to let me know how it turns out.
Oh and Bob Ross is a painter. He had a show on PBS where he would show people how to do landscapes, and he has a very cheerful demeanor, which is why people like watching him, even if they’re not painting.
This looks absolutely scrumptious. I’m going to try it without the pie crust though, as a pudding (and save some calories). Thanks for making my stomach rumble!
I’ve no idea who Bob Ross is but your costumes looked great, as well as comfortable.
omg, i love both your costumes! that photo of him painting space is the best XD
we’ve been watching bob ross too. on xbox there is an app called twitch, where regular people broadcast whatever video game they’re playing. (sometimes they’re just fun people to watch, or it’s good if you want to see what a game is like before you buy it.) ANYWAY, someone has been broadcasting old bob ross episodes. and each channel has a chat room, so people can talk and ask questions while they watch. and when he finishes a painting everyone says “gg” which is short for “good game,” like if we just finished a big video game mission or something and it’s funny and everyone loves bob ross, the end.
ps that pie looks so good!
pps i went to disney once when i was 8, and recall having a really good time, but according to my parents much to their chagrin my favorite part was the hotel pool, lol!
Ha!!! Good game, Bob Ross, good game. That’s awesome. And yeah I think Truman is just as excited to go on the tram from the parking lot to the park each morning…
Oh my gosh! I got on your site to look up the Best chocolate cake recipe, and now all I want is this pie! As far as Disneyland is concerned, I’m more with Britta :) I’ll concede I never tried it 35 weeks pregnant, tho, you’re awesome- and I’m so gad we didn’t add a little Tinker Belle while you were there!
Ha! Me too! I hope you make a pie or a cake or something delicious this weekend! Someday we need to do Disneyland together with the kids. When I’m NOT pregnant.