Southern Eggcellence..

Growing up in the south, egg custard pie is one of the things I loved. It's not like brownies, or chocolate chip cookies - something I eat on a pretty regular basis. But I think those infrequent occassions have always made it all the more delicious to me. Last fall while participating in one of the Sugar High Friday events I made Custard Tartlets, which did not disappoint, but they weren't filled with that sweet southern charm. Close, but no cigar! Or in this case, slice of pie. I've found numerous custard & egg tart recipes, but none seem to be the egg custard that I know and love. And, sadly there has been no family recipe passed down to me. Well, after much searching and coming up empty handed, I found a true Egg Custard Pie recipe on AllRecipes.com of course! I'm not the most experienced when it comes to making pie crust, Donna Hay's "Modern Classics 2" has a very easy and tasty shortcrust recipe I usually use. But I decided to try the 3-step Pastry recipe I found in one of my back issues of Kraft Food & Family magazine. I must say, much like the Donna Hay crust I usually make, this one is super easy and delicious. 3-step Pastry (yields enough for double crust pie) 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour 1/2 cup(1 stick) butter 1/2 block (4ozs) cream cheese 1 Tbsp granulated sugar Cut butter and cream cheese into cubes. Put all ingredients into food processor. Pulse until dough forms. Wrap dough & place chill 1 hour. Roll half of dough on lightly floured surface. Place in 9 inch pie plate. Egg Custard Pie 6 eggs 1 cup granulated sugar 1 tsp vanilla extract 1 pinch salt 1 1/2 tsp nutmeg 2 cups milk 1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust Preheat oven to 475 degrees. In a large bowl, beat eggs and sugar. Then beat in vanilla, salt and nutmeg. Stir in milk. Pour into crust. Bake in preheated 475 degree oven for 10 minutes. Reduce temp to 350 degrees and bake for 25 to 35 minutes, or until crust is golden brown and filling is set.