Eggnog Pie and Champagne (Updated 1-1-2013)

A Christmas specialty for my family as I grew up was having eggnog pie for Christmas Eve or Christmas. I am pretty lazy, and if I could have found something comparable in a bakery or as restaurant take-out, I would have bought it. This isn’t a family secret recipe, but I have never seen or tasted any pie like this anywhere else. My twin sister and I liked this pie so much that eventually we requested it instead of a cake for our birthday. I don’t know why it is called eggnog pie since there is no eggnog in it, but it is the color of eggnog.

Although I enjoyed the pie on visits “home” for the holidays, I felt apprehensive about making it myself. The results very much depend on doing the right thing at the right time at the right temperatures. However, I decided to make it for New Year’s Eve this year which is also my husband’s birthday. It would have been better to make it with the supervision of my mom or sister who have kept the tradition going. Just what does “thick and creamy” look like? (Not as thick as what I was picturing.) How “hard” is too hard for the  gelatin and water? (Apparently harder than mine because my gelatin incorporated into the milk/egg mixture just fine with a wire whip.) How does one determine that the mixture is “cool enough” to fold in the whipped cream? I am including my sister’s “version” of the recipe as she made notes about critical steps and procedures that my mother’s recipe does not have. The only note on my mom’s version is that if the gelatin is too hard to stir in, one can beat it in with an egg beater.  Despite going solo, the end product tastes and looks like what I remember. Hurray! A toast to me. I discovered today that this pie goes great with champagne.

Eggnog Pie (Serves 6)

1 baked pie shell (I used Keebler Ready-Crust shortbread)
1 cup milk
1/2 cup sugar
2 Tbsp. plus 3/4 tsp. cornstarch
1/4 tsp. salt
3 egg yolks, beaten
1/2 pint whipping cream
1 1/2 tsp. vanilla extract
1/4 tsp. almond extract
1 tsp. unflavored gelatin
Toasted almonds for garnish

Scald 1 cup milk in top of a double boiler ( a skin forms).
Combine the sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Add mixture to scalded milk.  Soften 1 tsp. of gelatin in 1 Tbsp. of cold water. Set aside gelatin.
Cook milk mixture until thick and creamy, stirring occasionally. (Water in double boiler pan should be barely bubbling.) After reaching this stage, cook 15 minutes more. Remove from heat and stir (drizzle) in the beaten egg yolks. Return to heat and cook approximately 5 minutes for egg to cook.
Remove from heat and add softened gelatin, vanilla, almond flavoring to the milk/egg mixture. Cool in pan of water or sink, but do not let it get cold and set up or it won’t fold into whipping cream properly.
Whip 1/2 pint whipping cream until stiff. Fold into cooled mixture and pour into pie shell. Refrigerate.
Serve with slivered or whole toasted almonds. (About 1/2 cup).

Some post-pie-making thoughts
1. This took much longer than I thought it would. I waited and waited for the milk to scald and for the cooking mixture to thicken up. Maybe I had the water in the bottom of the double boiler not hot enough as I was really concerned about scorching.

2. Most of the recipes in my mom’s 1940s cookbook start out with scalding the milk. I remember being curious about this and learning that unpasteurized milk has enzymes that can affect ingredients being added to milk in cooking. I think one could just gently heat the milk in this recipe before adding the dry ingredients since today most of us use milk in which these enzymes have been destroyed thru pasteurization.

3. The mixture looks creamy rather quickly, but it never got thick in the way I think of thick. It did reduce down as it cooked and got a little denser, but for me thick would have meant stiffer and more effort to stir.

4. The dominant flavor of this pie is from the vanilla and almond. If you have high standards about the flavor of your extracts, be sure to use quality ones.

5. It does need some “crunch” so don’t skip the almonds. I “cheated” and used packaged roasted almond slices, but without almonds the pie is rather unexciting though yummily rich. I think I actually prefer the honey roasted almond slices to the home-toasted whole almonds.

6. I am going to skip the almonds the second time around on New Year’s Day and use Duncan Hines Comstock Limited Edition Berry Medley that I bought at Walmart. I’ll have to let you know how that tastes.

Added 1-1-2013  The topping was OK with the pie. It overwhelmed the delicate flavor though. I prefer it with the almonds alone. 2 pieces left to savor in the next day or two.

7. I appreciate even more the time and effort my mom and sister spent to create and continue this tradition. Love you both.

When I searched the internet, I found most of the eggnog pie recipes did indeed have eggnog. Some quickie versions used vanilla pudding which can't be nearly as tasty as my family's recipe. One recipe that came close to mine had rum and nutmeg. It did have an interesting crust recipe which I will put here. The Keebler shortbread was excellent though.

Stir together cookie crumbs from about 18 crushed Pecan Sandies with 1/4 cup melted butter; press firmly into a greased 9-inch deep dish pieplate. Bake at 350 degrees for 8 minutes. Remove crust from oven and sprinkle 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate morsels onto warm crust. Let stand 5 minutes or until morsels melt; carefully spread chocolate over bottom of crust with a spatula.