Raspberry Cream Pie

serves 6 

This beautiful pie is super easy pie to make, and both the crust and custard can be prepared in advance. Crisp buttery pastry, plus custard, cream, and a mountain of raspberries is such a perfect combination. If raspberries are unavailable, substitute with any fresh berries, strawberries and blue berries would be perfect, and in summer ripe peaches would be just wonderful. The sweetness comes from the custard, so if your berries are a little tart or if you like things quite sweet, increase the sugar by up to 25g. You’ll need an 18cm pie tin, not including the lip. As with most pies, the first slice might be difficult to remove, but it’s plain sailing thereafter.  

INGREDIENTS:

• 3 punnets raspberries 
• 300ml thickened cream 
• icing sugar, for dusting 
• mint leaves, for garnish 
• pie dough, recipe below 
• vanilla pastry cream, recipe below 

pie assembly

• tip as many raspberries as will fit in the base of the pie crust
• remove the custard from the fridge, give it a quick whisk to loosen it, spoon it over the raspberries, then smooth the top and return to the fridge for 30 minutes 
•  softly whip the cream, spoon it over the custard, and pile high with the remaining raspberries, dust with icing sugar, dot with mint leaves if you’re so inclined and serve right away 
• store any left over pie in the fridge, covered for up to 3 days 

pie crust 

120g plain flour 

pinch salt 

85g cold unsalted butter, cut into 1cm cubes 

3-4 tbsp iced water 

• sift the flour and salt into a bowl, add the butter, tossing in the flour to coat
• rub thebutterbetween your thumbs and fingers, coating with flour as you go, flattening the butter into thin strips, stop when the butter slivers are the size of a small postage stamp 
•  make a well in the centre of the buttery flour, add 3 tablespoons of iced water, mix together, lifting the flour from the bottom of the bowl, addjust as muchwater as needed to bring the dough together in a ball 
• wrap the dough in plastic wrap, press into a disc and chill in the fridge for at least an hour, overnight if you want to make it ahead
• remove the dough from the fridge, let it sit for 5 minutes, thenon a floured surfaceroll it into a disc, aim for about 4mm thick; the dough should be mottled with patches of butter, they’ll give your pie crust that beautiful flakiness 
• carefully place the dough over the pie tin and gently ease it into thebase and up the sides, crimp the edge if you wish, or alternatively press the pastry to the lip of the tin using the tines of a fork
• return to fridge for an hourto firm up
• preheat the oven to 190ºC (170ºC fan)place a baking tray in the oven to heat up
•  prod the pie crust all over with a fork
• take a sheet of baking paper, slightly larger than the pie tin, screw it into a ball and open it out again a few times to soften it. Line the pie crust withthe paper and fill with pastry weights right to the rim, I use a mix of dried lentils and beans; place the pie tin on the hot baking sheet in the oven and bake for 20 minutes, remove the paper and weights and return to the oven for a further 20 minutes, or until the pie crust is a beautiful deep golden brown, and is wonderfully crisp. Remove from the oven, leave on a rack to cool completely 

vanilla custard 

270ml milk 

3 egg yolks 

75g caster sugar 

25g cornflour 

seeds from a vanilla bean or 1.5 tsp vanilla paste 

25g butter 

• in a small pan, over medium heat, bring the milk to just below boiling, you’ll see little lines form on the surface
• meanwhile whisk together the sugarandcornflour to remove any lumps, then add the egg yolks and vanilla, whisking to combine; set the bowl on a damp cloth to stop it dancing around, and gradually add the hot milk, whisking enthusiastically 
• tip the custard back into the pan, and with the heat on low, whisk continuously. The custard will thicken quickly, once it starts to bubble, whisk for another minute then take off the heat. Add the butter, whisking until smooth
• push the custard through a sieve into a small bowl, press plastic wrap onto the surface of the custard,and putin the fridge to cool completely