Earl Grey Cream Pie

                 

 Yes, you read the title correctly, Earl Grey Cream Pie. It's as luscious and light as it sounds. The fragrant bergamot, the airy whipped cream and the luscious cream just melt in your mouth. A perfect treat to have with your tea. No joke. It's delicious! I've made this as a full pie and various mini pies. No matter the size it's amazing!


Earl grey is one of my favorite flavor profiles. It has a beautiful balance of dark, floral and citrus notes that can complement almost anything. I'd heard about an earl grey cream pie that is sold in LA. I have never tried it but I have friends that have had it and love it. So I figured I give it try and ask them if it rivals this famous pie.  Let's just say that I satisfied their Earl Grey Tooth.


Things you need to know before making this pie:

1. The tea. I use Twining's tea brand. It has a beautiful flavor and is potent. If using loose leaf tea it's important that you grind your tea. You want the tea to be small so it permeated the tea quickly and intensely. You can steep it in the bag but I found you get a deeper flavor if the tea is physical in the milk.

2. You can totally make this in stages/days. I made the crust first. Baked, filled with chocolate and refrigerated it until it was time to assembly. Made the filling part 1 on day 2 then finished it off (filling part 2 & whipped cream) on day 3. You can totally do this in 1 day but you would have to start early because the filling part 1 needs time to chill and solidify.

3. When you're steeping the tea, keep your eye on it. You want it to simmer/boil without scorching the milk. You want to cook it enough so that it's a beautiful dark grey.

4. When you mix the tea mixture with the eggs do it slowly and stir continuously. If it looks like it's breaking don't panic. Once you add the butter it comes together.

Now you are ready to begin!


If you love everything Earl Grey do yourself a favor and try this pie!!

Prebaking pie: Preheat oven 425F. dock bottom with fork and lined with parchment and weigh down with beans. Bake for 20 minutes, remove parchment & beans and bake another 8-10 minutes until golden brown.

Once pie shells cooled, brush with chocolate ganache. Let chocolate cool and harden before filling.

Pour tea into milk and bring to a boil then a simmer.

Stirring often until you get nice medium dark grey/brown.

Like this! Strain and reserve.

Whisk cornstarch, sugar and eggs until thick and smooth.

Ladle a bit of tea mixture into eggs to temper.

Whisk the rest of the tea mixture.

Return to heat and whisk until thick. Remove from heat and add butter. Incorporate until smooth. Pour into heatproof bowl and cover with plastic wrap, pressed into cream to avoid skin. Refrigerate for 3-4 hours, until firm.

Whip the cream into stiff peaks.

Add the firmed earl grey cream and mix together until it looks like.....

This! Beautifully light and airy.

Pour cream into pie shell, top with whip cream and garnish with pistachios. Ready to eat!

Earl Grey Cream Pie

pastry cream adapted from Tartine Bakery's Pastry Cream

VM Easy Flaky Pie Dough: Makes 2 crusts

Pie Crust:
2 1/2 cups Flour
2-4 tbsp Sugar, desired sweetness
1/4 tsp salt
2 stick unsalted butter, cut into cubes and chilled
4-6 Tbsp Water, iced

Chocolate Coating

1/4 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream


Road Map:

1. Into a food processor place flour, sugar, salt and butter. Process until it looks like fine sand. Continue to run processor and the through the tunnel on top add 1Tbsp of iced water at the time until the dough forms. Gather the dough into a ball. Divide the dough into 2 equal pieces. Wrap them in plastic wrap and chill for at least 30 minutes. Preheat oven to 425 F.

2. Roll out dough: lightly flour your surface. Take 1 dough ball and roll out according to the size of your pie dish. Freeze 2nd dough ball for a later use of your choosing. With the tines of a fork dock/dot the bottom of the pie dough. Cover the dough with parchment or foil and weigh down with pie weights ( I use dry beans). Bake on the lower rack for 20 minutes. Then remove the parchment/foil and weights (beans) and return the pie to the middle rack and bake for an additional 8-10 minutes until golden brown. Remove and cool completely before filling.

3. Once pie shell is completely cool. Add the chocolate chips and heavy cream into a microwavable bowl and microwave in 10 second installment; stirring each time until velvety smooth.  If you don't want to use the microwave you can place the chips in a bowl and put the cream in a small pot until it simmers then pour it over the chocolate chips until velvety smooth. Pour the chocolate into the pie shell and brush until you have a nice layer of chocolate. (Don't go to heavy on the chocolate you don't have to use it all save the rest to pour over some ice cream!) Allow the chocolate to cool and harden.

Earl Grey Pastry Cream

5 bags Earl Grey Tea Bags (Twining's ) = 2 rounded Tbsp
2 cups milk
1/2 tsp salt
5 tbsp cornstarch
1/2 cup sugar
2 eggs
4 tbsp butter, unsalted

1/2 cup heavy whipped cream
3-4 sugar, to desired sweetness


1. Heat milk, tea and salt in a medium saucepan let it come to a boil and then lower it to a simmer for 5-10 minutes, stirring often,  until the color turns to a medium/dark grey. Remove milk from the heat and pour through mesh strainer into a small bowl or large measuring cup.

2. While tea is steeping; whisk, cornstarch, sugar and eggs into a medium bowl until thick and smooth. Add a ladle of the tea mixture to the egg mixture to temper the eggs. Slowly add the tea milk to the egg mixture, whisking as you pour. Once all is mixed return to the saucepan. Whisk continuously on medium high heat until the cornstarch cooks and the mixture thickens. This happens quickly so be watchful.  Remove from heat and add butter, one TBSP at a time, whisk until smooth & completely incorporated. Pour into a heatproof bowl (one preferably with a cover) and place plastic wrap on the surface of the cream to cool and to avoid a "skin" forming on cream. Allow the cream to cool completely in the refrigerator, 3-4 hours.  The cooled cream should be very firm. (Filling part 1)

3. Once cooled, using a hand mixer, whip up the 1/2 cup of heavy whipping cream and sugar to stiff peaks.  Add the Earl Grey Cream into the whipped cream and whisk until completely smooth and combined. (Filling part 2)

Assembly:

Fully cooled pie crust with chocolate
Earl Grey Pastry Cream
1/4 cup pistachios, chopped
Whipped Cream: 1/4 cup heavy whipping cream with 2-3 tbsp sugar (whip up like before to stiff peaks)

1. Take fully cooled pie crust and fill to the top with the Earl Grey Pastry Cream. Smooth off the top then spoon and spread the whipped cream. Garnish with chopped pistachios. Serve cold.


BUEN PROVECHO! ENJOY!