These Mini Peach Custard Pies are so delicious - plain or with a topping of your choice: whipped cream, creme fraiche or ice cream.
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How to Make the Pie Dough
The recipe is a basic pie dough recipe. There is no need to be intimidated by pie dough. My mother was the master pie maker in our family, so I saw no reason to learn until she physically got to the point where she couldn't cook anymore. So I learn to make pies and pie dough.
Three key things to remember for pie dough especially if you are new to making dough:
Keep the ingredients cold: The butter should be as cold as possible. Cut cold butter into small cubes and put it back in the refrigerator until ready to use or leave the blocks of butter in the refrigerator and cut it up right before you're ready to add it to the flour mixture. Always use ice water.
Use a digital scale: Weighing the flour will ensure that you have the right amount each time - not too much, not too little. If you don't have or use a scale - use the dip and sweep method for measuring the flour in a measuring cup.
Let the dough rest: When initially mixing all the ingredients together and later when rolling out the dough the gluten in the flour is activated which can make the dough harder to roll out. Chilling the dough will allow the gluten to relax and make the pie dough easier to roll out. If your dough becomes hard to roll out put it back in refrigerator for about 10 minutes and then continue with the recipe.
Make sure the surface is well floured: When time to roll out the dough make sure you are using plenty of flour. If the dough starts to stick to rolling pin sprinkle just a little flour on top of the dough. If it sticks to your surface, lift the dough and sprinkle some flour in that area.
How to Make Roasted Peaches
The peaches for the recipe are chopped up and then roasted. I love roasting fruit. It creates a really intense flavor and if you are making ice cream, roasting removes a lot of the liquid so if you add chunks of fruit to the ice cream, they stay soft. Roasting is also a good way to make fruit jams using less sugar.
For the roasted peaches you simply combine peaches, sugar, and lemon juice and roast at 400 degrees F. Leaving the skin on the peaches helps thicken the fruit and produces a delicious looking red-orange color to the fruit.
The peaches can be used for almost anything. For this dessert they need to be cooled first, but if you putting them on ice cream, they can be warm or cold.
The Custard Filling
The custard filling is really easy to make and can in fact be used with different fruits or different sized pies or tarts. If making a 9-inch tart you will you need to scale up to ensure that there is enough. The recipe is also customizable. This recipe uses sour cream, but you can use heavy cream or creme fraiche. Replace the brown sugar with white sugar or coconut sugar.
Assembling the Peach Custard Pies
For these pies, I use a regular size muffin or cupcake tin. The individual tins are 1-inch deep and 2-1/2 inches wide. For this size the recipe will make 10-12 pies if you re-roll the dough.
Cut out 4-inch dough circles and place each in a muffin tin. The top of the dough circles should sit just above the edge of the muffin tins. If you are using a muffin tin with different dimensions you may need to cut 5 or 6 inch circles. Chill the dough for 10 minutes.
Fill dough with the custard, about 2 tablespoons and about 1-1/2 tablespoons of peaches. The combination of the custard and peaches should just about fill the pie dough to the top. The amounts are just guidelines. They will vary depending on the size of your tin.
Bake for 30-35 minutes. The custard will be set, the peaches bubbly and the dough golden brown. Remove the tin from the oven and immediately use an offset spatula to remove the individual pies from the tin and place on a cooling rack.
Peach Custard Mini Pies
Ingredients
Pie Crust
- 2 1/2 cups (380 grams) all-purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons (25 grams) white granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons kosher salt
- 20 tablespoons (284 grams) cold unsalted butter cubed
- 1/2 cup ice-cold water
Roasted Peach Filling
- 2 pounds (908 grams) peaches
- 2 tbsp lemon juice
- 1 cup (200 grams) white sugar
- Lemon zest from one lemon
Custard Filling
- 3/4 cup (182 grams) sour cream room temperature
- 1 (50 grams)large egg room temperature
- 1 (20 grams) egg yolk room temperature
- 3 tablespoons (38 grams) light brown sugar
- 3/4 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
Instructions
Pie Crust
- Put the flour, sugar and salt in a bowl and stir to combine. Place the flour mixture into a food processor.
- Cut the butter into 1/2-inch cubes and add it to the flour mixture. Pulse the dough until it is coarse and crumbly and the butter is about the size of peas.
- Pour the mixture into a large bowl. Add 4 tablespoons of ice water and use a rubber spatula to toss together. Add the remaining water and mix into the dough until it starts to come together. It will still be slightly crumbly or shaggy but will hold together when squeezed into a ball.
- Dump the dough onto a lightly floured surface and press the dough together, folding it over on itself until it starts to hold together. Try not to work the dough too much or it may become and overdeveloped and tough.
- Divide the dough into 2 equal parts and shape each piece into disk 1-inch thick. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap. Reserve one disk for the mini pies and chill for at least 45 minutes.
- Place the other disk in a freezer bag and place it in the freezer. Use it for another recipe. Pie dough can be frozen up to 6 months.
Roasted Peaches
- Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.
- Cut the peaches into small chunks, about 1/2-inch. Please the peaches in a large bowl and add the lemon juice, the lemon zest and 1/2 cup sugar. Line a metal sheet pan with parchment paper, pour the peaches onto the pan and place in the oven.
- Roast the peaches for 15 minutes and then stir the peaches. The peaches should begin the release their juices. Roast for another 10 minutes and then taste the peaches and add 1/4 cup sugar if you want the peaches sweeter. Roast the peaches for another 10-15 minutes, taste them and add another 1/4 cup sugar if you want them sweeter. At the is point roast the peaches until the peach syrup begins to bubble. When it begins to bubble, remove the peaches from the oven and scrape them into a heat-proof container to cool to room temperature.
Custard Filling
- Put the sour cream and eggs in a medium-sized bowl and whisk together until thoroughly combined. Add the brown sugar, almond and vanilla extracts and salt and whisk until the brown sugar is dissolved into the custard. Sift the flour on top of the custard and whisk the mixture until no bits of flour remain.
Assembling the Pies
- Remove the pie dough from the refrigerator and let it rest on the counter for 10 minutes. Roll it out to 1/8-inch thick. Cut out 4-inch circles and place each circle in a tin of a muffin pan. The dough should sit just above the top edge of the muffin tin.
- Reroll the dough and cut out remaining dough and line the tins. Chill the pie dough in the tin for 10 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.
- Remove the chilled dough cups from the refrigerator. Fill each cup with about 2 tablespoons of the custard filling. Then spoon 1-1/2 to 2 tablespoons of the roasted peaches on top of the custard filling. The combination of custard and peaches should be at or near the top edge of the pie dough.
- Bake the pies for 34-37 minutes. When the custard is firm and the peaches are bubbling remove the mini pies from the oven.
- Immediatedly use the tip of a paring knife to loosen the edges of the pies from the muffin tins where the peach syrup has overflowed. Then use a small offset spatula to lift the pies out of the tin and place them on a cooling rack. The crust should be golden brown.
- Do not let the pies cool in the muffin tins. It may be harder to get them out of the individual tins if they are allowed to cool.
- Serve with ice cream, whipped cream or whipped crème fraiche.
Notes
- For this recipe the individual tins of the muffin tin I used are 2-1/2 inches wide by 1-inch deep. If you are using a muffin tin with larger dimensions you may need to cut 5-inch or 6-inch dough circles.
- The muffin tins do not need to be buttered for this recipe.
- The amount of custard and peaches for filling the individual pies is a guideline. You may need more or less depending on the depth and width of the individual tins.
Barbara Bibby says
I really like your site. The science behind why the recipe works is appreciated. One of my favorite parts of your recipes is that you give substitutions for ingredients. Your collection of recipes is great. Thank you.
Crystal says
The roasting of the peaches is really great! It really brings out the peach flavor! The pie crust was a little fragile and hard to work with but the flavor is the best crust! In fact I made another batch of crust to use the crust on my pot pie. I made 6" pies with the mix (easier to work with) and they were fabulous! Not too sweet just perfect. Will be making these again! Thanks for the recipe!
Cheryl Norris says
Hi Crystal
Thank you so much for trying this recipe and leaving a comment. I'm glad you enjoyed these mini pies. I love roasted peaches. The flavor is incredible especially when you leave the skin on. And I'm happy to hear that you were able to use the crust for another recipe.
Abbrie Silvano says
how long are these pies good for?
Cheryl Norris says
Hi Abbrie
The mini pies can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for a few hours (because of the custard filling) and then can be refrigerated for up to 4 days. Thanks for asking this question. I will update the recipe with this information.