Rhubarb Custard Pie with Crumble Topping

For the crust:
Mix flour, sugar, and salt together in a large bowl. Add butter and rub the cold chunks between your fingertips, smearing butter into flour until a coarse meal forms. Drizzle 2 tablespoons of ice water over the flour mixture. Stir with a fork or your hands, adding more water 1 tablespoon at a time until mixture forms a shaggy dough moist enough to hold together when pressed between your fingers.

With well-floured hands, gently gather dough and press it together, forming it into a disk with smooth edges. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and chill for up to 2 hours or overnight.

When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375ºF and take the chilled dough out of the fridge to sit at room temperature to soften slightly, about 5 to 15 minutes—it should be cold and firm but not rock hard.

Lightly flour your work surface and roll out dough until it is 13 to 14 inches in diameter and about 1/8 inch thick. Gently transfer dough to a 9-inch pie plate. Trim overhanging dough to 1 inch from the edge of the pan and crimp the edges with your fingers. Prick the bottom of the dough with a fork.

Line crust with a sheet of parchment paper and fill with pie weights (I used dried chickpeas). Slide crust into the oven and bake until edges begin to brown, about 15 minutes. Remove = weights and bake until all of the pastry is golden brown and no longer raw, roughly 15 more minutes. Set aside to cool slightly while you prepare the filling.

For the filling:
Increase oven temperature to 400ºF.

Add rhubarb and 1/4 cup of sugar to a medium skillet. Warm mixture over medium heat until sugar dissolves. Pour mixture into a bowl to cool while you prepare the custard.

In a separate bowl, whisk together egg and egg yolk, remaining 1/4 cup of sugar, cornstarch, vanilla extract and salt.

Add cream to the rhubarb bowl and whisk everything together. Add custard to the rhubarb bowl and mix. Gently pour filling into the prepared pie crust.

Bake at 400ºF for about 20–25 minutes, or until the custard has just barely begun to set.

For the crumb topping:
Meanwhile, in a medium bowl, whisk together flour, oats, brown sugar, sliced almonds, and salt. Cut in cold butter and mix with fingertips until oat-like crumbs form. Set aside in fridge until ready to use.

Remove pie from the oven and turn up heat to 425ºF. Gently spread crumble over top, and bake until custard has set and the topping has browned, about 15 minutes. The custard may have risen and cracked a bit in the oven, but that’s okay, it will settle back down as it cools.

When baked, take pie out of the oven and allow to cool on a wire rack for at least 30 minutes before slicing and serving. Pie can be stored in the fridge, well wrapped, for up to 5 days.

Recipe adapted from Apt 2B Baking Co.