A Pie a Week - Sweet corn pie

I am really in love with this pie crust recipe from chef Gordon Hammersly, so I've used it several times. Each time it has been perfect.

This past weekend, I tried another pie from Ken Haedrich's book "Pie: 300 Tried-and-True Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pie" . This was a recipe for Sweet Corn Pie.

We all love corn on the cob. When corn is grown, as it matures the sugars present in the kernels mature into starch. Traditionally, corn is harvested when mature, so its kernels can be used for feeding animals or grinding into flour. But when it's young, its tender kernels are sweet to the taste, and can be eaten right off the cob.

Supersweet corn is a relatively recent development where a recessive mutation in the genes inhibit the conversion of sugars to starch. So the kernels stay sweet long enough for the ears to be harvested and sent to market so we can have delicious, sweet corn on the cob.

Our farmers' markets are full of corn now, so why not have fun with it?

I made a tart shell and blind-baked it. Then I made a custardy corn filling.

The recipe was for a large 9.5" traditional pie, but I had a smaller French tart pan, so I reduced the quantities. I didn't exactly halve it, but I tweaked it.


First, I cut the kernels off the fresh ears of corn. You could do this with frozen corn, but I think fresh corn has a wonderful taste. I ended up with just under two cups of corn.

Put half the corn in a food processor, along with 1/2 cup cream and 3/4 cup sugar. Process until chopped up but not pureed.

The recipe called for 4 egg yolks and 2 egg whites. I hate it when they do that!!! What are you supposed to do with the extra whites?


We get eggs now from our neighbor, whose backyard chickens supply nice large brown eggs, and small little green eggs. So I used 4 small green eggs, separated. The yolks went in with the corn mixture, and the whites went into the mixer bowl to be whipped.

After processing the corn, the cream and the sugar with the egg yolks, poured the mixture into a bowl and added the rest of the corn and another1/2 cup of cream. Then I grated some fresh nutmeg into the mix. You could add some vanilla, if you liked, too.

The egg whites were whipped until they formed soft peaks. Then they were folded into the corn mixture, gently. Once combined, the mix was poured into the pre-baked pie shell, and baked in a 350 degree oven.

Fifty minutes later, it came out, nicely browned and firm.

Like this.

Sweet corn pie. A nice, tasty treat for the summer.