Rhubarb Custard Pie with an Oatmeal Cookie Crust
A rainy weekend + a freezer too full to accommodate any more rhubarb can only mean one thing: pie. I picked up a copy of The Four & Twenty Blackbirds Pie Book (from the Brooklyn pie shop of the same name) at the Calgary Reads book sale – I showed some restraint, I think, and only came home with ten books – from this one, I want to make every single pie. It was only a matter of time anyway, with all this rhubarb, so I thought I’d get the first pie out of the way before the strawberries showed up. (Or the raspberries – I love a raspberry-rhubarb pie.)
A few things about this pie: 1) it has an oatmeal cookie crust.
2) The rhubarb is stewed before it goes into the shell, and is topped with a thin layer of sour cream custard before going into the oven. I might attempt a greater rhubarb:custard ratio next time, but it was pretty fantastic as is. (It would do well with other berries along with the rhubarb too, if you can’t imagine leaving the strawberries out. Peaches would be great too, I think.)
The crust itself – and I imagine you could swap a gingersnap, graham cracker or other cookie crust, or even a blind baked pastry crust – was perfect for people intimidated by pastry, and grainy crumbles always go well with fruit. It held up well, and was a bit chewy – I’m a fan of straight-up pie crusts, but imagine this could take its place with all kinds of fillings. But a rhubarb-custard pie is a good start.
Rhubarb Custard Pie with an Oatmeal Cookie Crust
AuthorJulie
Preheat the oven to 350F. In a medium bowl, combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Add the butter and blend until crumbly; press into the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie plate and bake for 15 minutes, or until pale golden.
To make the filling, combine the rhubarb, 3/4 cup of the sugar and the cornstarch in a medium saucepan. If you like, add a splash (a couple tablespoons) of water or orange juice to help get things going. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring often, until the rhubarb breaks down and the mixture thickens.
Spread the rhubarb in the pie crust and in a medium bowl, whisk together the sour cream, cream, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt. Pour over the rhubarb and bake for 30-40 minutes, until the pie is golden and set around the edges, but still a bit wobbly in the middle. Cool, then refrigerate for a few hours, until chilled.
Serves 8.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350F. In a medium bowl, combine the oats, flour, brown sugar, cinnamon and salt. Add the butter and blend until crumbly; press into the bottom and sides of a 9-inch pie plate and bake for 15 minutes, or until pale golden.
To make the filling, combine the rhubarb, 3/4 cup of the sugar and the cornstarch in a medium saucepan. If you like, add a splash (a couple tablespoons) of water or orange juice to help get things going. Bring to a simmer and cook, stirring often, until the rhubarb breaks down and the mixture thickens.
Spread the rhubarb in the pie crust and in a medium bowl, whisk together the sour cream, cream, remaining 1/2 cup sugar, eggs, vanilla and salt. Pour over the rhubarb and bake for 30-40 minutes, until the pie is golden and set around the edges, but still a bit wobbly in the middle. Cool, then refrigerate for a few hours, until chilled.
Serves 8.
Both crust and filling sound so yummy!
Hello! I’ve made this recipe before and it’s absolutely delicous. I made this again today but with mulberries and still absolutely delicous. I boiled about 3 cups mulberries w one cup of water and simmered for about 1 hour then strained. Return the juices to pot and add sugar then whisk in 4 tbsp of cornstarch, it should thicken pretty quick.
HI – I think the sugar (1/2 cup) is missing in the directions for the custard filling. Have this in the oven now and can’t wait to try it — I’ll either have to stay up late until it’s cool enough, or try it for breakfast.
Sorry yes, it should go into the custard. Sorry! Distracted week! 🙂
My wee rhubarb is only up about 3 inches (long drought) but now that rains have come I’m sure it will be shooting up soon. So want to try this as I fondly remember a Bee Bell bakery rhubarb custard pie that my Mom and I shared in the car one sunny Saturday morning right outside the bakery!
I used chocolate evaporated milk and the flavor is awesome!!!
Wow, so interesting! I never would have thought of that!
Did you replace this? With what?
This. Looks. Perfect.
Looks so good, like an upside down crisp:)
Yes!!
I just made this for dessert and it was fantastic! Thanks for sharing!
Rhubarb lover drooling here. Rhubarb in any form works for me, although my fave is straight up rhubarb. I will be making this recipe with gluten free flour for the gluten free daughter as soon as the spring rhubarb pops up far enough to use. Bring on spring!
Good to hear it!
Hi Julie, so thrilled to try this recipe! If I want to add strawberries to the filling would I reduce the rhubarb and would I add them to the rhubarb filling when cooking or after. Thanks for your help!
Yes, I’d just swap strawberries for some of the rhubarb! Yum!!
Do you use quick oats in the crust or old-fashioned?
Either would work – just not instant!
This recipe just sounds so amazing! I am such a fan of rhubarb and I am watching my plants coming up, so I will look forward to trying this very soon now! Can’ t wait!
Sooo good!! I have a ginormous rhubarb plant and had no clue what to do with it. This was my first attempt at baking with it and it will not be my last. I swapped out a bit of the rhubarb for peaches that I canned last year and used gluten free flour. Yum!
I made this last night, was a bit weirded out by the sour cream but I persevered and was glad I did. It was totally delicious. I mistakenly took out frozen plums not rhubarb but means I can make a rhubarb one another time. Was totally gorgeous. I also found it easier to melt the butter then mix in the oats and dry ingredients. One question. Do you think the left overs could be frozen?
Hmm.. it’s worth trying, but custard tends to go funny once frozen and thawed.
I did freeze it, and it was just as delicious when thawed, a little soggier but no real change to the custard. It was only frozen about a week though! But would definitely freeze again. ThIs time I’m making it a little larger so that I get a bit more of the oatmeal base! Also it was easier to melt the butter in a saucepan and add the oats…
So great to hear it!! Now I need to make another pie!! I bet it’s just as tasty frozen…
I made this for my husband, since he grew up with rhubarb pies. I made a classic rhubarb pie previously, and this rhubarb custard pie absolutely blew it out of the water. Even with my ghastly mistake of leaving out heavy cream (which i will not repeat next time), my husband held the plate to his face and shoveled the pie in his mouth. The crust was chewy, but absolutely perfect. I will make this over and over again.
I doubled the crust recipe to fit the pie pan I had, added about an extra cup of rhubarb and just a bit more sugar, but changed nothing else except for the heavy cream I forgot.
So glad to hear it was a hit!
Looks amazing! What would I change in order to use frozen rhubarb? Or thaw first?
Just add it frozen!
I was hoping you’d say that. Thanks!
This recipe looks incredible! I can’t wait to try it this weekend! I was wondering if I could swap the sour cream with greek yogurt. Thanks!
Worth a try, as long as it’s not fat free yogurt!
Made for dessert tonight!!!….so good!!?
Hi! I think the heavy cream is missing in the recipe – do you at it when making the custard? Thanks!
Along with the sour cream – it’s in there!
I cannot eat eggs, due to an allergy… I used 3 cups of prepared (rhubarb simmered in water with 1/2c sugar), 1/4c brown sugar, 3 tbsp tapioca with the corn starch, omitted the eggs and mixed all of the ingredients together.poured it into the parbaked shell and baked it for 45 min… it was fabulous…thank you for such a beautiful recipe, I hope you don’t mind the tweeks.
Ooh yum! so glad to hear it!
AMAZING,I cannot wait to make this.
I have this in the oven right now. Pinned the recipe. Thanks for sharing.
I have this in the oven right now and I have high hopes for it. I’ve made many many rhubarb pies in the past and sadly, they were not good. This one is so different from all the others and I really want it to be delish as I love rhubarb. I’ll let you know!
Okay, I’m letting you know! This pie is fabulous and I will be making it again and again! Thank you so much.
Yay! So glad to hear it!
Is it eaten day-of or can it sit a day or two?
It can definitely wait a day or two!
I don’t think it’s ever lasted more than a day at my house! but it should be fine, the crust perhaps not as crisp after a day or two.
I love the look of this custard pie…and will be making it soon. Thank you so much for
sharing. I am not sure if I will make it with straight rhubarb or mix it with some
saskatoon berries…..that is a awesome combo!
I love the look of this custard pie…and will be making it soon. Thank you so much for
sharing. I am not sure if I will make it with straight rhubarb or mix it with some
saskatoon berries…..that is a awesome combo!
OK….I made the pie this morning, Used 2 cups of rhubarb and 1 cup of saskatoon berries,
It smells divine…can’t wait to taste it! I am sure this recipe would be great with any kind of fruit
such as strawberries, etc. After all rhubarb goes with any fruit! Plus the crust was just too easy
for words. ( I did melt the butter before adding to the dry ingred.)
OOOOH, that sounds like a fab combo here!!
This is my favourite dessert!! I made it for a summer party last year and everyone LOVED!!!! I didn’t have quite enough rhubarb, so I put saskatoons in it as well. The perfect combo!!
Yesss!!!
I made this for a luncheon with a group of ladies and it was very well received! I’m sharing the recipe, and will definitely make this again. Thanks so much!
So glad to hear it!
Thanks for the recipe Julie – I’m to friends for dinner on the weekend and it’s my turn for dessert – came across your recipe on Pinterest and thought – yep -this is the one – can’t wait to try it ?
Have you tried making this as tarts instead of full pie? Any reason you can think that it wouldn’t work?
I also was thinking of making it into tarts! Any advice on that Julie? Thanks for this wonderful recipe!
Sounds like something I should try!
Made this yesterday , love it! I used Strawberries with the Rhubarb and subbed buttermilk ( powder mixed with water) for the cream, turned out a lovely yellow colour, wondering if that was from the buttermilk, and flavour is amazing!
Sounds delicious!
I just made this. I had all of the ingredients on hand. It was so straight forward and easy to make. I added lemon to the stewed rhubarb. My family LOVED it! I will be making this again!
Yay, so glad to hear it!
Can I use homemade rhubarb strawberry jam that I already have?
I don’t see why not!
This turned out AMAZING! First time cooking with rhubarb – this recipe has converted me. I added 1 pint of chopped up strawberries to the cooked rhubarb. This will be made again for sure!
This looks so good! Do you use this crust ofr any other recipes?
Thanks for sharing! Does it keep long?
I wouldn’t know! 🙂
I made this for brunch and it was a hit. I doubled the recipe and am making custard bars in a 9 x 13 pan. I couldn’t fit all the yummy custard in the pie last time. Thank you for this recipe. I will make this every year from our rhubarb patch!
I just made this with the last of my rhubarb. It’s delicious!
Bake the entire thing at 350?
I will definitely make 1 1/2 times the crust recipe next time to fill my pie plate. I added quite a few strawberries to the filling too. It is in the oven – fingers crossed!
This is a fantastic recipe and can be versatile with the filling. I’ve made with apple/strawberries and peaches/raspberries, turned out spectacular every time.
Julie would you have the nutrition breakdown for this recipe?
I don’t, sorry! but there are lots of free apps that do that!
I would like to make this, but wondering if you could use frozen rhubarb/
yes absolutely!