Fruit Custard Pie

This past Crown Tourney I wanted to make a mostly period dessert. It's been a while since I've redacted anything, cooking not being something I do much in the SCA these days, but I sure do make a lot of desserts! How hard could it be? After all, it's not like I haven't done this before and I'm not going for perfect historical accuracy. Still, I was pretty sure a test run was needed.

After going through various sweet recipes I settled on a custard pie with fruit. I wanted a classic custard, not a lenten recipe using almond milk in place of dairy and eggs, and since there were a lot of apples in the house from taking my mother and friend on a trip to an orchard while they were visiting, apples would definitely be featured.

Looking through various period recipes for custard pies (sources include Two Fifteenth Century Cookery Books, Curye of Inglish, Take 1000 Eggs or More, and An Ordinance of Pottage) I found fruit and custard pie recipes using just pears and various mixtures of dates, apples, pears, strawberries, prunes, and currants. The recipes did not specify cooking the fruit prior to baking. Spices varied from none to combinations of mace, cloves, cinnamon, ginger, saffron, pepper, and more. Note that this is a really quick summary!

For my first attempt, I chopped up some apples, put them in the bottom of a pie crust, filled the crust with a milk & egg based custard and baked. The custard seeped under not only the apples but under the crust, leading to an interesting sort of soft crust texture. This was probably secondary to the amount of liquid released by the uncooked apples into the custard during baking. It tasted good but was so not what I wanted in terms of look, texture, and custard-fruit ratio.

Second attempt: There's a really tasty period fruit pie where you cook together dried fruits in some wine before adding them to the crust and baking - think mince pie. So in an attempt to reduce the liquid released by the apples I cooked them along with some figs and raisins, then added them to the crust, filled with custard, and baked. I also used less apple to start, even though the cooking reduced the volume somewhat, and more custard. Success.

Note on crust: I did not make a period-style crust as I do not find them very tasty. Really, this was meant to be eaten as part of an impressive assortment of food that our group sets out for the day, not meant to be an arts & sciences entry! Use whatever crust you like.

Fruit Custard Pie
1 large apple, minced (preferably good for cooking, I used Spencer)
2 Tablespoons dried figs, minced
2 Tablespoons raisins, minced
1 Tablespoon butter
1 Tablespoon port
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs
1-1/2 cups milk
1/8 teaspoon mace
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ginger
1/4 teaspoon almond extract (optional, not very period but still tasty)
1 (10-inch) pie crust in pan

Preheat oven to 350°.

In a saucepan over medium heat, combine apple, figs, raisins, butter and port. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the apples are very soft, about 15 minutes. Cool slightly. Spoon into prepared pie crust.

Whisk together sugar and eggs. Whisk in milk, spices and extract (if using). Pour gently over fruit into pie crust.

Bake until the custard barely jiggles and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean, approximately 40 to 45 minutes. Cool completely before serving.