Sweet Corn Buttermilk Pie with Lime & Cinnamon
Sweet Corn Buttermilk Pie is made with flaky pastry and is filled with sweet corn and buttermilk custard. For an extra special flavor, the filling is scented with vanilla, lime zest and cinnamon. This is a heavenly summer treat.
Have you ever had dessert made with fresh sweet corn? If not, I urge you to reserve your judgement until you give it a try.
One of my favorite desserts to make with sweet Corn is Sweet Corn Ice Cream. The corn flavor marries perfectly with the creamy ice cream base.
So this got me thinking about other custard dishes that I could make with corn. I was pretty sure that fresh corn would be a great addition to Buttermilk Pie, and it is.
Sweet Corn Buttermilk Pie is a new take on old fashioned Buttermilk Pie:
Buttermilk pie is a wonderfully simple, old-fashioned recipe. It’s just a custard made with buttermilk baked into a flaky pie shell. My challenge when creating this recipe was to get enough corn flavor into the custard while still having a nice creamy texture for the filling.
I knew I didn’t want to leave whole kernels in the filling. I thought that would just be distracting and confusing and maybe kind of gross to have a lumpy custard filling. So, as I do when I make Sweet Corn Ice Cream, I pureed the corn and then mixed it into the custard.
For the first try I used the same custard recipe that I used for my Blackberry Buttermilk Pie. The Mirai corn is so sweet, I actually had to reduce the amount of sugar in the recipe by 1/4 cup.
I also decided to not only puree, but also strain the custard. The fibrous bits of corn gave the custard an unpleasant curdled appearance and texture.
I also experimented with adding blueberries and blueberry preserves to the pie without much success.
Much as I love the flavor combination of corn and blueberries, the fruit masked the corn flavor so it had to go.
Click through the step by step photos to see how to make Sweet Corn Buttermilk Pie:
Here are some helpful hints for making Sweet Corn Buttermilk Pie:
- I used fresh summer corn for this recipe, but frozen corn would work too.
- The process for making the custard couldn’t be easier because it’s mixed right in the food processor. Once the corn is pureed, simply add the other ingredients and whirl them together.
- Strain the custard into a pitcher, pour the custard into the pre-baked pie shell and bake.
- Taste the custard after it’s mixed. If your corn is not super-sweet you can add more sugar to taste.
- When you strain the custard, press on the corn solids to get maximum liquid from the corn.
- Baking the pie on a preheated sheet pan helps get the bottom of the pie nice and brown and also protects against any custard spills in the oven.
- The custard will puff a little as it bakes in the oven and will settle to a flat top as it cools.
- I like to eat the pie either at room temperature or slightly chilled. I find if the filling is too cold it mutes the delicate corn flavor.
- Leftovers should be refrigerated since this is a custard.
- I only recommend fresh buttermilk for this pie. Though they’re normally a great substitutes, this is not the time to use powdered buttermilk or soured milk.
- If you can find full-fat buttermilk, use that.
You might also want to make this Chocolate Buttermilk Pie.
If you love this recipe as much as I do, I’d really appreciate a 5-star review.
Sweet Corn Buttermilk Pie
Ingredients
- ½ recipe Perfect Pie Crust ( or store bought pie crust)
- 3 ears fresh sweet corn
- 6 oz granulated sugar (¾ cup)
- ¼ teaspoon table salt
- 1 ½ oz cornstarch (¼ cup)
- 2 large eggs
- 2 yolks
- 4 oz heavy cream (½ cup)
- 12 oz buttermilk (1 ½ cups)
- ½ vanilla bean (or 1 tablespoon vanilla extract)
- 1 lime (finely grated zest)
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
Instructions
- Roll the pie dough and line a deep dish pie pan. Crimp the edges of the shell. Use a fork to dock the bottom of the crust 3 or 4 times. Refrigerate the pie shell while you preheat the oven.
- Preheat the oven to 350 °F. Line the chilled pie shell with aluminum foil and fill the foil with pie weights or dry beans.
- Bake the pie shell for 15-20 minutes, until the dough is set but still pale.
- When the pie shell comes out of the oven place a sheet pan onto the bottom rack of the oven to preheat.
Filling
- Cut the kernels from 3 ears fresh sweet corn and use the back of the knife to scrape all the "milk" out of the cob. You should get about 2 cups of kernels. Puree the kernels in a food processor or blender.
- Add 6 oz granulated sugar, ¼ teaspoon table salt and 1 ½ oz cornstarch and pulse a few times to combine. Add 2 large eggs, 2 yolks, 4 oz heavy cream, 12 oz buttermilk, seeds from ½ vanilla bean and the finely grated zest of 1 lime. Pulse to combine the ingredients.
- Strain the custard through a mesh strainer into a container with a pouring spout, pressing on the solids to get as much custard as possible.
- Remove the foil and pie weights from the blind-baked crust. Pour the custard into the pie shell and set the pie onto the preheated sheet pan in the oven.
- Bake until the custard is set, about 45 minutes.
- Cool completely before serving.
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Notes
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