Margarita Custard Pie
What would the holidays be without a little booze?
This margarita custard pie takes the idea of a classic citrus custard pie, such as key lime, and gives it a bit of a kick with some tequila, a hint of elderflower, and a fruity reduction swirled on top.
Now, for anyone who has kids, don’t worry because the alcohol will evaporate from the pie during baking. Of course, if you’re still worried, then you can skip the alcohol altogether and do a virgin margarita pie.
How to Zest
I’ve likely talked about how to zest citrus fruit, but some lessons are best to be repeated.
We will need to zest a few limes and an orange for this recipe. When we talk about zest, be it a lemon, lime, or orange, we mean the very outer peel of the citrus that is full of flavorful, aromatic oils. However, lurking right beneath the zest is the bitter white pith, so we want to remove as much of the outer peel while also keeping the pith on the fruit where it belongs.
To do this, I cannot think of a better tool than a microplane or rasp grater. Sure, you can use a vegetable peeler to scrape off the zest and then chop it from there, but this way is easier and gets the zest into very small pieces, almost like ribbons.
First off, it is much easier to zest citrus before you cut it in half to juice it.
To zest, lay your rasp grater along a bowl or anything with a wide opening. Then, while holding both the fruit, a lime in this case, and the grater firmly in either hand, move the fruit across the grater while twisting your wrist, going from one end of the fruit to the other. Once that’s done, turn the fruit, and continue until all of the zest has been removed from the fruit. Don’t forget to scrape some off the top and bottom as well.
And before you know it, you will have extracted all of the zest from your citrus.
Margarita Custard Pie
Served 8-10
Time: 1 1/2 hours, plus cooling
For the Swirl:
1/2 cup of pomegranate juice
1/2 cup of cherry juice
For the Crust:
3/4 cup of Gingersnap cookie crumbs
3/4 cup of Vanilla wafer cookie crumbs
1/4 cup of sweetened shredded coconut
1 1/2 teaspoons of sugar
1 1/2 teaspoons of flour
1/2 teaspoon of salt
6 tablespoons of unsalted butter, melted
For the Filling:
Grated zest and juice of 3 limes (see above)
Grated zest and juice of 1 orange
3/4-1 cup of bottled key lime juice
1 1/2 teaspoons of salt*
8 egg yolks
2 (14-ounce) cans of sweetened condensed milk
1/4 cup of heavy cream
1 tablespoon of tequila
1 tablespoon of triple sec or orange curacao
1 tablespoon of elderflower liquor, such as St. Germain
1 1/2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
*1 1/2 teaspoons might sound like a lot of salt, but keep in mind that we often salt the rim of our margarita glass.
Step 1: Make the Swirl
In a small saucepan, heat the pomegranate and cherry juices over medium heat and bring it to a simmer. Allow the juices to cook for 3-4 minutes, or until reduced to about 1/2 cup. You don’t want to reduce it down to a syrup, you’re just looking to concentrate the flavor.
Set the reduced juice aside to cool.
Step 2: Make the Crust
Preheat the oven to 325 degrees F.
In a 9-inch pie tin or springform cake pan, combine both cookie crumbs, the coconut, sugar, flour, and salt until combined. You could do this in a bowl, but I see no reason to dirty up another dish that I’ll have to wash later.
Add the melted butter, then stir with a spatula to combine. Use your fingers to press and tamp the crumb mixture along the sides and bottom of the pan to create an even layer. This step can be tricky, especially with the corners of pans like this, as the crumbs can build up and create a tough edge; I like to start by lining the sides of the pan evenly before moving on to the center.
Bake the crust for 8-12 minutes, or until golden on the edges, then remove from the oven to cool.
Step 3: Make the Custard Filling
Once the crust is out of the oven, increase the temperature to 350.
In a liquid measuring cup, combine the lime juice, orange juice, and enough of the bottled key lime juice to give you a total of 1 3/4 cups of liquid. Set aside.
In a large bowl, whisk together the zest from both the limes and orange with the egg yolks and salt until combined. Add the condensed milk and heavy cream, then whisk until thoroughly combined.
Add the citrus juice, tequila, triple sec, elderflower liquor, and vanilla, then whisk to combine. Transfer 1/2 cup of the custard mixture to the cooled reduced juice mixture, then pour that into a squeeze bottle.
Step 4: Fill and Bake the pie
Pour the remaining custard mixture into the cooled crust to fill almost up to the edges of the crust.
Use the squeeze bottle to squirt little dots of the reserved custard mixture; it does not have to be perfect. It just has to make little dots on top. Drag a toothpick through the top of the custard in a swirl pattern to create a nice feather design.
Bake the pie for 18-25 minutes, or until the custard is firm on the edges but still jiggly in the center. This is the tricky point when making a custard pie of any form because you want the custard to be set enough that it won’t fall apart as you slice into it but not so firm that you’re basically eating a sweet omelet.
You have to remember that carryover heat will continue to cook those eggs for about 10 minutes after they leave the oven, so baking the pie until it’s still jiggly will ensure that the eggs are cooked through but you still get a creamy filling.
Allow the pie to cool completely before slicing and serving.
I can’t recommend that you make this pie enough! The filling has a bright, citrusy flavor with a hint of tequila and floral flavor from the elderflower liquor, the filling is wonderfully creamy but still holds its shape, we can thank the condensed milk for that, the crust has a bit of balancing spice from the gingersnaps which I enjoyed, and then that fruity swirl comes in to tie it all together.
