Hawaii's local-style custard pie is creamy and silky. The secret? Evaporated milk! It's simple to make, just prepare the filling a day ahead.
Local-Style Custard Pie
Have you tried custard pie in Hawaii before?
First thing you'll notice is that it taste quite different from all other custard pies. How different? It's definitely creamier. Whereas most mainly custard pies are eggy, Hawaii custard pies are creamy (almost velvety!) It's also softer and silkier in texture.
Local-style custard pie is marvelous and only something locals know about. Visitors go crazy for malasadas and shave ice, all of which are delicious. But custard pies feel like a "locals only" secret ^_^
You can buy custard pie at a number of bakeries across the islands, or you can make it at home.
The Secret Ingredient
What's the secret ingredient to Hawaii's custard pies?
Evaporated milk! Yes!
Most custard pies call for whole milk or heavy or cream. But in Hawaii, we use evaporated milk. This makes for an extra delicious custard pie.
Where To Buy Custard Pie in Hawaii
If you don't feel like baking at home, stop by these local bakeries. They are all quite popular for custard pies:
- Lee's Bakery - Lee's is a Chinese bakery and is the most famous place in Hawaii for custard pie. If you're only going to try one, make it Lee's.
- Kaneohe Bakery - Talk with any local and when it comes to custard pie, you're either a Lee's Bakery person or a Kaneohe Bakery person. Good to support both ^_^
- Epi-Ya Boulangerie & Patisserie - Saint Germain was a popular bakery growing up (home to our favorite baguette on the island). The bakery closed a few years ago and everyone was devastated. But then the former employees got together and reopened the bakery under a new name, Epi-Ya. It's as good as before...maybe even better. Out of these three bakeries, we visit Epi-Ya most frequently (everything they sell here is delicious). In addition to custard pie, they make an excellent pumpkin pie and a custard-pumpkin swirl pie...a must!
How To Make Custard Pie
My favorite part of Hawaii's newspaper is the Wednesday food section. We used to have two main newspapers (Honolulu Advertiser and Honolulu Star-Bulletin). They merged in 2010 and now we have one main newspaper: Star Advertiser.
I saved LOTS of local recipe clippings back in the day, but it's neat that we can also look up newspaper archives for these same recipes.
In 2009, Betty Shimabukuro published a recipe for local style custard pie. Betty got the recipe from Henry Shun, a professional local baker. (I love how recipes are passed from friends to families across generations in Hawaii. I hope to put together a big community cookbook one day.) This is the recipe we are baking today.
It calls for a pie crust (store bought or homemade works...custard pie is really about the filling).
What goes in the filling?
- Eggs
- Sugar
- Cornstarch
- Evaporated milk
- Water
- Vanilla extract
- Salt
And that's it! Pretty simple, basic pantry ingredients. Mix everything together and let the filling sit in the refrigerator overnight. Then the next day, you take it out and pour the filling into the pre-baked pie crust. Then bake. And eat.
Do you like custard pie hot or cold? I love it both ways, but it is more common to eat chilled/cold custard pie in Hawaii. Extra onolicious on a hot day.
Important Tips
Make sure you read through these tips before making the pie. It a simple pie...but as it goes with simple things, it's all in the details ^_^
Refrigerate Overnight
Refrigerating the custard filling overnight will ensure no bubbles when you bake. It also makes for a silkier pie.
Don't Fill To The Top Right Away
Fill the pie shell up to ½-inch from the rim. Bake 10 minutes. Then fill it up to the rim. This ensures that the filling won't sink in the center.
Pre-Bake Pie Crust
Because the custard filling is liquid, you'll end up with a soggy crust bottom if you don't pre-bake the crust. Here's how: poke a few holes in the bottom of the pie crust with a fork (this will help the bottom of the crust from puffing up). Bake at 400F for 6-8 minutes.
Common Questions
It keeps for three days...though never lasts that long in our home ^_^
Key to smooth, silky filling is to:
1) Refrigerate the filling overnight.
2) Do not overbake. It's a fine balance between being perfectly baked, and overbaked. Once it's overbaked (you can tell it's overbaked if the pie puffs up in the center), you'll get holes in the filling and it'll be watery. Bake for a total of 30 minutes. If it's not done by then, stand by the oven and check it every few minutes. You want the center of the pie to be slightly wobbly and just set.
The Hawaii-style of eating custard pie is cold. I like it hot on the first day (about 30-minutes out of the oven is my dream temperature), and then cold for breakfast the next morning. It's onolicious both ways.
Custard Pie Recipe
See below and enjoy ^_^
Custard Pie
Hawaii's local style custard pie is wonderfully creamy (almost velvety), sweet and fragrant with vanilla. The secret? Evaporated milk! It's easy to make, just make sure to prepare the filling a day in advance.
Ingredients
- 5 large eggs
- ¾ cup sugar
- 2 ½ tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 ½ cups evaporated milk
- 1 ½ cups water
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ⅛ teaspoon salt
- 9-inch unbaked pie shell, at room temperature
Instructions
- Break eggs into a mixing bowl and beat.
- In a small bowl, mix sugar and cornstarch. Whisk the sugar and cornstarch into the eggs until incorporated.
- Continue to whisk for 1 minute. Then add the evaporated milk, water, vanilla and salt. Mix until incorporated. Cover bowl and refrigerate overnight.
- The next day, preheat oven to 400 degrees.
- Using a fork, poke several holes in the bottom of the pie crust (this helps keep the crust from puffing up). Pre-bake the crust for 8 minutes. Remove from oven and set aside.
- Skim off any bubbles from the top of the filling. Gently stir to blend any cornstarch that settled on bottom of bowl. Do not create bubbles while stirring.
- Pour the filling into the pie shell, fill it ½-inch from rim. Bake for 10 minutes, then add more filling, up to the rim of the pie shell.
- Bake for another 20 minutes longer, until done.
- If it's not done after 30 minutes total baking time, keep baking but check frequently to see if it's ready. Careful not to over bake (or the filling will have holes and become watery). You want the pie to be just set. Eat hot or cold, and enjoy ^_^
Notes
Source: Star Bulletin (September 30, 2009)
So I made the custard pie today... I followed all the instructions. I need some tips on how to keep the crust not sticking the pan.. and the crust bubbling up and ruining the pie. My husband is from Laie,Hawaii and he absolutely loves custard pie. He really liked this custard pie ,so I just need to fix these to things and it will be perfect! Thanks for sharing this recipe! Mahalo!
Do we bake the custard pie at 400 degrees as well? Only asking because you mentioned pre baking the pie crust at 400 and didn’t mention the temperature with the custard.
Yes! bake the custard pie at 400 degrees as well 🙂
This is soooo good! And easy to make! However, I find this recipe is enough for 2 pies! Even better! Thank you for sharing! Hard to find ono custard pies here in Henderson/Vegas.
What temperature should I bake the pie?
Aloha..beautiful recipe.. used powdered Stevia instead of sugar..
This recipe is enough for 2 REGULAR pie crusts…
❤️ love kaimana
Aloha Kaimana - So happy you enjoyed! 🙂
- Kathy
How would you make the pumpkin custard pie?
Why do you have to pour only 1/2 filling to bake 10 minutes the the rest for 20? Can I not just pour the entire batter and bake 30 or more?
What happens of the crust if burning mid way thru cooking?
@Christina P Nelson,
Take pieces of foil and cover the pie crust around the pan. This will help keep it from burning.
How can you tell when it’s done?
Absolutely loved this recipe. I have been trying to find and create a custard pie recipe that took me straight home to my childhood days. Lots of trial and many errors have been done for many years and this recipe by far, hands down is exactly what I needed. Mahalo, Mahalo, Mahalo!
I’m making this for my Daddy who is about to turn 80, Kaneohe Bakery’s custard pie is his absolute favorite. Since it has recently closed he doesn’t care too much to go anywhere else.
Aloha Kai - Thank you very much for the kind words and I'm so happy you like the recipe! Oh I miss Kaneohe Bakery, still cannot believe they closed. Wishing a very happy 80th birthday to your dad! 🙂
- Kathy
Aloha Kathy, Thanks for your comments on mixing the Custard mixture the day before baking and letting it sit overnight in the refer. You mentioned to bring the pie crust to room temperature before baking; do we need to also bring the Custard mixture to room temperature before baking the next day?? Or do we pour it in to the crust Cold from the Refer?
I normally convert all 'pie' recipes to 9x13 as it's easier for me to serve a Crowd at my parties and prebaked a thin shortbread crust before putting in the Custard; however, the Crust breaks apart and start to float as I put in the Custard. I would appreciate it if you could provide any suggestion on how to prevent that from happening.
Also, I haven't seen many recipes that call for the cornstarch; can you tell me the purpose of the cornstarch?
How do you convert the pie to a 9x13? Do you double the custard recipe? How do you do the crust?
How do you know when it needs to be baked a little longer
I burned the crust. But wuz really ono
Glad it still came out ono! 🙂
- Kathy
My mother in-laws custard pie beats all of them. She only used 4 eggs. 1/2 cup sugar and no cornstarch. Try it you’ll love it
i'll try it out, does she still follow the same procedures in this recipe?