There are times when you just want a cream pie because they are fantastically delicious and there are also times when you call your husband from the store to see if you are low on milk and he doesn’t realize there’s an extra gallon in the other fridge so you end up with 2 and a half gallons, this pie works brilliantly for both of these times.  It has a really  handy versatility, I served it multiple ways throughout the week, I enjoyed the raspberries the most, but I did strawberries as well and its also nice with blueberries or even drizzled in a nice chocolate sauce like the one we used for our coconut crunch cake.  You will likely recognize the recipe because I use this as a base for my banana cream pie, coconut cream pie, and chocolate cream pie, it’s my cream pie go to for reasons you will certainly taste and agree with.  I doubled the recipe for this pie which easily fills a deep dish pie pan and leaves enough extra filling for 2-3 ramekins of pudding to give your kids for snacks or put in your mouth at that low energy sugar hungry time between 2:30 and 4, you know what I’m talking about.  Now go get your cream pie on people!

Crust: Single 9-10 inch traditional pie crust
1 cup flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup Crisco shortening
4 tablespoons ice cold water

Chocolate layer:
1/2 cup chocolate chips or chopped chocolate
1 tablespoon butter or coconut oil

Filling:
1 1/3 cups sugar
1/2 cup cornstarch
1/2 teaspoon salt
5 cups milk (recipe calls for whole milk, I was trying to burn through 1% so I used mostly that and about 1.5 cups cream, but it would turn out fine with whatever you have)
8 egg yolks (you could get away with 7, recipe actually calls for 10, but I don’t usually use that many for such a large quantity of filling)
4-5 tablespoons butter
2 1/2 teaspoons vanilla

Raspberry Sauce: 
2 cups or so raspberries
2-3 teaspoons sugar
raspberry syrup (optional)

1.  To make the crust, mix your flour and salt, then add the Crisco and cut it into the flour with a pastry blender as you add the cold water.  It will start to come together at which point you can pull in all the dry parts with your hands and quickly knead it into a ball.  Flour your work surface and roll it into a thin circle.  Roll it on to your rolling pin and slowly into your (ungreased) pie pan.  Make a ridge around the outside and crimp as desired.  Poke all over with holes or put beans or pie weights into your crust with parchment before baking.  Blind bake at 450 7-9 minutes until lightly browned.
2. While crust is cooling make your chocolate layer.  You’re welcome to skip this if you want, but I love having a chocolate painted crust, its just a thin layer but adds so much to the over-all flavor.  Melt your chocolate and butter (or oil) in a glass pyrex in the microwave on defrost or in 20 second increments until the chocolate loses it’s shape and you can whisk it all smooth.   Paint the bottom and sides of your crust with this chocolate and put it into the freezer or fridge so it can harden while you make your filling.
3. Put sugar and cornstarch in a large saucepan with a thick bottom.  With your burner on medium/high (I keep mine just above medium) slowly pour in the milk and stir until combined then add your egg yolks one at a time, whisking after each until no yellow streaks remain.  Now switch to a heat proof rubber spatula and stirring constantly bring to a simmer.  Once the bubbles come up scrape down the sides of the bowl and whisk until smooth then return to the heat and stir constantly for 1 minute while your mixture slowly bubbles (wear an apron!).  Remove from the heat and stir in butter and vanilla until all is combined then pour into your prepared pie crust.  Remember this is a double quantity so you will likely have extra to eat as pudding or save for a donut or eclair filling!
4. Put plastic wrap directly over the top before refrigerating.  Be sure to let it cool a solid 4 hours or so then it will be set before you slice and serve.
5. To make the Raspberry sauce, smash up about 1/3 of the raspberries with sugar then mix that up with the whole raspberries and syrup (if using) and pour on top of each individual piece as you serve.  It’s also fantastic with a little whip cream on top of the raspberry sauce.

Recipe from Joy Of Cooking vanilla cream pie