Pomegranate Orange Custard Pie

Last minute BSI entries can be emailed to christina at dinneratchristinas dot com! It's not too late - you still have until midnight, tonight!

I'll unveil the winner tomorrow, and it also happens to be the 23rd - which means time for Dinner at Christina's monthly give-away on the 23rd! So, even if you're not the BSI winner - you'll still have a chance at another prize!!

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I'm a good, not great, baker when I follow instructions to a tee. I'm not comfortable experimenting and substituting with baking, like with regular cooking. Baking is such a science - getting the ratio of everything right so it's moist, rises, and isn't a dense mass. That's intimidating to me. You also can't fix anything once it goes in the oven - whereas you can always add and alter something on the stovetop.

When I got the pomegranate juice, I decided that fear of baking had to change! I'm going to be making a few attempts at changing existing recipes to be pomegranate friendly!

This first one is a combination of lemon custard, orange meringue, and lemon curd recipes. I took the best from all three and hope I came up with something new, delicious, and satisfying! I used my new Pyrex bowls I found while antiquing this weekend! I'd never seen a FULL set before!!! My mom's going to be sooo jealous!

For the crust:

1 1/2 cup flour
1/2 tsp. salt
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup shortening
6-8 Tbsp ice water


Stir the flour, salt, and sugar together. Cut in the shortening until pea-sized balls form. Slowly add in 1-2 Tbsp of ice water, incorporating each in until the dough forms a soft ball. Turn out onto a floured surface and roll with a floured pin. Fold and place rolled crust in a pie dish and crimp the edges. Leave unbaked.



For the filling:

1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp butter
2 eggs, separated
1 cup milk
1/4 cup POM pomegranate juice
zest from 1 orange (approx. 2 Tbsp)
2 Tbsp flour

Cream the butter and sugar in a medium bowl. Add flour and well beaten egg yolks, beat to incorporate. Add milk, POM juice, and orange rind; beat to mix. In a small, clean bowl, beat egg whites until they form a soft peak. Slowly fold the egg whites into the mixture in the medium bowl.

Pour filling into the unbaked pie crust and bake at 425° for 10 minutes. Then, turn down the oven to 350° and continue baking for 30 minutes. Remove pie from oven when the center doesn't jiggle freely, and let cool completely before cutting and serving. Store in the refrigerator.

Next, I think I'll tackle a POM muffin! I just need to keep the wet-to-dry ratio the same, so hopefully everything still turns out. I've been looking for recipes that call for a fruit juice, or other wet ingredients and hope to just swap out the old wet ingredient for POM juice to keep the same moisture ratio.