Sam Makes Ruffled Milk Raspberry Pie

Phyllo dough is one of those things like,

I have no problem buying it.

There's no way I can make it this nice.

Look at it.

It's like a beautiful rose and it's so thin.

It's just...

[sighs]

[classy music]

So this is just a riff on the Greek dessert.

It's not like an American pie.

There's no crust.

There's delicious phyllo dough,

scrunched up into beautiful rosettes

topped with a little bit of custard

so it's crisp and buttery on the top,

and then custardy like a phyllo bread pudding on the bottom.

I added a little bit of raspberry

just for some summer flair.

[quirky string music]

Phyllo is made of what, like flour, water?

There's no yeast, maybe a little bit of oil.

Maybe a little bit of vinegar.

It takes some skill to make.

So, I think, go ahead and buy it.

Look at how thin it is.

I love phyllo dough so much.

There's no way in heck

I would ever be able to make it this thin.

And oftentimes you'll find it

in the freezer section at the supermarket,

and it comes frozen.

So throw it in the fridge overnight to thaw out slowly.

And then you can use your phyllo dough.

You just have to make sure you keep it covered at all times

'cause it can dry out.

It's so, so paper thin.

If it rips, if it breaks,

you just kind of smush it back together,

and no one will ever know.

I think, traditionally,

you probably would use clarified butter,

but I don't think that it makes that much of a difference.

So I have a eight-inch quiche dish here.

You could use an eight-inch baking pan.

You could use a pie plate, and we'll butter that,

'cause the custard will stick if you don't butter it.

Over here, I have my phyllo dough.

You want to make sure you keep it covered

with a super lightly damp towel

so that it doesn't dry out.

You don't want it to be wet.

Just ever so slightly damp.

We're gonna just brush it with butter,

do a little sprinkle business.

So you want to just make sure you get all the sides

and everything, and look, I've already ripped it,

but it totally doesn't matter.

The butter will make it really crisp in the oven.

And I'm just gonna like, squish it up together.

This is where the ruffle business comes in.

And I'm just sort of gonna do it like this.

I like to have lots of pieces sort of sticking out

so that in the final dish,

you have lots of beautiful waves and ruffles.

Like that.

We're gonna put some raspberries on the bottom.

I'm only using about, like a one package of raspberries,

but it's really nice

because it adds a little bit of tartness

and it goes so well with the custard.

And then we can start putting our beautiful little coils.

I like to make it like kind of crazy and ruffly

because the custard's gonna come up to about here,

and I want some of the phyllo to be out of the custard

so that it stays crisp.

And I just think it looks pretty

when there's like, movement.

And we're just going to do this over and over again

until we run out and we fill the dish.

This is basically the nicest phyllo

I've ever seen in my life.

So again, I'm just,

I like to coil them up a little nutso, like that,

so that you have a lot of texture.

I'm all for making things from scratch.

Number one, because it's fun.

And number two, because often, homemade stuff is better.

But phyllo dough is one of those things, like,

I have no problem buying it

because there's no way I can make it this nice.

Look at it.

It's like a beautiful rose and it's so thin.

It's just...

[sighs]

I can just talk about phyllo all day.

I just think it's magical.

I remember when Pee-wee Herman married a fruit salad.

Do you remember that episode of Pee-wee's Playhouse?

I would marry phyllo.

I think I will, that's what he said.

And then they had a whole wedding. [chuckles]

Isn't it awesome?

It's like it was so easy to put together,

but it looks kind of special.

Then we're gonna put a few more raspberries in there.

I'm just tucking it into the folds.

You know, nothing fancy, nothing special.

My hope is that they will

brown and crisp really beautifully.

And with all these things coming out,

the top will stay crisp

while the bottom will get all cozy with the custard.

I'm gonna drizzle it with a little more butter

just to make extra sure that it's rich and delicious

and crisp and brown.

And then I'm going to just sprinkle it

with a little bit of sugar.

Extra caramelly, crunchy, and shiny.

And now this is gonna go in the oven

at 400 for about 15 to 20 minutes

until everything is really golden brown.

[laid-back music]

This is a super easy custard.

You don't have to cook it on the stove.

You just whisk it together,

and then the oven is gonna do all the work.

So we start with two,

two large eggs.

[egg cracking]

Ooh, those are nice yellow yolks.

And two egg yolks to make the custard even richer.

Eggs are easier to separate when they're cold,

so do it right from the fridge.

And then I just pass it back and forth in the shell.

I think a custard is usually dairy and eggs and some sugar.

That's the most basic custard around.

So that's the base of creme brulee, pot de creme, flan.

Lots of desserts.

[vigorous whisking] Okay.

And then I'm going to add some heavy cream.

Richness, again.

Some whole milk, some granulated sugar.

And then for flavoring, I have vanilla extract.

It doesn't have to be the most expensive

vanilla extract out there.

Just make sure it's pure and not imitation.

And some ground cinnamon,

which I just think goes so nicely

with custard and raspberries,

but you could swap that out.

Cinnamon, could use nutmeg.

I think cardamom would be really good here too.

You do what you like.

Do you know?

There's a vanilla orchid.

Let me see if I got this right.

So there's a vanilla orchid and it only blooms once.

And in that time that it's blooming,

something like a bee or a bird has to fly between flowers

and pollinate them,

so that then a vanilla bean will grow.

And that only can happen, you know,

there's like the shortest window for that to happen.

So technically, vanilla is like,

the most magical thing in the world.

Like the fact that it exists is basically magic.

Nature magic.

Okay, none of these facts might be

a hundred percent accurate,

but they're like 70% accurate.

So now, this is ready.

We'll set it aside,

wait for our crispy phyllo to come out of the oven,

and then we'll add our custard.

Ooh, how pretty.

I mean, you could just eat that right now if you wanted.

A little bit of cream, call it a day.

Sometimes it happens that like,

these little bits that are sticking up

could burn in the oven or, you know,

just get really, really dark.

But honestly, I don't think that matters that much.

And you can always just break off that little piece

and no one will ever know.

I don't want to soften those nice brown crispy bits.

So I'm trying to like pour the custard into the holes.

Oh, and I did some fact checking of myself.

I was right about the bees,

but I guess vanilla orchids have both male and female parts

in their little middle.

And they have to be married by the bee or by hand.

But that's why vanilla is so expensive.

Okay, I filled it up pretty much at the top.

It is going to puff up and look a little scary,

and then deflate a little bit.

So don't, don't be too concerned.

I mean, and the other thing is I always bake it on a sheet

so that if there is any spillover,

it goes onto the sheet and not onto the bottom of your oven,

Ooh.

I wanna show you how you know it's done completely,

because the outer edges are gonna set pretty quickly.

But if you just press right here and you feel resistance,

it's done.

If you press and it feels like a water bed, basically,

then you know it's not done

because the custard under there isn't set.

But you can see like, it springs back when I touch it.

So it's perfect.

We'll put a little 10X on here.

[metal softly clanging]

Oh, doesn't she look cute?

Now, I get to slice into this beautiful milk pie.

Look, just look at all these beautiful,

these beautiful ruffles and...

Oh, listen.

[dough softly crunching]

I like it warm.

That's kind of my preferred way to eat this,

but I don't know what's traditional.

[whistles]

Mmm-hmm.

Look how pretty that is.

All right, I might even put a little more 10X on here.

[metal softly clanging]

Look how cute that looks.

[laid-back music]

This is so good.

Mmm.

You have this beautiful, crispy crunchy caramelized top,

then you have this sort of bread pudding,

phyllo business, custard on the bottom.

It's sweet, it's got a little burst of freshness,

a little burst of tartness from the raspberries.

It's kind of chewy and crunchy and creamy

all at the same time.

You can make a classic ruffled milk pie

with no fruit at all, and it's perfect.

Or you could make it seasonal

and add any fruit that's in season.

You could add dried fruit, you could add nuts.

Ooh, I didn't even think of that.

Nuts would be good.

It's basically the most delicious base

that you can add on to all year round.

So I hope you make it.

I'm gonna eat this.

[laid-back music]

What you want to do is throw it in your fridge overnight.

[pot sizzling] Holy moly.

[pot sizzling]

[laughs]