Best Ever Honey Pie made from scratch. This pie features a buttery pastry crust made using goat’s butter and a creamy melt-in-your-mouth honey custard. This post is sponsored by Delamere Dairy.
Oh my HONEY PIE 💕
You’re looking at my latest obsession = a dreamy, creamy Honey Pie made completely from scratch. This gorgeous dessert features a flakey goat’s butter pastry crust with a melt-in-your-mouth honey custard filling.
I’m now convinced there are no two words sweeter than Honey Pie.
To be honest, I’ve never had a Honey Pie before but I knew EXACTLY what kind of pie I wanted this to be. First, I wanted a truly flavourful, flakey crust. One that was golden and light – not too dense or chewy.
And I wanted a baked honey custard filling that was thick and creamy and bursting with the sweetness of honey. Put those two things together, and I knew you’d have one EPIC dessert. And I was right.
So first, let’s talk crust. This recipe uses a beautiful shortcrust pastry, that is made using just three ingredients: a little butter, a little flour and a tiny bit of sugar. A splash of cold water helps the crust come together to make imperfectly perfect pastry.
For a little twist, I developed this recipe using Delamere Dairy’s goat’s butter. I only recently discovered goat’s butter but I love introducing new ingredients into my kitchen – and as it turns out, goat’s butter is a dream to bake with, and it’s surprisingly versatile – just like regular butter.
It has a similar texture to butter, but boasts a unique flavour, thanks to the tangy goat’s milk. And it works wonderfully in this Honey Pie recipe.
I know it can be scary to make your own pastry from scratch – trust me, I do – but after making this pie crust four times, I’ve put together all my best tips for you below. But if there’s one tip I can give you right now, it’s don’t overwork the dough!
You want this pastry to be light and flakey, and overworking the dough and making it too warm is literally the death of all things flakey. I l learnt that the hard way so you don’t have to – you’re welcome 🤣
But after the crust, comes the star of the show – that glorious honey custard. Truth be told, I adore all things custard, so if I have an excuse to make custard from scratch I will. It’s SO much easier than you’d think and there is almost nothing that tastes as good as freshly made custard from scratch. Nothing. Zip. Nada.
And this honey custard is e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g.
It’s made with brown sugar for a little extra caramel flavour and is hard to resist straight from the stove. However, you need to be patient, because this pie filling gets baked in the oven until it turns magically delicious and holds its pretty little shape.
TIPS FOR MAKING GOAT’S BUTTER PASTRY
- You can use your hands or a pastry cutter to make the crust, but I HIGHLY recommend using a food processor to make the pastry. It’s important that the butter stays cold and warm hands are your enemy. I’ve tried both ways and the food processor is definitely the way to go if you can.
- Your butter MUST be cold. Roughly chop it into chunks, approximately 1cm squares, but no need to be exact – just make sure the butter is straight out of the fridge. If you are setting up the rest of your ingredients, keep your butter in the fridge until you are ready to go.
- Combine the flour, sugar and butter briefly until the butter is in smaller chunks – pea sized or so. Again, no need to be exact here.
- Next, add cold water – NOT room temperature water. I usually pour out a glass of water and put it in the fridge or freezer while I’m getting ready. Add a couple of tablespoons of water and process the pastry briefly until it starts to form a dough. Then quickly use your hands to bring the dough together into a round disc – don’t overwork the dough here.
- Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for AT LEAST AN HOUR so the dough has time to rest. If you are making the pastry ahead of time, leave it in the fridge until you are ready to use it.
- Lightly flour your bench and use a rolling pin to roll the dough out into a circle, approximately 12 inches in diameter or so. Drape dough across an 8 or 9 inch pie plate and carefully trim the edges. Remember, it’s likely the dough will shrink a little, so keep that in mind when shaping the dough.
- Prick the base of the dough all over using a fork (as pictured above) and then bake the pastry for approximately 20 minutes or until slightly golden.
TIPS FOR MAKING HONEY CUSTARD
- This Honey Custard is made on the stove top. First, you need to warm up your milk on the stove, just until is hot to the touch – but not boiling. I recommend using full fat milk for this recipe. Meanwhile, whisk together all the remaining ingredients in a large bowl.
- Next, you are going to temper the eggs – this is basically just a fancy way of saying, you are going to warm up the mixture using your hot milk, without cooking the egg yolks. You do this by, very slowly adding a small amount of the warmed milk to the ingredients, while whisking at the time.
- Keep adding the warm milk, all while whisking. By doing it this way, you will gradually warm up the mixture and prevent scrambling your eggs.
- Then, add your custard mixture back into your saucepan and place back on the stove. Continue to stir for 5 minutes or until the mixture turns thick and smooth – careful not to take your eyes off the pan as this happens quite quickly and suddenly.
- Once your pie crust is ready, you can pour the custard in and bake for another 30 minutes or so. Then the pie will need to go in the fridge to set for at least 2 hours.
- If you are not baking the custard straight away, you will need to transfer it to a large bowl and place a piece of plastic wrap directly on top of the custard. This will prevent it from forming a ‘skin’ or rubbery top layer. Store it in the fridge until you are ready to use it.
Did you make this recipe? Don’t forget to rate the recipe and leave a comment below. Hungry for more? Join me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter for more amazing recipe ideas.
Let’s Bake
Honey Pie
A deliciously Honey Pie made from scratch.
Ingredients
Goat’s butter pastry
- 210 grams (1 and 1/2 cups) plain flour, plus extra for dusting
- 1 tablespoon icing or powdered sugar
- 125 grams Delamere Goat’s Butter, cold
- 3 tablespoons water, cold
Honey custard
- 480 ml (2 cups) full fat milk
- 90 grams (1/2 cup) brown sugar
- 35 grams (1/4 cup) cornflour or corn starch
- 3 egg yolks
- 60 ml (1/4 cup) honey
Chocolate drizzle
- 75 grams (1/2 cup) milk chocolate, melted, optional
Instructions
- Goat’s butter pastry
Add flour and sugar to a food processor. Roughly cut cold goat’s butter into approximately 1cm squares and add to flour mixture. - Whiz together mixture briefly just until the butter is approximately pea-sized chunks – no need to be exact. It’s best not to overwork your mix.
- Add 2 tablespoons of water. Process for 20 seconds or so. Add final tablespoon of water and process for another 20 seconds until the dough starts to comes together.
- Quickly, use your hands to form dough into a round disc. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and place in the fridge for AT LEAST one hour to rest.
- Lightly flour your bench. Use a rolling pin to roll out your dough into a large circle, approximately 12 inches in diameter. Carefully transfer dough to an 8 or 9 inch pie plate, and trim the edges. Leave to rest for 15 minutes. Preheat oven to 160 C (320 F).
- Prick the bottom of pie crust with a fork. Bake in the oven for approximately 20 minutes or until it just starts to go golden.
- Honey custard
Meanwhile, make the honey custard. Add 1 and 1/2 cups of milk to a medium saucepan and place on a low heat. - In a separate mixing bowl, add sugar, cornflour, egg yolks, honey and the remaining 1/2 cup of milk and whisk together until smooth.
- Once the milk is hot to the touch (but NOT boiling), remove from the heat. Gently add a splash of the warm milk to your egg mixture and whisk. Then add a little bit more milk and whisk again. (By adding the warm milk slowly, you will prevent your eggs from scrambling).
- Slowly stream in the rest of the milk into the side of the bowl, while whisking at the same time. Once you’ve added all your milk, pour the mixture back into the saucepan and place on a medium heat.
- Stir continuously until the mixture thickens, about 4-5 minutes. Then remove from the heat and transfer to a large bowl. Cover with cling wrap, ensuring the wrap touches the top of the pudding (this will help to prevent it from forming a skin) until the pie crust is ready.
- Assemble pie
Pour honey custard in baked pie crust. Bake in the oven for 30 minutes or until honey custard no longer wobbles in the middle. Leave to cool on the bench for 20 minutes, before placing it in the fridge for AT LEAST 2 HOURS to set. - To serve Honey Pie, drizzle with melted chocolate.
Vivienne Simmons says
Hello Jessica,
I have made pie crust as per your recipe twice and it was the best I’ve ever had. However, the last two times I made it, it rolled perfectly well but, no matter how careful I was, I could not roll it onto my rolling pin to transfer it to the pie plate without it splitting. I’m wondering if I should use half shortening or lard and half goat butter. Do you think this might solve the problem. I take pains to keep the pastry cool and handle it gently so I don’t think that’s the problem.
I can’t use cow products.
Thanks.
Jessica Holmes says
Hi Vivienne, I’m so glad you enjoyed it! You could try adding a little more butter or lard – I haven’t tested it with lard so it’s hard for me to say. It probably means you are keeping the pastry nice and cool though – as the warmer it is, the more pliable. You could also try a different shaped pan, maybe something more shallow depending on where it tends to tear. If you do experiment, let me know how it goes.
Srish says
I don’t have the goat butter. So is it okay if I use normall butter?
Jessica Holmes says
Yes! That should be fine ☺️
Natalie says
I never had honey pie before! Looks so delicious and perfect for the season ♥
★★★★★
Jessica Holmes says
Thanks Natalie!
Josh says
This pie is awesome!
★★★★★