Silky Ube Egg Pie with a surprise ube halaya layer, nestled inside a crisp flaky crust. Serve with Mixed Coffee Mocha and it’s a treat!
New egg pie flavor unlocked!
I didn’t use to be this obsessed with ube desserts before. The more I made them however, the more ube wormed its way into my top 5 favorite flavors to bake with. Consequently, it has also lodged itself within the top 5 flavors that I enjoy eating. I love a good ube layer cake. (Still haven’t made one though!) And in fact, I’m a big fan of Jollibee‘s Ube-Cheese Pie, though perhaps the Ube-Cheese Pandesal still ranks a little higher on my list of faves.
Anyway, the point is, ube treats have become my jam! (What a play on words…) And so I can’t quite express how clever I think this Ube Egg Pie recipe is. It’s a flavor twist I never knew I needed until the moment I made it and ate it. I enjoy a good egg pie in general. It’s not my favorite dessert but if you put it in front of me, the likelihood that I’ll gobble it up is very high. With this variation however, I went back for seconds. I could not help myself.
And it’s a fairly simple recipe to make too. Not to mention, this Ube Egg Pie is darn pretty. That vibrant purple is just stunning!
I reckon this can be a good negosyo recipe, since it’s both aesthetically pleasing and tasty. This recipe follows the usual procedure for making classic egg pie, except some ube extract is added into the filling mixture. Ube halaya is also spread onto the partially baked crust for good measure. Clearly we’re making this Ube Egg Pie as legitimately ube as possible.
The highlights of this Ube Egg Pie
When I make ube treats, I like to make sure it’s got a good dose of ube halaya, aka ube jam. I don’t believe that using ONLY ube extract is remotely satisfying, you see. In this case, since it’s difficult to add halaya into the egg mixture itself, we’re adding the halaya in as a layer. My favorite ube halaya brand is from Bahay Pastulan, and that is what I always use when I make ube treats, but you may use your favorite.
For this Ube Egg Pie, it’s important not to skip the ube halaya layer because in my opinion it’s where most of the authentic ube flavor will come from. The extract mostly just adds color and ube scent.
This is a super silky and delightful egg pie variation. The filling is smooth and silky rather than sticky and compact. It doesn’t taste too sweet nor does it taste overly eggy, which honestly I hate in an Egg Pie. (This ain’t an omelet after all!) I love that the caramelized top has some shades of violet peeking out, but more so because it seems to add just that pleasant bit of sweetness and a caramel note to the Ube Egg Pie.
Now a little note on the crust: I suck at making pie crusts, but the recipe I used for the crust here is super forgiving. Even though I had to do a little surgery to fix the uneven and torn areas on the dough, the crust still came out fabulously flaky and buttery. It bakes to a crisp, which provides such a nice textural contrast to the silky filling. It’s just lightly sweet and nicely buttery too without being oily.
This Ube Egg Pie, just like any other, tastes best cold. Make sure to chill before slicing! The crust stays crisp even after chilling, which is nice.
Let’s talk about the drink for a second here. Mixed Coffee Mocha, which basically means it’s a mocha made using 3-in-1 coffee. Naming it 3-in-1 Coffee Mocha just doesn’t sound as catchy lol, so we’re going with Mixed Coffee Mocha instead. Certain countries like South Korea refer to 3-in-1 coffee as mixed coffee, and in fact I actually like using the Korean Maxim coffee for this one. This definitely came out a lot better than I was expecting. Calories aside, it was shockingly satisfactory for a “shortcut” kind of mocha.
I highly recommend using only a maximum of 24 grams of 3-in-1 coffee (or two 12-gram sachets of Maxim in this case) as the drink may become overly sweet if you use too much. If you don’t like sweet coffee drinks like me, make sure to use the full amount of milk, as well as bittersweet chocolate with at least 70% cacao content. Frankly speaking, using good chocolate and a good 3-in-1 will up your enjoyment of this drink tenfold.
Also, this drink goes really well with the Ube Egg Pie, and I’m all about the good pairings these days.
A little caveat…
If you watched my recipe video above, you’ll have noticed the little stretch of time where I only have text instructions onscreen. I seem to have quite a bit of missing footage for this particular recipe and I have no idea what happened or where they’ve gone.
The perfectionist in me contemplated scrapping the video and going with a blog post made out of purely photos. In the end, I decided to improvise. I hope you don’t mind. If you need proper visual reference for making the filling, you can refer to the video of the original recipe from My Sweet Ambitions.
Some final recipe notes
- The recipe for the pie crust is incredibly forgiving. I’m not very good at pie crusts so I’m always looking for pie dough recipes that will allow me to fake some skills in that department! There are finicky pie crusts that bake up tough if you don’t mix it and roll it out perfectly– this is not one of them! This pie crust even allowed me to patch up imperfections. It bakes up into something flaky and crisp despite my mediocre talents. It holds the Ube Egg Pie really well and even provides textural contrast. A winner!
- No pastry cutter? Use two knives, or even a fork, when you’re cutting the butter into the dough. Although a pastry cutter definitely makes things easier, in my opinion.
- Gradually add more water when you’re forming the pie crust dough. Start with 2 Tablespoons ICE COLD water, then work it into the dough first. You want to make sure the water is absorbed into the dough properly before gauging if you actually need more water. Sometimes it looks dry initially but that’s only because the mixture hasn’t properly absorbed the water yet. If the dough still looks dry after you’ve been mixing for a while, add 1 more tablespoon of ice water. Do not add in all 3 Tablespoons in one go! What you want is dough that is just sticky enough to hold together if you press it into a clump with your hands, but not too sticky or wet.
- Refrigerate the pie dough at least 1 hour. This will make it easier to roll out and move around, especially if it’s very warm where you live!
- Use good quality ube extract and ube halaya for the filling. I use McCormick for my extract and Bahay Pastulan ube halaya.
- Do not over-work the mixture once you add in the egg whites. After whipping the egg whites to soft-medium peaks, fold it into the main mixture using a spatula. Use big folding motions to incorporate the whites using as few strokes as possible. The goal is to aerate the mixture so that it doesn’t bake into something flat and dense. Over-mixing can actually deflate it, so stop mixing once you no longer see any egg whites floating around. The mixture should look slightly more “fluffy” as well.
- Do not skip the ube halaya layer! This is what gives that true ube flavor that ube extract cannot replicate.
- Give the Ube Egg Pie ample time to bake. This pie needs over 1 hour of baking time, which is really long but really worth it. It bakes for an initial 15 minutes at 350°F/180°C, then an additional 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes at 320°F/160°C. If you’re afraid the pie will brown too much, tent the pie with aluminum foil. It’s done when the center is set, pie is caramelized-looking on top, and filling no longer jiggles.
- The pie tastes best cold. Cool completely, then refrigerate at least 2 hours before slicing and serving.
Ube Egg Pie
Ingredients
For the pie dough
- 1½ cups (200 grams) all-purpose flour
- ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 1 teaspoon granulated sugar
- ½ cup (113 grams) cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes
- 2 to 3 Tablespoons ice water, as needed
For the filling
- 4 eggs, divided use
- ½ cup sugar
- 1½ Tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 (375 ml) can evaporated milk
- ¼ cup water
- 2 teaspoons ube flavouring
- 4 Tablespoons ube halaya or jam
Instructions
Make the pie dough
- In a large bowl, combine flour, salt, and sugar. Using a pastry blender or two forks, cut cold butter into flour until mixture resembles coarse sand.
- Add 2 Tablespoons ice water and work the mixture until the dough starts coming together. If the dough is too dry, add the last tablespoon of water. The dough will look shaggy at this stage, but it should be able to hold shape if you squeeze some of the dough together.
- Dump dough onto a lightly floured work surface (or atop a piece of cling wrap) and knead until a smooth dough forms. Pat to a thickness of about 1/2-inch, then wrap in plastic wrap. Chill in the fridge for at least 1 hour.
- Preheat oven to 400°F (200°C). Take out the chilled dough and let sit at room temperature for 5 minutes. On a lightly floured surface, roll dough out to about 11 inches in diameter, and about 1/8 inch in thickness. (To check if the dough is the correct size, place a 9-inch pie plate upside down over the rolled dough to see. It should be bigger than the pie plate by at least 2 inches all around.)
- Carefully transfer dough to 9-inch pie plate and firmly press into the bottom and sides of plate. (If the crust is imperfectly formed, just press excess pieces of dough over holes and seams.) Trim excess dough, leaving about 1/2-inch overhang all around. Fold overhang into the pie and crimp the edges as desired.
- Line parchment paper over the crust and fill with pie weights of choice. Bake for an initial 12 minutes. Remove pie weights and bake for another 3 minutes.
- Remove the pie crust from the oven and allow to cool while you prepare filling. Turn down oven to 350°F (180°C).
Make the filling
- Take 1 egg and separate white from yolk. Place the egg white into a small bowl. Add the egg yolk into a large bowl and crack in the rest of the eggs. Add in sugar and whisk until well combined and most of the sugar is dissolved. Whisk in cornstarch until well combined.
- In a saucepan, whisk together water and evaporated milk. Cook over low heat until steaming, but not boiling. You only want it scalding hot.
- Whisking the egg-sugar mixture constantly, stream in the hot milk a little at a time. Keep whisking until all the hot milk is added so the eggs are tempered properly, rather than scrambled. Whisk in ube extract until well combined. Set aside a moment.
- Using a balloon whisk, whip the reserved egg white until opaque white and soft-medium peaks form. Use a spatula to fold the egg whites into the ube mixture until combined. We only want to aerate this mixture so do not over-mix. Stop mixing the moment the last trace of egg white is gone.
To assemble
- Spread out the ube halaya atop the semi-cooled pie crust, evenly covering the surface. Pour the ube filling over the halaya. (It will be easier to transfer the pie to the oven if you place it on a baking tray.)
- Bake the pie for an initial 15 minutes, then lower oven temp to 320°F (160°C). If desired, tent the pie with aluminum foil to prevent over-browning, then resume baking for an additional 1 hour to 1 hour 15 minutes. It’s done when the center is set, pie is caramelized-looking on top, and filling no longer jiggles.
- Cool down completely then refrigerate at least 2 hours before slicing to ensure the pie is set. Serve with Mixed Coffee Mocha (recipe below).
Watch how it's made
Notes
- This recipe tastes best with a certain amount of 3-in-1 coffee. I highly recommend using only a maximum of 24 grams of 3-in-1 coffee (or two 12-gram sachets of Maxim in this case) as the drink may become overly sweet if you use too much.
- If you don’t like sweet coffee drinks like me, make sure to use 70% cacao bittersweet chocolate. You should use the full amount of milk as well. These are great balancing elements for the drink!
- Froth your milk so you can decorate the drink with foam on top! I think it looks a lot prettier this way. If you’re too lazy to froth, fret not. It’ll still be delish!
Mixed Coffee Mocha
Ingredients
- 40 grams bittersweet chocolate chunks (70% cacao)
- 24 grams 3-in-1 or mixed coffee granules, (I used 2 sachets Maxim)
- 40 mL freshly boiled water
- 150 mL milk, frothed
- Ice
Instructions
- In a heatproof glass, add in the chocolate chunks, coffee granules, and water. Leave to melt for a minute, then stir until chocolate is melted and mixture is completely smooth.
- To a serving glass, add ice. Pour in the milk without the froth first, then gently add in the chocolate-coffee mixture. Add the foam on top for decoration. Enjoy with the egg pie!
Notes
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