Each member of our family has his favorite when it comes to cream pies, Chocolate Cream Pie, Coconut Cream Pie, Strawberry Dream pie, you get the picture.
I find, as a busy Mom, Wife and business owner that when the Holidays roll around, I just don’t have as much time as I’d like to prepare these delicious culinary delights. I checked tons of websites to see if I could successfully freeze my own cream pies only to read that “NO, they’re watery and they separate.”
Yet, the other day, whilst wandering the aisles of our local grocery store, I see that several companies sell Cream pies in the freezer section. Although I’ve never purchased one personally, I find it hard to believe that folks would buy them if they became runny and nasty when thawed.
So, with that thought in mind, I decided to embark on a journey to figure out HOW to freeze Homemade Cream Pies successfully.
First, you have to start with a decent recipe, to begin with- not all pie filling recipes are equal in quality. (I’ve shared my favorites below. Secondly, it does NOT pay to use Cheap ingredients. Trust me, I AM quite budget conscious, but this is one area that, in my opinion, you should NOT skimp on. It completely changes the end product.
- Prepare the following recipes exactly as listed:
- Cool in pan 15-20 minutes.
- Spoon or pour into vacuum seal bags. Each recipe listed above is enough filling for one single large pie. Or, alternatively, if you have a smaller family who prefers multiple dessert flavors- you can freeze in 1/3 or 1/2 batch sizes. Just be sure you label the bags accordingly.
- Seal and freeze; (be sure to VACUUM Seal, otherwise too many ice crystals will form, creating that nasty watery effect that isn’t so pleasant) until ready to use.
1 Chocolate Cream Pie Filling
2 Banana Cream Pie Filling
3 Coconut Cream Pie Filling
How to Prepare a Homemade Cream Pie from Frozen
To Use:
Remove the cream pie filling from the freezer, placing it in fridge, and allow it to naturally thaw for at least 12 hours. Do not try to thaw this on your counter top. First of all, it contains eggs and butter, Secondly, it will separate!
Prepare your pie dough (or use the rolled up box kind, whatever floats your boat!). As I said, each recipe makes 1 cream pie. If using a pastry crust, bake it first, then add the entire contents of your vacuum seal bag. Add whipped cream to the top just prior to serving, Voila instant homemade pie!
If you’ve prepared smaller bags of filling (the 1/3 or 1/2 batch sizes), you can take a muffin tin and line the baking cups with pie crust the same way you’d bake a regular size pie. Bake them and then fill them for tart size pies. This way, you can easily prepare 12 “pies” using 3-4 different flavors.
- Example- 4 Chocolate, 4 Coconut Cream, 4 Banana Cream
- This method also works well for prepared fruit pie fillings.
The texture is still smooth and creamy. As you can see from the photo, the pie holds it’s shaped just fine and does not become runny, (the whipped cream, however, is another story!) I should have used stabilized whipped cream to ensure it would hold its shape.
