Eyeball Crème Brûlée Pie

Amaze your party guests with this Eyeball Crème Brûlée Pie! This creepy Halloween dessert will have your guests squirming until they take their first bite of the crispy pie crust filled with a lusciously creamy custard decorated with colored sugar to look like a giant eyeball. It's delicious!

I love crème brûlée and when I was looking for a clever recipe to enter into my very first, and only, video recipe contest, I chose to make a decorated creme brulee pie.

Meijer, a regional grocery store chain, was hosting a recipe contest where the entrants were to create a delicious dish using products found in their store. The contest was held in November, so I created pies decorated with images of a snowflake, a gingerbread man, and some beautiful fall leaves.

To my delight, I won first prize in the contest. You can still watch me making my Creme Brulee Pie, here.

Video

For Halloween the year after the contest, my husband, Jim, and I decided to host a Dead Man's Diner party.

I turned this luscious, elegant, crème brûlée pie into a big giant bloodshot EYE! My guests loved it.

I caramelized the sugar EYE while my guests watched. Many had not ever seen the brulee process and were thrilled to witness the transformation from granulated sugar to hard crackling caramel.

This is the original eyeball pie that I made for our party. I didn't get the bloodshot veins as neat as I did when I made it again to photograph for this recipe.

Ingredients

pie dough - I used Pillsbury Pie Crust but you can make homemade pie dough.
heavy whipping cream - This will give your creme brule a rich flavor and creamy texture.
granulated sugar - This will sweeten the custard and give it stability.
pinch table salt - Salt balances out the sweetness.
pure vanilla extract
egg yolks - You will only use egg yolks in this recipe. Do NOT add the whites!
black, green or blue, red, and white sanding sugar

Supplies

9" pie plate
2" round cookie cutter
4 ½" round cookie cutter

Instructions

I sadly did not take any step-by-step photos of this recipe. Watch the video above to see the step-by-step process for creating a similar pie. I used a frozen pie crust in the video which you can do too. If you do, be sure to use the ingredients listed in the video. The frozen pie crust is shallower so you'll use less filling.

• Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
• Unroll thawed pie crust into a 9" pie pan.
• Lightly press the crust into the edge of the pan.
• Fold excess crust under and press together to form a thick crust edge.
• Flute edge.
• Prick the bottom and sides of the crust with a fork.
• Lay a piece of tin foil over the crust.
• Fill with pie weights or dried beans.
• Bake for 8 minutes.
• Remove foil and weights.
• Return to oven and bake until golden brown, 4-8 minutes.
• Let the crust cool completely.

Variations

You can make this creepy Pumpkin Pie Eyeball using whipped cream and piping gel.

Related Recipes

You can create make all sorts of gross eyeball-themed appetizers for your Halloween party. I served eyeball pizzas, eyeball dips, and more at our Dead Man's Diner Party.

Be sure to check out all the Halloween recipes here on Hungry Happenings.

Recipe

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Eyeball Crème Brûlée Pie

Prep Time

45 mins

Cook Time

10 mins

Cooling Time

5 hrs

 

Decorate a delicious Crème Brûlée Pie to look like an eyeball for Halloween. This dessert is sure to impress your Halloween party guests.

Servings: 8

Calories: 300 kcal

Author: Beth Klosterboer

Ingredients

• 1 refrigerated pie dough, thawed
• 3 cups heavy cream, chilled
• ½ cup granulated sugar
• pinch table salt
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 9 egg yolks
• 1-2 tablespoons black sanding sugar
• 2-3 tablespoons green or blue sanding sugar
• 4-6 tablespoons granulated sugar or white sanding sugar
• 1 tablespoon red sanding sugar

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees.
2. Unroll thawed pie crust into a 9" pie pan.
3. Lightly press the crust into the edge of the pan.
4. Fold excess crust under and press together to form a thick crust edge.
5. Flute edge.
6. Prick the bottom and sides of the crust with a fork.
7. Lay a piece of tin foil over the crust.
8. Fill with pie weights or dried beans.
9. Bake for 8 minutes.
10. Remove foil and weights.
11. Return to oven and bake until golden brown, 4-8 minutes.
12. Let the crust cool completely.
13. Filling:
14. Combine 1 ½ cups cream, sugar, and salt in a medium saucepan.
15. Heat over medium heat, stirring occasionally to ensure all the sugar dissolves.
16. Continue to heat until small bubbles appear around the edge of the pan.
17. Remove from heat.
18. Stir in the remaining 1 ½ cups cold cream and set aside.
19. Place egg yolks in a mixing bowl and lightly whisk.
20. Add 1 cup of the cream mixture to the egg yolks and whisk to combine.
21. Pour the remaining cream into the eggs in a steady stream while whisking.
22. Stir in the vanilla and then pour the mixture back into the saucepan.
23. Heat over medium heat, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and reaches a temperature of 175 degrees.
24. Let the mixture stand for 10 minutes before pouring it into the cooled pie crust.
25. Cool at room temperature for 1 hour.
26. Then refrigerate the pie until completely chilled, at least 4 hours or up to 4 days.
27. Remove the pie from the refrigerator and decorate the top of the pie with sugar.
28. Place a 2" round cookie cutter in the center of the pie.
29. Sprinkle in black sanding sugar until you have a nice black pupil. Place 4 ½" round cookie cutter in the center of the pie, keeping the smaller cutter in place for now.
30. Sprinkle green or blue sanding sugar in between the two round cutters, creating the iris.
31. Keeping cutters in place, sprinkle white granulated or sanding sugar all around the outer perimeter of the pie.
32. Carefully remove the cookie cutters and fill in any gaps with sugar.
33. Create a bloodshot appearance, by sprinkling small lines of red sanding sugar around the white of the eye.
34. Then for best results, use a propane torch to caramelize the sugar.
35. If you don't have a torch, place the pie under the broiler until the sugar melts. If you'd like, you can chill the pie in the refrigerator for 15 minutes before serving.

Recipe Notes

Caramelize sugar within 30 minutes of decorating. (Do not refrigerate your decorated pie before caramelizing. The sugar will melt into the pie.)

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Beth Klosterboer

Hi, I'm Beth Klosterboer, a professional chocolatier & baker, cookbook author, and event planner. I love sharing recipes for happy occasions here on Hungry Happenings. I also create easy fudge recipes to share at HowToMakeEasyFudge.com, rice krispie treat recipes at HowToMakeCerealTreats.com, and easy cookie recipes at HowToMakeEasyCookies.com

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