Sweet Vanilla Quiche

Another French recipe and again it's custardy like the last one. Originally, I set out to make a pie but then I came across this delicious looking, egg-and-milk sweet quiche and I simply couldn't resist.

Now, this was the first time I'd ever made a quiche so I wasn't entirely sure what to do. By the recipe, it seemed like a hybrid of a pie and a cheesecake. The quiche demanded a pie crust which is probably the easiest and most satisfying thing to make with your hands. Seriously, forget food processors and get personal with the dough (a trick that my mom taught me - get the sticky gobs of dough from your fingers with a butter knife). Anyway, since the dough needs to be refrigerated - from 2 hours to overnight - I suggest you plan baking this in advance.

One last note: if you live in a country that doesn't have half and half (like me), here's a tip. Get at least 30% fat cream, the one that you can make into whipping cream. Then mix it with milk a bit more milk than cream so that it makes 12% fat half and half mixture.

Rolling pin, a traditional weapon of housewives

Sweet Vanilla Quiche
for the pie crust you will need:

• 125g all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling 
• 100g cold unsalted butter, cut into cubes 
• a pinch of salt 
• a pinch of sugar 
• 3 tablespoons of ice water

for the rest of the quiche you will need:

• ~250g refrigerated pie crust (it doesn't matter if you use the one above or a different recipe)
• 4 whole eggs
• 2 egg yolks
• 150g granulated sugar
• 2 tablespoons unbleached all-purpose flour
• 400ml cups half and half
• 1 vanilla bean

1. Combine flour, salt and sugar, then add cubes of butter and mix well. Add ice water one tablespoon at a time until it's sticky and gooey. Put it on a floured surface and knead it into a disk shape, add a bit of flour so the dough doesn't stick to your fingers. When it's done (soft and with no chunks), wrap it in a plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours (but it could be overnight too).
2. When you're ready to continue, preheat the oven to 190 degrees C and adjust oven rack to the middle position. Take out the dough to warm it up a bit.
3. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs, egg yolks, and sugar until pale and frothy, about 2 minutes. Whisk in flour to combine. Whisk in half and half, and scrape in vanilla seeds, mixing to combine.
4. After all this whisking, take the dough, put it on a lightly floured surface and flatten it with a rolling pin. Make it around 3mm thick and round.
5. Butter lightly the quiche dish and line it with the dough. Then pour in the creamy mixture and put the dish into the oven.
6. Bake for about 50 minutes to 1 hour or until puffy and golden. Let cool and serve either warm or at room temperature.

It will be puffed up