This is an Iowa farm recipe from my mother’s own cookbook,” says Ron Popp, who grew up in Dow City, Iowa, and now owns The Garden Café in Omaha, Nebraska. “Many of our best restaurant desserts come right from her recipes. Most of what she baked came from her German heritage. Her baking wasn’t ‘fancy gourmet,’ it just wowed everybody with its great flavor.”

This basic custard pie cuts into clean slices; the high proportion of eggs and real cream makes it rich and smooth.