Sugar Cream Pie~A Vintage Recipe
Ever heard of sugar cream pie? If you’re a fan of vintage recipes, maybe you have. This is one that mostly uses cream (not a typical money saver for the Depression era), but I know most versions use milk instead. Considering you don’t use eggs, you might be surprised how pudding-like it becomes. I love that it’s a simple & tasty idea to kill an expired carton of cream, and it takes only minutes of actual work to make.
To Roll Or Not To Roll
You will spend most of your time making the pie crust—if you are going to make one yourself. I always do, and usually my crust is sourdough base. I’ve included the recipe for it, if you are a devoted user of sourdough starter. It’s a great way to use the pour off for when you are feeding your starter to make bread. Here is the recipe for it:
SOURDOUGH PIE CRUST
- 1 1/4 cups pastry flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/3 cup butter, cold
- 1/4 cup vegetable shortening or lard, cold
- 3/4 – 1 cup sourdough starter, fed
- Combine flour and salt.
- Using a pastry blender or two knives, cut in butter and shortening or lard until mixture resembles coarse oatmeal.
- Add enough sourdough starter to just bind into a dough. Do not overwork.
- Wrap in plastic and chill for 30 minutes before using. Will freeze up to 3 months.
Whatever type of crust you use, make sure it has fairly generous sides because this filling climbs slightly.
So many old fashioned recipes use the term “dot with butter” and this is one such recipe. The typical recipes call for a sprinkling of nutmeg and/or cinnamon…sometimes mixed with more sugar. I leave this step out because I feel that the simplicity of the vanilla custard-like filling is all you need. If anything, I would be open to poking a few fresh raspberries into the filling before dotting the surface with butter. But that’s for another day.
Serving
Unlike other cream pies, this one can be easily served the day it’s made—it should be set enough within an hour or so after coming out of the oven. I think it’s at its best the day of, but sugar cream pie keeps well for 3-4 days in the fridge. Be warned though that the filling firms up more with each day, so consume sooner than later.
And that’s my adventure with sugar cream pie. Smooth, creamy…yeah those words are old, I know, but so is this recipe! Try it out for your next idea and enjoy some mouthfuls of vintage bliss.
Sugar Cream Pie
Ingredients
- 1 - 9 inch single crust pie shell, chilled
- 2 cups milk or cream (10%,18% or 35%)
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup all purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 tablespoons butter, chilled, cut into small pieces
- 1/8 teaspoon nutmeg (optional)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 425F. Keep crust chilled while preparing filling.
- In a medium sized bowl, whisk together 34% cream, sugar, flour, vanilla and salt until smooth.
- Pour into pie shell. Dot with butter. Sprinkle with nutmeg, if using.
- Bake at 425F for 10 minutes, then reduce temperature to 350F and bake a further 50-55 minutes or until golden and bubbling.
- Cool to room temperature before slicing.
Just discovered your website yesterday while searching homemade cola recipes. This pie looks delicious. Have you ever considered publishing a cookbook where all the pictures are your paintings of the recipe? I would totally buy such a cookbook.
Thank you! I love how easy this is to make. And yes, I am going to do just that 🙂