General blather

Baking Experiment: Sugar Cream Pie

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I was in the mood for pie, but didn’t have a lot of special ingredients in the house. So I thought – time to try one of those “depression pies” I’ve read so much about! Depression in this case is not referring to the emotional state, but instead to the financial depression in the the US between 1929 and 1940. During that time, a lot of recipes were concocted to make use of cheaper pantry staples and less of restricted or expensive items. One depression pie I recently read about is Sugar Cream pie, also known as Hoosier Sugar Cream pie because it is very popular in Indiana.

There are literally hundreds, possibly thousands, of recipes for Sugar Cream pie on the internet, a general search brings up more options than a person can reasonably choose between. Fortunately, I have a copy of the Hoosier Mama Book of Pie that has two recipes for this pie. There is the author’s version, that is very slightly fancier, and then also her MIL’s, which is the one I went with. Mainly just because the author’s version called for heavy cream, which I did not have on hand.

This is a very basic pie. You blink bake the crust, cook the filling, pour the filling in the crust, and chill. Some versions you pour the filling in the crust and then bake the filling and crust together, so there are options. The ingredients include milk, sugar, butter, and some flavoring. The usual option is nutmeg and a dab of vanilla. The recipe that I used include cornstarch as the thickener. Other recipes have different thickeners.

We had never eaten this pie before, but do like it! It has a very mild flavor – milk, sugar, and nutmeg all come through. It’s not my new favorite pie, but I would definitely make this one again if I was in a pie mood and didn’t have a lot of special ingredients in the house. Mom and DH also gave it the thumb’s up!

Have you ever had this pie or one like it? If not, how does it sound to you?

26 thoughts on “Baking Experiment: Sugar Cream Pie”

  7. It sounds bland? But in a nice way.

    I’ve been meaning to try making Atlantic Beach Pie; I had it at a restaurant and it was delish. Saltine cracker crust, citrusy filling. Sounds kind of like the key lime pie recipe I’ve used, but saltine instead of graham cracker crust. Here’s a recipe from Food52.

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    1. It is not a super-flavorful pie. If you like modestly flavored things, this is a good option 🙂
      I have literally never heard of that! Will have to check it out – thank you for sharing the link!

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  8. Huh, this sounds interesting. I’ve never tried it, nor am I particularly likely to, honestly. Most depression recipes fall into that category, though. The “oh neat, people are so resourceful… but I’m glad I have a full pantry and access to a well-stocked grocery store” category. 😉

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  10. I went down a YouTube rabbit hole the other day thinking surely you’d left out some ingredients. Sorry but this doesn’t sound good to me, interesting to read about but for me to suffer the indigestion of pastry I have to have a super delicious filling. It’s great you are trying all these different recipes though.

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    1. Nope – nothing left out! It definitely wouldn’t appeal to everybody 🙂 I’m just having fun trying different things that I haven’t done before. Some of them I’m not likely to do again, but at least I’m giving them a try 🙂

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