The Best Sugar Cream Pie Recipe (2024)

Desperation Pie

Everyone loves a fruit pie, but back in the days before IQF (individually quick frozen) fruit and bags of all sorts of nuts on the shelves year round, early Americans made pie of whatever they could get their hands on.

Vinegar Pie, anyone?

Some people call them “make do” pies or Depression Pies, but I go with “Use What You Have” pies. Whatever you call them, these are the pies folks made when they either couldn’t afford fruits and/or nuts or they weren’t in season.

These are the Dead of Winter pies made with regional staples.

Folks on farms had access to milk, cream, butter, and eggs. Even when refined sugar was expensive, most peoplehad a jug of molasses or sorghum.

And everyone had a bag or a bin or a sack of flour. From these humble staple ingredients,creative cooks dreamed upsome damn fine pies.

My Use What You Have Pies

1. Cinnamon Sorghum Custard Pie

1. Classic Shoo Fly Pie

1. Old-Fashioned Chocolate Chess Pie

1. Indiana Sugar Cream Pie–you’re here!

You can see I did a different crust treatment for each pie. I get bored easily!

What Does It Taste Like?

Knowing what I know about “use what you have pies,” I’d have to say that lots of folks in Indiana had year-round access to cream and sugar. I’m almost a little surprised there’s no egg in it since I figure if you’ve got access to cows, you probably have access to chickens.

Egg lends richness and also tends to add their own mellow yet distinctive taste, but it can muddy the taste of the cream.

With eggs out of the picture, Indiana Sugar Cream Pie (also called Hoosier Pie) tastes of sweetened cream. Do use the best cream you can find because the flavor will shine through. Now is not the time for generic store brand cream since it is the predominant flavor. Splurge on the organic stufffor this guy.

What Is Dan Quayle’s Recipe?

I looked through a ton of Indiana Sugar Cream Pie Recipes. Some used cream and half and half, a couple used whole milk (but really? It’s called Sugar Cream Pie…).

A couple of fillings were cooked on the stove top and then poured into the pre-baked crust to set up in the fridge. There were a lot of variations. Believe it or not, the one I followed most closely is from Dan Quayle. Yes, that Dan Quayle.

Here’s the recipe attributed to him.

How to Make

Ingredients

Like most desperation pies, the ingredient list is very straightforward.

Here’s what you’ll need:

• single pie crust: This can be homemade or store bought. And if you need gluten free, you can use a gf crust as well. I usually make an all-butter pate brisee
• heavy cream
• whole milk: You can also substitute half and half for the milk/cream combination
• sugar: You could potentially use light brown sugar here for more flavor, but I do love the color of this pie when made with granulated
• all purpose flour: provides the thickening. Substitute corn starch or another gf starch for the AP if you need gluten free. To use cornstarch, see the section below called “Can I Make This a Gluten Free Pie?”
• fine sea salt: regular table salt is fine here too. If you use kosher salt, you’ll have to increase the amount by a touch since fine salt is saltier per teaspoon
• butter: because who doesn’t want an extra touch of richness?
• vanilla: vanilla and cream are the main flavorings in this pie, so be sure to use your best vanilla here. The flavor will shine through.
• nutmeg: I like freshly grated. If you don’t like nutmeg, you may use ground cinnamon instead

Step by Step Instructions

Granted, I haven’t had all the kinds of sugar cream pie that are out there, but this is the one I made and I think it’s pretty excellent. So I’m calling it “best.”

Here’s the rundown of how to make it.

1. Line the pie pan with your crust. Freeze. Freezing the pie crust before filling and baking helps to ensure your crust won’t shrink or slump in the oven. (More information onkeeping your pie crust from shrinking).
   
2. Mix up filling. Add butter and nutmeg to the crust.The filling is as easy to make as whisking it all together in a bowl. Dan Quayle says to put pats of butter and nutmeg on the bottom of the crust before filling, so that’s what I did.
   
3. Stir the filling during baking.This step keeps the flour in the mix from rising up and baking into a cake layer on the top of the pie. Stir about 10 minutes into baking to make sure the batter stays together.
   
4. Dust finished pie with nutmeg.A simple pie like sugar cream only needs simple garnish. A littlegrating of fresh nutmegor a sprinkle of cinnamon is a lowkey, eays and homey way to finish off this Indiana classic.

Can You Use Half and Half Instead of Cream?

Just because it’s called sugar cream pie doesn’t mean you have to make it with all cream. This recipe contains both cream and milk. Some other dairy options are:

• light cream–your results will be pretty similar to this recipe
• half and half–ditto
• whole milk–your pie will be a bit less rich than this recipe
• evaporated milk–I have not tried with evaporated milk, but my bet is you’ll have to reduce the amount of flour since there is less liquid in evaporated milk. The flavor will be very different, and you really won’t be able to call it sugar cream pie, but if it’s all you have, it’s worth a shot.
• Buttermilk–if you use buttermilk, you’ll be making buttermilk pie. Since most commercial buttermilk is lowfat, I would add an egg for richness. Again, I haven’t tried to make sugar cream pie with any other dairy substitutes, so I’m giving you my best guess.

Storing

Even though Hoosier pie doesn’t contain any eggs, it still should be refrigerated to chill and for storage since it contains so much dairy.

For serving, the flavor will be better at cool room temperature, so slice the pie and put the pieces on individual plates about 45 minutes before you plan to serve it. That way, there will be plenty of time to take the chill off.

Can I Make This a Gluten-Free Pie?

Yes, aside from needing a gluten-free crust recipe or store bought gluten free crust, all you will need to do is substitute 1/3 cup of potato starch for the 1/2 cup flour in the recipe.

You could use cornstarch, but it needs a higher temperature to thicken. If you want to substitute cornstarch, I would cook the filling on the stove top like a pudding, allow it to boil for 2 full minutes, stirring all the while, and then pour it into a fully baked crust to cool. Chill in the fridge to set up completely.

Other Favorite Indiana Recipes

Sugar Cream Pie might be the state pie of Indiana, but Indiana is known for more than just this creamy pie. Here are some other favorites from the Hoosier State:

• St. Elmo’s Steakhouse Shrimp co*cktail
• Breaded Pork Tenderloin Sandwich
• Roast Beef and Gravy (for a Roast Beef Manhattan)
• Fried Bologna Sandwich (like David Letterman likes!)

A Note About Measurements

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Thank you so much for taking the time!

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Enjoy the pie, and have a lovely day.