Sarah
Wheeler’s Butterscotch Pie
(Reputed to be the First Butterscotch Pie)
This pie was mistakenly “invented” in a bakery (the
Wheeler Creamerie Exchange of Connersville) in my home state of Indiana, when Sarah Wheeler, the
proprietor, scorched the cream pie she was cooking while talking with a
customer. Her sons tasted the scorched
results and claimed they were delicious; thus, a new pie flavor was invented!
This is the recipe Sarah is said to have published
in 1904 for a Methodist Church cookbook:
2 ½ cups
milk
2 eggs
separated
¼ cup
flour
1 cup
dark brown sugar, firmly packed
½ cup
water
1/8 tsp.
salt
1 ½
Tbsp. butter or margarine
1 tsp.
vanilla
1 8-inch
baked pastry shell
Thoroughly
combine ½ cup milk, egg yolks and flour.
Set aside. Scald remaining 2 cups
of milk over hot water. Combine brown
sugar, water and salt in skillet. Place
over low heat and bring to a gentle boil.
Cook until mixture thickens and a few bubbles break sending up not
whiffs, but puffs of smoke. Add
caramelized sugar very slowly, stirring constantly, to scalded milk. When smooth, gradually stir in egg-yolk
mixture and cook, stirring constantly, over hot water until thick. Remove and add butter or margarine and vanilla. When fat has melted, stir it in. Cool.
Pour filling into cooled pie shell.
Make a meringue using the egg whites, ¼ tsp. Cream of tartar and ¼ cup
sugar. Spread over pie. Bake in hot oven (400 degrees) for 8 to 10
minutes or until delicately browned.
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