A Delicious Childhood Memory

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. 

Cassandra's Favorite Apple Pie

Apple pie has become part of the American consciousness as representative of all that is wholesome and good about our country; a reminder of comfort and innocence. In World War II, when American soldiers were asked by journalist why they were going to war the standard response was “for Mom and apple pie”. It has been said that the Apple Marketing Board of New York State used such slogans as "An apple a day keeps the doctor away" and "as American as apple pie!" and thus was successful in rehabilitating the apple as a popular comestible in the early twentieth century when prohibition outlawed the production of hard cider.

There are American apple pie recipes, both manuscript and printed, from as early as the eighteenth century. Yet, what we consider to be apple pie has been around in Europe since the Middle Ages. Medieval and Renaissance recipes for apple pies or tarts have shown up, in one form or another, in English, French, Italian, and German recipe collections that span centuries and which show a wide variety of ways to prepare apple pie.

English apple pie recipes go back to the time of Chaucer.  The recipe above from 1381 lists the ingredients as good apples, good spices, figs, raisins and pears.  The cofyn of the recipe is a casing of pastry.  Saffron is used for coloring the pie filling.  Cloves are a popular addition, tempering the sweetness in much the same way as cinnamon.  The absence of sugar in the recipe may indicate that, because refined sugar was a recent introduction from the Orient, the medieval English did not have as sweet a tooth as their descendants!

Cassandra's Favorite Apple Pie

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.

For Pie Crust: Cassandra likes Oronoque Orchards (by Mrs. Smith’s) frozen pie crusts

For Filling: (Makes one pie)
3 lbs apples, such as Gala, Cortland, Granny Smith or McIntosh, peeled cored and cut into half-inch wedges.
1 cup sugar
½ cup honey, preferably a local, more flavorful raw honey
½ cup cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp ground cinnamon
Zest and juice of one lemon

 

Thaw the frozen pie shells.
In a large saucepan, sift together the sugar and cornstarch, then toss with apples, honey, vanilla, cinnamon, lemon juice and zest. Let stand for 20 minutes.
Bring fruit mixture to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture has thickened slightly, making sure fruit does not stick to the bottom of saucepan. Remove from heat and cool.
Fill thawed pie shell with the fruit filling and then lay the second dough circle over the filling, press very gently around the edges and flute together. With a paring knife or cookie cutter, puncture the top pie dough to form (a) steam vent(s). If desired, sprinkle with cinnamon sugar.
Bake for about 40 minutes or until the pie filling is starting to bubble out the vents and the top pie crust is golden brown. Remove to a cooling rack and allow to cool for 1-2 hours before serving.

Hoosier Sugar Cream Pie

This pie brings back wonderful memories of childhood when my family would enjoy this sweet dessert at the old Durbin Hotel in Rushville, Indiana and at the Copper Kettle in Morristown. I love this original recipe because the pie is a tad runny rather than the consistency of a firm custard. It comes out great, whether one chooses to use 2% or whole milk or cream.

The Copper Kettle, Morristown, Indiana

The recipe has been traced back to 1816, the year Indiana became a state and has been said to have originated by early Quaker settlers. (See photo of one of my pioneer Quaker great, great, grandmothers.)

This pie was a staple after the fall harvest, when all the fruit was gone. When the settlers would run out of apples and fruit from the fall harvest, they would start making these pies from ingredients available in almost any farmhouse when winter would start and around the holidays of Thanksgiving and Christmas.

Virtually unheard of outside of Indiana, Sugar Cream Pie officially became Indiana’s State Pie in 2009.



Preheat oven to 410 degrees.

Ingredients:

1 unbaked pie crust
¼ cup white sugar
¼ cup brown sugar
1 generous tablespoon butter
2 heaping tablespoons flour
1 pinch salt
Your choice of 2% or whole milk or cream (1-1 ½ cups…enough to fill pie shell).
1 egg yolk
Sprinkle of nutmeg and/or cinnamon

Mix brown and white sugar with flour. Sprinkle flour/sugar mixture over pie crust. Beat egg yolk and butter with milk. Fill pie shell. Take a spoon and swirl it through the milk mixture a couple of times. Sprinkle top with cinnamon or nutmeg.
Bake at 410 degrees for 10 minutes. Then bake at 350 for 45 minutes. The filling should be bubbling. The center should still jiggle. Be careful not to overcook or the filling will not set.

P.S. Sadly, the Durbin Hotel closed years ago, but the Copper Kettle is still serving their famous fried chicken dinners and sugar cream pie!

Cherry Pie - Cassandra's Favorite!

My very favorite of pies - The combination of the sour cherries and sugar with almond extract is devine! This recipe uses less cornstarch, as I prefer a juicy pie. I still ask for cherry pie rather than cake on my birthday!

Ingredients
4 cups fresh or frozen tart cherries
1 to 1 1/2 cups granulated sugar
2 tablespoons cornstarch
1/8 tablespoon almond extract (optional)
Your favorite pie crust or pie dough recipe (or frozen crust) for 2 crust pie
1 1/2 tablespoons butter, to dot
1 tablespoon granulated sugar, to sprinkle

Directions
Place cherries in medium saucepan and place over heat. Cover. After the cherries lose considerable juice, which may take a few minutes, remove from heat. In a small bowl, mix the sugar and cornstarch together. Pour this mixture into the hot cherries and mix well. Add the almond extract, if desired, and mix. Return the mixture to the stove and cook over low heat until thickened, stirring frequently. Remove from the heat and let cool. If the filling is too thick, add a little water, too thin, add a little more cornstarch.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F.

Use your favorite pie dough recipe. Prepare your crust. Divide in half. Roll out each piece large enough to fit into an 8 to 9-inch pan. Pour cooled cherry mixture into the crust. Dot with butter. Moisten edge of bottom crust. Place top crust on and flute the edge of the pie. Make a slit in the middle of the crust for steam to escape. Sprinkle with sugar.

Bake for about 50 minutes. Remove from the oven and place on a rack to cool.

Sarah's Butterscotch Pie

An Old Indiana Recipe:

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.