The Hoosiers lay claim to a simple pie containing very few ingredients. Ask any Indianian about this dessert, which harkens back to the 1800s, and you’re more than likely to be regaled with fond stories about how sugar cream pie was a much-anticipated treat at family gatherings.
This humble pie contains a mere six ingredients: sugar, flour, salt, cream, vanilla, and butter. A sprinkle of nutmeg or cinnamon is the finishing touch. It joins the pantheon of pies that were particularly popular during the Depression, due to their thrifty use of staple ingredients, and earned the moniker “desperation pies.”
According to officials at the Indiana Historical Society, one of the oldest sugar cream pie recipes on record was published in “The Hoosier Cookbook” in 1976 and dates back to 1816, the year that Indiana became a state. Some folks claim that the Amish were responsible for introducing the pie to Indiana, but this date seems to refute that, as the Amish didn’t arrive in Indiana until the 1830s.
Christina Russo, an Indiana native and co-founder of the website The Kitchen Community, smiles at the memories that bubble to the surface when she reflects upon sugar cream pie. “It’s a slightly decadent, rich, sweet reminder of Sunday afternoon and family dinners,” she said, adding that every mouthful is like taking a trip in a time machine back to a far simpler era filled with cartoons, funny books, and hanging out with grandparents. For those who have yet to indulge in a slice, Russo describes the taste: “It’s like the creamiest vanilla milkshake with an after-hit of cinnamon. In other words, it’s like a little slice of heaven.”
Anna Silver also runs a cooking website, and she, too, waxes rhapsodic about the pie. The founder of Cook for Folks said she learned how to make the pie at the young age of 7. “It’s a delicious recipe that is so handy to us now when there aren’t many ingredients lingering in our cupboards,” she said. She calls the recipe a “lifesaver,” since she recently discovered that her daughter has an intolerance to eggs. “My daughter loves that she can have a custard-like pie without the egg.”
The pie’s charm is strong enough to extend beyond state borders. Texas resident and travel blogger Kevin Nguyen was introduced to the pie in the mid-90s while eating Thanksgiving dinner at a friend’s house in Toronto, Canada. Since then, he’s become a bit of an enthusiast.
“Although cream pies are not common in Vietnamese households, we love the simplicity of the pie and started making it after it was introduced to us,” Nguyen said.
He added that he rates a sugar cream pie by its crust, since it’s his favorite part. “If baked right, the crust will have just the right amount of crunch—not too hard, but not too soft either. You’ll be rewarded with a mix of rich vanilla custard, sweetness, and cinnamon with each bite,” he said.
A Family Recipe Turned Family Business
You could say that Duane Wickersham loved sugar cream pie so much that he wanted to share it with the world. Wickersham was responsible for founding Wick’s Pies Factory in Winchester, Indiana. According to his grandson Dylan Wickersham, who now oversees the company’s sales and marketing, his grandfather started out as a restaurateur who began baking the sugar cream pie using his grandmother’s recipe. His pies were such a hit that he began delivering them, with the assistance of a 1934 Buick Sedan. When demand skyrocketed, Wickersham purchased a building east of downtown Winchester in 1961, and the rest is history.“We’ve been manufacturing pies for more than 50 years now and we sell more of the sugar cream pie than any other of our pies combined,” said Dylan. He compares it to another popular dessert, crème brûlée. “It isn’t as sweet as it sounds,” he said.
The family business has been very successful throughout the years, thanks, in part, to the sugar cream pie-making process, which Duane patented in 1962 to dissuade competition. More recently, the Wickersham’s have taken to selling their pies on a website that is every dieter’s downfall: Goldbelly, a curated online retail platform that ships regional specialty foods nationwide.
“We threw an employee party recently and asked people to guess how many states we have sold sugar cream pies to, and the answer was 49,” Dylan said. The holdout? Rhode Island. Evidently, the smallest state is missing out on some big flavors.
The employees at Wick’s pies also hear their share of stories about the sugar cream pie. One of Dylan’s favorites is the story about a housewife trying to make a sugar cream pie like Mama used to make for her husband. “It’s just not the same,” he said again and again. Then one day, the wife mentioned her dilemma to her mother-in-law while requesting the recipe. “The mother stood up, walked to the freezer, and pulled out a Wick’s pie,” said Dylan, with a chuckle.
If you’d like to make your own sugar cream pie, you can follow the recipe of Wendi Spraker, the food blogger behind the site Loaves and Dishes. Spraker obtained this recipe from Gerschuh’s Restaurant in Greenville, Ohio, a neighboring town of her childhood home near the Indiana border. In a departure from the original, the recipe includes egg yolks to help thicken the filling. (For an egg-free recipe, try this Sugar Cream Pie.)
Classic Sugar Cream Pie
Makes one deep 9-inch pie- 1 to 2 pie crusts, homemade or store-bought (see notes)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 5 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- Dash of salt
- 2 cups heavy whipping cream
- 1 cup half-and-half (or substitute with half cream and half whole milk)
- 2 egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 tablespoons butter, cut into pea-sized pieces
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
Line a deep-dish pie plate with a crust and set aside.
In a large bowl, mix the sugar, flour, and salt until evenly blended. Use a whisk to make sure that lumps are broken down. Add the whipping cream and mix well, but do not whip or beat.
In a separate bowl, combine the half-and-half, egg yolks, and vanilla, and use a whisk to mix well but do not whip or beat.
Pour the egg yolk mixture into the sugar mixture and blend together well—do not beat.
Pour the mixture into the pie shell and dot the top of the pie evenly with the butter pieces. Sprinkle with cinnamon.
Place the pie on a cookie sheet (as it could bubble over a little) and bake in the preheated oven for about 1 hour, or until the filling bubbles through for 10 minutes. Check the pie by wiggling the edge of the pie plate. If the filling is still loose in the center, it isn’t quite done. As soon as it no longer loosely and sloppily jiggles, it is done. It will still be jiggly, like Santa’s tummy, in the center.
Allow to cool on the counter and then place in the refrigerator for several hours. Allow the pie to cool completely before cutting it or it will be a watery mess in the bottom of the pie plate.
Recipe Notes
There is enough filling to make two thin pies, or one very thick pie. If you choose to make two pies instead of just one, bake for less time. Do not make this in a frozen pie crust, unless you will make two. Those pie crusts are not deep enough for this filling (even the deep dish ones).Recipe from Wendi Spraker of LoavesAndDishes.net
