Sugar Cream Pie (Indiana State Pie)

Makes one 9 inch pie

Recipe from Martha Stewart Annual Recipes 2005

Husband-Tested in Alice’s Kitchen

Our good friend, Edward, Pennsylvanian and only recently a Hoosier, was in charge of the menu for a dinner event at Lost River Market & Deli.  I volunteered to make the dessert and he said he wanted Sugar Cream Pie. I had never heard of such a pie. Well, it took a Pennsylvanian to educate this life-long Hoosier about Sugar Cream Pie.  Apparently, this is the Official Indiana State Pie.  I hang my head in shame for not knowing such a thing. So, here it is.   

½ recipe Perfect Pie Dough (See recipe below.)

1 cup sugar

½ cup all-purpose flour

½ teaspoon Kosher salt

2 cups heavy cream

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into small pieces

¼ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

¼ teaspoon freshly grated cinnamon stick

Roll out the dough and place it in a 9 inch pie plate; crimp the edges.  Refrigerate the pie shell while preparing the filling. 

Preheat the oven to 425°F.

Whisk sugar, flour and slat together in a stainless steel bowl, and set aside.

Prepare an ice-water bath; set aside. 

Heat the cream with the vanilla over medium-high heat until hot but not boiling.

Whisk the cream vanilla mixture into the sugar mixture until the sugar is dissolved.

Set the bowl in the ice-water bath, and let cool completely.

Pour the filling into the pie shell.  Dot with the butter pieces.

Sprinkle the filling with the nutmeg and cinnamon.

Bake 15 minutes and then reduce the heat to 350°F.

Bake another 50 to 55 minutes or until a thin knife inserted into the center of the pie comes out clean.

Let cool on a wire rack.

Serve the pie warm with berries and whipped cream.

Perfect Pie Dough

(From the kitchen of Martha Stewart and tested in Alice’s Kitchen)

2 ½ cups all-purpose flour ½ teaspoon salt

2 sticks unsalted butter, chilled ½ cup ice-cold water

(The secret to making perfect pie dough is to make sure the ingredients and then the dough itself are very cold. Baking the chilled pie dough in a hot oven makes the butter melt so that it creates steam inside the baking dough. That makes the flaky crust we all want!)

Measure the flour and salt into a food processor with the blade. Cut the ice-cold butter into pat-sized piece and add to the flour mixture. Press the pulse button on the processor until you see pea-sized pieces of butter mixed in to the flour. Don’t over mix. Press the On button of the processor and slowly drizzle the ice-cold water into the feeding tube. When the dough becomes a ball, stop the machine.

Divide the dough into two equal pieces. (The dough won’t be smooth. It’ll be sticky. That’s okay.) Place each piece of dough on plastic wrap and press into thick disks. Wrap the dough in the plastic wrap and chill for at least a half hour before rolling it out. (The dough can be frozen at this point. Thaw in the refrigerator before rolling out.)

Lightly flour the counter. Starting from the center of the disk, gently roll out the dough into a circle that is about 2 inches larger than the dish you plan to use. Lightly sprinkle with flour as you roll out the dough. Before placing it in the dish, brush the excess flour off with a pastry brush. (Too much flour on the dough makes it tough.) Fold the dough in half and place it in the dish. (Do not stretch the dough because that will make it really shrink.) Fold the extra dough under or over the edge and crimp.