Serves 8 to 10
INDIANA SUGAR CREAM PIE IS A HOOSIER CLASSIC, AND FALLS INTO THE CATEGORY of “desperation pies,” pulled together during lean times with few ingredients at a moment’s notice. When done well, sugar cream pie is the kind of baking alchemy that takes a handful of questionable ingredients and turns them into something so divine, it’s as though David Copperfield himself traded in all those hours of maintaining his coif for pie making.
This version of sugar cream pie is a winner: it takes a humble, traditional concept and builds in some modern techniques to make it seriously rich and flavorful, like a brown-sugared crème brûlée in a pie shell, I’m telling you. Don’t be alarmed when the filling almost appears to still be completely liquid when you pull it from the oven—the last bit of magic happens as the pie cools and sets so creamy and firm that you can eat slices out of hand.
1 single batch My Favorite Pie Crust (here), blind baked and hot
¾ cup/150 g granulated sugar
¼ cup/57 g dark brown sugar
5 tablespoons/40 g unbleached all-purpose flour
Generous ¼ teaspoon fine sea salt
⅛ teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg
2 tablespoons/28 g unsalted butter
1¼ cups/300 g heavy whipping cream
¾ cup/170 g whole milk
1½ teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Confectioners’ sugar for dusting
After blind baking the crust, increase the oven temperature to 400°F/200°C. Place the hot pie crust on a large, rimmed baking sheet.
In a large bowl, whisk together the granulated and brown sugar, flour, salt, and nutmeg, breaking up any clumps.
In a 1- to 1½-quart/1 to 1.4 L saucepan over medium-high heat, brown the butter (see here). Pour the hot browned butter into the flour mixture. Whisk until the mixture is uniform in texture, like slightly dampened sand.
Pour the cream and milk into the saucepan you used to brown the butter—no need to clean it. Place the pan over high heat and heat the mixture until hot to the touch, but don’t let it simmer. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla. Whisk half of the cream mixture into the flour mixture until smooth, then gently whisk in the remainder. Pour the warm filling into the warm crust. Bake the pie on the baking sheet for 20 minutes. Rotate the pan 180 degrees. Cover the edges of the pie with foil if it is already looking near done. Then, bake for 20 minutes more—the filling itself will still be quite liquidy; it will set as it cools. Let the pie cool on a wire rack until it reaches room temperature, then refrigerate for at least 4 hours, or until cold and set. Serve cool. Dust with confectioners’ sugar before serving.
TIP > Crust Spackle! If you’ve ever lovingly shaped and blind baked a pie crust, only to have it emerge from the oven with a crack that would surely lead to filling leakage, all is not lost. In a small cup, fork together 2 tablespoons of flour, 1 tablespoon of melted butter, and a pinch of sugar until a claylike substance forms. Gently pack and smooth the mixture into the cracks. Bake at 375°F/190°C until the patched area appears dry, about 5 minutes. Continue with your recipe as directed.