Growing up in the small town that I did, every time we would go to Indiana for any reason, my mom made sure that we stopped by Mrs. Wick's for sugar crème pies. They were always amazing and we always looked forward to them. When my parents divorced and we left Ohio to come to Colorado, my mom would often order a case of sugar crème pies from Mrs. Wick's to be sent to us. Sometimes the family would chip in some money for the shipping of the case, and we would enjoy them together, but as most good traditions...this one fell off the face of the earth.
As I was on... you guessed it... Pinterest, I found a recipe for sugar crème pie. I looked at the woman's blog and she was talking about Mrs. Wick's pies too! Holy cow, small world! I didn't bother reading the recipe or reading anything past that point. I immediately pinned it for later. Little did I realize that later would come so soon! Of course, I would have to order the vanilla bean paste before making it, but as soon as it arrived...I made some pie!
Mike and I got together with some friends this past weekend and I was told to bring dessert. I brought my chocolate bread bites with marshmallow and the first attempt of this pie. The pie was a big hit and it was gone!
Yesterday, I made it again, but this time, I tweaked the recipe, converting it to gluten-free so that if it tasted good, I could give it to my mom who has celiac. Turns out...whether from the gluten-free flour or because I changed how I mixed things up, the second attempt was better than the first!
I foresee this pie in my future often!
Ingredients:
For the crust:
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour (or GF all purpose flour, such as Jules)
1/2 cup cold butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon sugar
pinch of nutmeg
1/4 cup cold buttermilk
For the filling:
2 cups sugar
3/4 cups all purpose flour (or GF all purpose flour, such as Jules)
1 1/2 cup buttermilk
1 cup whole milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste
1 egg
3 tablespoons unsalted butter
fresh nutmeg for garnish (optional)
For your crust, in a large bowl, add flour, sugar, salt and nutmeg. Cut butter into small cubes and toss into your flour mixture. Using your fingers, work the butter into the flour coating it all, and creating disks or flakes. All pieces should be rough in size, but thin enough to become a pie crust.
Slowly pour in the cold buttermilk, tossing the flour mixture until it is evenly dampened. Carefully knead just a few times until the dough comes together. It might be slightly shaggy or compact...this is okay! Press dough into the shape of a disk. Cover with plastic wrap and refrigerate for an hour or longer.
When you are ready to make your pie, preheat the oven to 450*.
On a slightly floured surface, roll pie dough into a circle, about 1/8 inch thick. Carefully transfer crust to a 10 inch pie plate and crimp edges as desired. (It didn't say about whether to spray the plate or not, but I did with non stick spray)
For filling, in a medium mixing bowl, whisk buttermilk, milk, flour, vanilla bean paste, sugar and egg together. Pour into prepared uncooked pie crust. Using your fingers, leave small dabs of butter on top of your pie.
Bake pie for 10 minutes at 450*. Reduce temp to 350* and continue baking for 30-40 minutes (or longer, in my case) until pie has set in the center and only jiggles slightly.
Refrigerate until cold. Serve chilled, or warm like my mother used to. You can top with fresh berries or freshly grated nutmeg.
Enjoy!
