Sugar cream pie facts for kids
A slice of sugar cream pie
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| Alternative names | Sugar pie, Hoosier pie |
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| Type | Pie |
| Main ingredients | Flour, butter, vanilla, cream, sugar |
Sugar cream pie (also known as sugar pie) is a single-crust pie with a smooth filling made from flour, butter, salt, vanilla, cream, and brown sugar. The ideal sugar cream pie is supposed to be like Santa Claus in that it should shake "like a bowl full of jelly." The name "finger pie" for the dessert was due to stirring the pie during baking with one's finger; it was stirred this way to avoid breaking the crust.
History
The dish is the unofficial state pie of Indiana, where it is believed to have originated with Quaker settlers who came from North Carolina in the early 19th century, and thereafter settled in east-central Indiana, particularly around the cities of New Castle, Portland, Richmond, and Winchester.
The Amish also popularized sugar cream pie, making the pie easy to find where they populated. In particular, the pie is a favorite in the Pennsylvania Dutch areas, much as is shoofly pie, a similar dessert. Shakers also have a variant of the pie. However, as the Shakers had to abandon their community of West Union (Busro) (near modern-day Vincennes, Indiana) in 1827, their only presence in Indiana ever (1810–1827), it is unlikely that they made the dessert popular in the state.
The largest producer of these pies is Wick's Pies, whose plant is in Winchester, Indiana, and makes 750,000 sugar cream pies a year. They are recognizable for their nutmeg dusting and shallow depth in a disposable aluminum pan. The recipe Wick's uses came directly from a family recipe originating from the nineteenth century. The pies sell in 25 states.
