Indiana Sugar Cream Pie Recipe
For some reason, it's rare to find a Sugar Cream Pie Recipe outside of my home state of Indiana. I'm not sure exactly why this delicious, creamy pie hasn't broken out of the Hoosier state, but we're going to change that ASAP! Because everyone needs to make this pie.
🔍 Recipe At-A-Glance: Sugar Cream Pie Recipe
- 🕰️ Prep Time: 10 minutes
- ⏰ Cook Time: 45 minutes
- 🥧 Flavor Profile: Creamy vanilla with warm holiday spices, like butter pecan ice cream...without the pecans.
- 🍽️ Good For: Being the unassuming star of the Thanksgiving pies table, the surprise standout of the potluck, or the family gathering tradition year after year.
- 🔄 Make Ahead: Make this pie a day in advance to give it plenty of time to set up...and to cut you a break on Thanksgiving Day.
- 🧡 Difficulty: No fussy egg-based custards here!
Summarize and Save this Recipe Using:
🧡 Why You'll Love This Recipe
Hi friend: Don't you dare underestimate the Hoosier Sugar Cream Pie!
It is incredibly easy to make, uses ingredients that are easy to come by, and the flavor-oh the flavor! It tastes like buttery vanilla ice cream scented with cinnamon and nutmeg in a luscious, silky filling.
Here's why you'll love this recipe:
- It's so easy to make. Spoiler alert: a sugar cream pie gives away all of its secrets right there in the title! The base ingredients for the filling are literally just sugar and cream.
- There's no fussing with creating a custard. Unlike pumpkin pie or sweet potato pie, the custard of this pie is thickened with cornstarch instead of eggs, which makes it an incredibly simple pie to make.
- It's sure to be a family favorite. For us Hoosiers, this pie tastes like delicious nostalgia (right up there with good 'ole derby pie), and for you non-Hoosiers, everyone at your holiday gatherings will be begging for this recipe because it's such a unique addition to the holiday dessert table.
🥧 The Ingredients You Need
- Pie crust: The best pie starts with the best pie crust. This Food Processor Pie Crust tutorial will walk you through how to get a great crust every time.
- Half and half, butter: While I would normally advise you to use whatever half and half and butter you have, I really encourage you to search out the best cream and butter you can find. They are the stars of the filling show in this pie, so it makes a big difference to the final flavor!
- Cornstarch: Since you aren't making an egg-based custard, the cornstarch does all the heavy lifting when it comes to thickening the filling and helping it hold its shape.
Make sure to check the recipe card below for the full ingredients list, along with quantities and my expert tips and tricks.
🔁 Variations & Substitutions
- Naked pie: In many Hoosier kitchens, you'll find Sugar Cream Pies totally naked without anything on top. Probably the most traditional way to serve it is with a dusting of freshly grated nutmeg. If you want to make your pie naked, it'll still be delicious, just leave off the butter and cinnamon-nutmeg-sugar topping.
- Hoosier blasphemy: Here's a secret that could get me banned from Indiana: sometimes, I like to add a little maple syrup and bourbon to the filling for even more flavor. It adds a great complexity to sugar cream pie, even if it is total blasphemy. I do tend to keep it "plain" more often than not for tradition's sake, but it's so delicious either way, and I've included the sneaky mix-in option in the recipe below!
- Gluten-free: To make this pie gluten-free, the only change you need to make is to use a gluten-free pie crust!
🥣 Sugar Cream Pie Recipe How-To
Step 1: Give the crust a head start. Preheat oven to 375°F and line an ungreased deep dish pie plate with an all butter pie crust (but if you use a store bought crust, no judgment here!). To keep it from getting all puffy, line the crust with parchment paper and fill the paper with pie weights (country girl pie weights-i.e.: dried beans-work, too). Bake for 20 minutes, and then use the parchment paper to remove the weights from the crust. Set it aside to cool.
Step 2: Whisk together the sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a medium saucepan, and add the half-and-half. Cook over medium-high heat, stirring frequently, until the filling is thick and bubbly.
When the filling looks like a thick, glossy pudding, pull it from the heat and stir in the butter and vanilla extract. Pour the filling into the blind-baked crust, and smooth it out with a spatula.
Step 3: Pour melted butter over the top of the pie, and sprinkle with a mixture of sugar, nutmeg, and cinnamon (Hoosier tradition may frown on the use of cinnamon, but your taste buds won't!). Pop the pie back in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling around the edges. The filling will be thick, but not set.
Step 4: Switch on the broiler for a few minutes to get the top all charmingly caramelized and bubbly. Let it cool for an hour at room temperature, then cover the pie and refrigerate until completely set and cooled. Waiting is going to be the hardest part, but I promise it will be worth it!
🙋🏻♀️ Sugar Cream Pie Recipe FAQs
Sugar Cream Pie is an old-fashioned traditional pie here in Indiana, and it originated in the Indiana Amish communities in the mid-1800s as a way to get a dessert on the table when fruit wasn't in season and the apple bins were empty. It grew in popularity throughout the state-especially where there is a heavy Amish population-and it's still incredibly popular here today!
Chess pie (like my chocolate chess pie) is a typical custard pie, and uses eggs to thicken the filling, whereas a sugar cream pie is generally egg-free. Recipes vary all across the state of Indiana, though: my dad thinks my great-grandmother used eggs in her sugar cream pie. But most frequently you'll find that Sugar Cream Pies are thickened with cornstarch instead of eggs.
The high sugar content of the filling works as a preservative, which means sugar cream pie lasts longer than a fruit pie (hi there, caramel apple pie). It will be fine in the fridge for about 7-10 days.
👩🏻🍳 My Expert Tips & Tricks
- Quality matters: Get the best-quality half-and-half and butter you can. They make up the bulk of the flavor of this pie, so you want them to taste great!
- Cool it: Apologies if your fridge is already crowded, but sugar cream pie absolutely has to be refrigerated. The pie holds its shape thanks to chilling, so you'll need to make some room in the fridge.
- Make ahead: I recommend making it at least a day in advance to give the pie plenty of time to set up.
Want to save this recipe?
I'll email this recipe to you, so you can come back to it later!
💛 More Tasty Pie Recipes:
If you tried this sugar cream pie recipe or any other recipe on my blog, please leave a 🌟 star rating and let me know how it went in the comments!
📖 Recipe
Sugar Cream Pie
Equipment
- Parchment paper
Ingredients
For the Pie
- 1 prepared pie crust OR 1 frozen deep dish pie crust
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 6 tablespoons cornstarch
- Hefty pinch of salt
- 3 ½ cups half and half cream
- 6 tablespoons unsalted butter cut into cubes (¾ stick)
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
For the Topping
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- ½ teaspoon cinnamon optional
- ¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg
- 2 tablespoons butter melted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F. If using your own pie crust, place your 1 prepared pie crust OR 1 frozen deep dish pie crust on top of a 9" ungreased deep dish pie plate. Gently push it into the plate to contour along the sides. Leaving about ½″ all the way around, trim the extra crust, roll the ½″ under, and then flute or decorate the edge however you prefer.
- For either homemade or store-bought crust: line the unbaked crust with parchment paper, fill the crust with pie weights (dried beans work, too). Then bake in the preheated oven for 20 minutes.
- Remove the pie crust from the oven. Using the parchment paper, lift out the weights and set aside.
- While the crust bakes, prepare the filling by whisking together the 1 ½ cups granulated sugar, 6 tablespoons cornstarch, and Hefty pinch of salt in a medium saucepan. Whisk in the 3 ½ cups half and half cream. Place the saucepan over medium high heat, and cook, stirring frequently to prevent scorching, until the mixture is thick and bubbly-about 10 minutes. You're looking for the texture of a thick pudding.
- Remove the filling from heat, and add in the 6 tablespoons unsalted butter and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract. Stir until the butter has melted. Pour the filling into the pie crust. Smooth out with a spatula.
- For the topping: in a small bowl, stir together the 2 tablespoons sugar, ½ teaspoon cinnamon (if using, traditional Sugar Cream Pie usually has just nutmeg or even nothing on top), and ¼ teaspoon freshly ground nutmeg. Set aside.
- Pour the 2 tablespoons butter onto the top of the pie. Sprinkle on the sugar mixture.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 20-25 minutes, or until the crust is golden brown and the filling is bubbling. The filling will not be completely set, but it will have thickened. Turn the broiler on, and broil for 4-5 minutes, or until the cinnamon mixture is browned and bubbly.
- Remove from the oven, and let cool for an hour at room temperature on a cooling rack. Cover the pie and transfer it to the fridge to cool completely and set-preferably overnight, but at least four hours.
Video
Notes
- To get the really thick-looking slices like in these photos, a deep dish pie crust and deep dish pie pan is what you're looking for. A regular pie crust in a regular pie pan works, too, you will just probably have some leftover filling. No worries, chill the filling and it's a delicious pudding or panna cotta substitute!
- Use the very best cream and butter you can get your hands on! It really does make a difference in both the flavor and the appearance of the pie.
- Bourbon and maple syrup add an interesting layer of flavor that can help elevate this very simple pie. If you would like to try it, add 2 tablespoons maple syrup and 1 tablespoon bourbon to the filling while cooking. Just don't tell the rest of Indiana I told you to do this, or I might get my driver's license revoked!
- Every single Hoosier you meet will have their own personal version of this pie! The most traditional version has either just nutmeg as a topping or no topping at all. The addition of cinnamon is delicious, though!
Best recipe I’ve tried to date! I didn’t have bourbon, but I did have some JD Tennessee Honey, and it added such a lovely subtle honey flavor to everything. I also like to incorporate just a sprinkle of cinnamon and nutmeg into the filling itself for a more diffuse flavor. It was a hit with my Florida transplant MIL and wife. Definitely keeping this one!
This pie seems so simple and unassuming, but is SO creamy and flavorful. If you haven't tried it yet, you're missing out!
My apologies!!! I was running on empty yesterday, when I sent you a comment asking for the amounts of bourbon and maple syrup. I did not see that you had it in the recipe! I was so exhausted at the time that I even remember thinking, this is not a person who would leave this out! I am SO sorry, and thank you for the amazing recipe!!!
No worries, EC! We're glad you got it sorted. Please always ask whenever you have questions—we're happy to help! Hope you LOVE the pie as much as we do =)
How much bourbon and/or maple syrup? 🤣 (But seriously…).
Thank you for the recipe!
Can I make it as written except for the broiling part? I only have glass pie plates so not sure how they would do with that step.
Hi Beth! You can skip the broil if you want—although, we've done it many times in a glass pie plate and never had any problems. We recommend checking on the bottom of the pie plate to see if it has a broiler limitation or not!
I'm NOT seeing the 5 hours & 55 minutes to make this pie...Why does It take that long, I'm just not seeing It!
Hi Leopold! That total time includes chill time! You need to let the pie sit at room temperature for an hour after baking, then chill it in the fridge for at least four hours, but preferably overnight. Hope this helps!
How do you get it to be white? My filling turned like a golden brown almost instantaneously once I began heating it. I used a fancy white european butter and I didn't even add the vanilla extract. I'd really like to achieve that brilliant white color but I'm stumped.
Hi, Casey! We haven't had that issue before. We're kinda stumped, too! Is it possible that you used something like cane sugar instead of white sugar in the recipe?
I added cooked white rice to my leftover filling, and it was a great idea. Now I have pie AND rice pudding!
from my grandmother's "Psi Iota Xi Cookbook" Bluffton Indiana, circa 1920
"OLD-FASHIONED SUGAR CREAM PIE"
1 c gran. sugar
1 c brown sugar
1-3 c flour
Blend together and put into rich unbaked pie shell. Pour 1 pint top cream over mixture and mix thoroughly. Makes a large pie.
Mabelle Stogdill.
So cool to see other versions!
Can I use monk fruit or stevia or swerve in this recipe?
I've never tried it, but I'm assuming you might get not as good of a setup because part of the thickening comes from the sugar.
Thanks for this recipe. It was real interesting to read about this pie as it reminded me of our traditional milk tart here in South Africa. Yours is just way richer but I think the taste might come close to each other.
Our traditional milk tart (Melk tert in Afrikaans) is 'n milk and egg based filling that is also sweet and flavored with vanilla. The top is also sprinkled with cinnamon that gives it that distinct flavor.
There are also various versions of this recipe with a baked version that resembles your baked cheese cakes in America. I think every family has their own version of this recipe and often makes it as a treat.
That's so interesting! It does sound very similar!