A few days before last Thanksgiving, in search of one more pie to add to my dessert spread, I began paging through Sister Pie and landed on this recipe for salted maple pie, the bakery’s take on a classic chess pie, an old-fashioned Southern dessert which typically contains cornmeal, butter, sugar and eggs.
Sister Pie’s version also contains cornmeal but is sweetened with maple syrup and is finished, once the pie cools, with a nice sprinkling of sea salt. I find it irresistible. I think you might, too.
Sister Pie, if you don’t know, is a bakery in Detroit founded by Lisa Ludwinski, a Michagan native, and her cookbook came out a few months ago.
Though I’ve only made one recipe from the book, I have no doubt it’s going to get heavy use — the day after Thanksgiving, I curled up on the couch by the fire and read it nearly cover to cover, transfixed as much by its story as its recipes, the sweet and savory alike.
The introduction to the book, which includes the bakery’s mission statement and an analysis of each sentence, made me cry multiple times. This was one trigger: To support their mission of accessibility, they have a program — the Sister Pie-It-Forward program — that allows customers to pre-purchase pie slices, the paper representation of which gets strung along a pie-it-forward clothesline, ready for anyone to unclip at anytime and to use for any reason. No one leaves without a slice. Pie it forward. Can you handle it?
I don’t want to spoil too many more details, but Lisa also encourages her employees to dance, drink water, sleep, eat cookies, hustle, and be kind. I mean, what? Who? Where? Places and people like this really exist? Fellow cookbook collectors, bakers, and pie lovers: I think you should add Sister Pie to your wish lists.
Sister Pie’s Salted Maple Pie
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 1 hour
- Total Time: 1 hour 30 minutes
- Yield: 1 pie
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Pin RecipeDescription
Adapted from Sister Pie, a cookbook from the eponymous bakery in Detroit, this salted maple pie, to me, is everything I want in a dessert: a sweet and salty custard in a flaky, buttery crust. Heaven. It is perfect for Thanksgiving, but I think it’s nice for fall in general.
Pie dough recipe adapted from David Lebovitz. To make a double recipe (which I recommend if you are baking for the holidays, follow this recipe.)
I love my Emile Henry pie plate — it makes the best crust.
Ingredients
For the pie dough:
- 1 1/4 cups (160g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon table or kosher salt
- 8 tablespoons (4 oz | 114g) cold, cubed butter, salted or unsalted
- 1/4 C. + 1 T. (71 g) ice water
For the pie:
- 1⁄2 cup plus 2 tablespoons (1 1⁄4 sticks) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
- 1 cup maple syrup
- 3⁄4 cup packed light brown sugar
- 1⁄4 cup fine yellow cornmeal
- Heaping 1⁄4 teaspoon kosher salt
- 3 large eggs
- 1 large egg yolk
- 3⁄4 cup heavy cream
- 1–1⁄4 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
for finishing:
- Flaky sea salt
- 1 cup heavy cream
- confectioner’s sugar
Instructions
- Make the pastry: In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar and salt together. Cut the butter into small pieces, then add to the food processor. Pulse at 1-second intervals until butter is the size of peas—should be about 10 quick pulses. Add the ice water and pulse again about 10 times until the mixture is crumbly but holds together when pinched. Lay a clean tea towel on a work surface. Dump the crumbly dough mixture into the center of the towel. Grab the four corners of the towel together and twist to create a beggar’s purse, pressing the dough into a round. Use your hands to pack and flatten the round.
- On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 12- or 13-inch round. Use as much flour as needed to prevent the dough from sticking, and every few rolls, flip the dough over.
- Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface until it’s 12- to 13-inches in diameter. Transfer it to a 9-inch pie plate or pan. Trim dough that hangs over by a lot — leave at least an inch over hanging; you may not need to trim everywhere. Tuck the overhanging edges under, between the rim of the pie plate and the dough, and crimp the edge of the dough. Chill the dough in the freezer until firm, at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat your oven to 350°F.
- Make the filling: In a medium bowl, combine the melted butter and maple syrup. Whisk in the brown sugar, cornmeal, and kosher salt.
- Crack the eggs and yolk into another medium bowl. Add the cream and vanilla and whisk until combined.
- Slowly pour the egg mixture into the maple mixture and whisk just until combined.
- Place the pie plate on a parchment-lined baking sheet. Pour the filling into the pie shell.
- Transfer the baking sheet with the pie on it to the oven and bake for 45 minutes to 1 hour, until the edges are puffed and the center jiggles only slightly when shaken. It will continue to set as it cools.
- Remove the baking sheet from the oven and transfer the pie to a wire rack to cool for 4 to 6 hours. Once fully cooled and at room temperature, sprinkle generously with flaky sea salt, slice, and serve.
- To make the whipped cream, beat the heavy cream with a wire whip or in an electric mixer until soft peaks begin to form. Sprinkle in a small handful of sugar and a pinch of sea salt and beat until peaks begin to get firmer. Taste. Add more sugar and salt to taste. Beat until peaks begin to hold their shape or until they reach a texture you like — I like billowy, not-quite-stiff peaks. Store in fridge until ready to serve.
- Store leftover pie, well wrapped in plastic wrap or under a pie dome, at room temperature for up to 3 days.
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: pie, maple, salted, Chess, Thanksgiving, dessert
Foolproof Pie Dough
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 2 10-inch (about) pie rounds
Description
Adapted from a favorite David Lebovitz recipe. I use it for this apple galette, this butternut squash pie, and the below Bourbon pecan pie, also a David Lebovitz recipe.
This recipe yields two rounds and it definitely can be halved, though I suggest making the full recipe because it’s so nice to have on hand.
Ingredients
- 2½ (320g) cups all-purpose flour
- 2 T. sugar
- ½ tsp. table (or kosher) salt
- 2 sticks (16 tablespoons | 8 oz | 227g ) unsalted butter
- ½ C. + 2 T. ice water
Instructions
- In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar and salt together. Cut the butter into small pieces, then add to the food processor. Pulse at 1-second intervals until butter is the size of peas—should be about 10 quick (1-second) pulses. Add the ice water and pulse again about 10 times until the mixture is crumbly but holds together when pinched. See video above for guidance. Lay two clean tea towels on a work surface. Dump half of the crumbly dough mixture into the center of each. Grab the four corners of the towel together and twist to create a beggar’s purse, pressing the dough into a disk. Unwrap the towel and use your hands to pack and pat the disk together. Wrap one (or both) of the rounds in plastic wrap, tuck in a ziplock bag, and store in the fridge for 3 days or freezer for 3 months.
- If baking one immediately, lightly flour a work surface, roll out into a circle an inch or two larger than your pie plate, transfer to pie plate, trim over hanging dough, then crimp dough as desired (see video for guidance). Chill in freezer while you prepare the filling.
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Food Processor
- Cuisine: American/French
Keywords: foolproof, pastry, butter, food processor, easy
Sally says
This looks AMAZING! I can’t wait to make it. Thank you!
Does their book have weights? I have no tolerance anymore for baking books with only volume measurements…
alexandra says
Sally …. it doesn’t 🙁 🙁 🙁 I totally hear you though … weights are so, so nice. BUT I think you might love this book even so.
Rosa says
Oooo…thank you for posting this! I bought this book for my Christmas present (along with…ahem…about 9 more cookbooks) so I cant look at it until Christmas!! Now I have a sneak peak because of you…..but…this might make it that much harder to keep away from it!
alexandra says
It’s such a good one, Rosa!!
Sara Schwartz says
I’m fortunate enough to live in the Detroit Metro and have easy access to Sister Pie. Not only can I attest to the wonder that is their shop, but have also found that every…. single… recipe from their cookbook I’ve made so far has turned out wonderfully. So glad to see it featured here!
alexandra says
Oh Sara! Lucky you. I’m so happy to hear other recipes from the book have been a success as well. I can’t wait to try others… it’s really put me in the holiday-baking spirit. Thanks so much for writing. Happy happy holidays!
[email protected] says
This looks delicious, and it’s not pumpkin pie.
I still haven’t totally forgiven you for that butternut squash lasagna last year. Talk about a good thing and, of course, wanting too much of a good thing! Only kidding; it’s a great recipe. My only change was I made extra béchamel for the top, which worked well.
I gave your wonderful book Bread Toast Crumbs with two Pyrex bowls as a shower gift to a lovely young woman I used to work with. It was so well received, and your bread is made weekly in her house, that she is giving that exact gift to her mother and her mother-in-law for Christmas this year.
PLEASE do your local Christmas shopping suggestions again this year. I don’t live that far from you (Stephentown) so I can get to all those good places.
Happy holidays.
alexandra says
Oh I’m so happy to hear all of this! Thank you for spreading the Bread Toast Crumbs love. So happy you like that butternut squash lasagna … extra bechamel is never a bad thing. Smart!
I absolutely will do another local guide … there will be some repetition in the shops, but there are a few new places I’ve been loving.
Happy happy holidays to you as well! Thank you for saying hello.
Ellen L Matthews says
I want to win a cookbook and I loved your conversation with Margaret at A Way to Garden. At the moment my favorite gift cookbook is Melissa Clark’s newest one about comfort in an instant.
alexandra says
Thank you, Ellen! I’m looking forward to trying some of the recipes in Melissa’s Comfort in an Instant. I made an instant pot butternut squash soup yesterday (recipe from the web) and it was so good and made me realize I need to use my IP more.
Kathleen says
I love your book and have given out several copies which were enthusiastically recieved…..I have regularly made your bread and now want to try the cheesy cheddar and parmigiano recipe…my question is can I do the overnight rise with this recipe…I have had great success withe the overnight rise before…thank you
alexandra says
Hi Kathleen,
So happy to hear this! Yes, you can absolutely do the overnight rise with the cheddar-parm bread. Definitely do the rise in the fridge (as opposed to at room temperature) because of the cheese. As always, the key is just to be patient with the second rise … when it’s cold out especially, the second rise may take longer, but it will get there. Happy Baking!
Sonja says
i’m making two of these right now and they smell amazing! i was wondering why my pies were not setting even though it has been over and hour and just realized i forgot the CORNMEAL. augh!! i knew it was not the greatest idea to make them while 3 little kids were hanging off my legs. alas… hoping they still set a bit and taste ok despite the huge error. any tips? thanks for the great recipe!
Kevin says
I made this recipe from the sister pie book, and the flavor was great, but the inside when it was cooled was pretty wet compared to what I would expect from a similar pumpkin pie. Is this supposed to be a wetter pie or did I unfortunately undercook?
alexandra says
Oh bummer! It sounds as though it was a little undercooked. It’s definitely a wet texture — it’s a custard — but it shouldn’t be too wet. The cornmeal gives it a little more texture/body. I’m sorry to hear this!
Shelly says
Like you, I get emotional reading this cookbook. Its wonderful on so many levels. I tried this pie today with Lisa’s all- butter pie dough and it was great. Hubby says its a lot like the French-Canadian Sugar pie. I especially love the flaky sea salt. Very beautiful and not overbearing, as regular course sea salt can sometimes be. I was wondering if the pie is supposed to have a slight maple water consistency? Also, any tricks to perfecting that beautiful crimp technique would be greatly appreciated! Thank you!
alexandra says
I love the flaky sea salt, too 🙂 🙂 🙂 Question: by maple water do you mean watery? Can you elaborate a little on the texture? I’m just not sure what that maple water is. Regarding the crimping, I actually just made a new video (two new videos actually) here: https://alexandracooks.com/2018/11/13/favorite-all-purpose-pie-dough-recipe-all-the-pies-i-use-it-with/
But in short: I think if you freeze the shaped pie shell for at least 30 minutes before filling it and baking it, that helps.
Mary A. Smith says
Can you use regular yellow cornmeal
alexandra says
I would imagine! The texture of the custard might be a little less smooth, but that wouldn’t bother me.
Dona England says
Am I reading this recipe right? You don’t blind Bake the crust first?
alexandra says
Correct! I never find blind baking to be that worth the effort but if you are comfortable blind baking, go for it. I find that when I blind bake, the crust then over-bakes once it is filled and covering the crust to prevent it from browning with foil never really works that well. I do love my Emile Henry pie plate, which makes a crisp crust. What type of pie plate do you typically use? As in what material? Another trick I learned: sprinkle a thin layer of panko over the bottom crust before baking to prevent a soggy bottom.