Sister Pie’s Salted Maple Pie
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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
Description
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
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
27 Comments on “Sister Pie’s Salted Maple Pie”
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…
Sally …. it doesn’t 🙁 🙁 🙁 I totally hear you though … weights are so, so nice. BUT I think you might love this book even so.
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!
It’s such a good one, Rosa!!
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!
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!
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.
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.
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
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!
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.
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!
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?
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!
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.
Can you use regular yellow cornmeal
I would imagine! The texture of the custard might be a little less smooth, but that wouldn’t bother me.
Am I reading this recipe right? You don’t blind Bake the crust first?
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.
Hi Alexandra, I am a first time commenter but I adore your site! If I wanted to make the pie in advance, do you think it would freeze well? If so, would you recommend freezing before or after baking? Thank you!
Hi Marnie! I would suggest freezing before baking. I would make the dough, fit into the pie plate, freeze it. Make the filling, pour it into the pie plate, and freeze again. Then bake directly from the freezer. THank you for the kind words!!
Hi there, I’m baking multiple(9) 5” pies. And changes in baking instructions or suggestions?
Hi Becky, My only suggestion is to maybe not mix 5x the batter at once. Whenever I find myself in these situations, I’ll mix a double batch or a triple batch at most, then divvy it up. And then make another double batch, etc. Make sense? Maybe I’m being too cautious. Are you planning on baking them all at once? That worries me a little bit too. I would maybe bake 3 pies at a time at the most. Hope that helps!
I made this pie for Thanksgiving and it was a HIT! My family raved and fought over the last piece. Have you ever adapted a pie recipe to mini pies? I think it would be so nice to gift mini Salted Maple pies for Christmas. Any ideas on how to execute would be lovely. Thank you for yet another delicious recipe!
★★★★★
I made this pie this year as well … I was only going to make two, then couldn’t resist making a third, and it was my favorite of the three pies. Glad you approve!
This is the cutest idea! Honestly, I don’t think the process will be much different: I would roll out the dough, chill the pie plates fitted with the dough, fill and bake. They may take slightly less time to bake, but I don’t think it will be much less. I would bake the pies on a sheet pan just as you do with the large pie.
I’m not offering much help here! Let me know if you have other specific questions.
Made this for Christmas–it was amazing! Not too too sweet and really good flavor. A new hit! Also the crust was dead easy and delicious. Thank you!
★★★★★
Wonderful to hear this, Julia! I love this one, too 🙂