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Sour Cream Pie
1 cup sour cream 1/2 cup seeded raisins, chopped fine 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 3 egg whites, beaten stiff. 1 cup sugar 1/4 teaspoon cloves 3 egg yolks, well beaten Mix ingredients together and bake in pastry lined pie pan, as for custard pie. Use other two egg whites and 6 tablespoons sugar for meringue, put on after pie is baked and brown in oven. If desired, stir all three whites in together before baking. Makes one small pie.
A sour cream custard, closer to a raisin-spiced flan than a cream pie. The success of it rests entirely on baking the custard gently enough that it sets without weeping.
- Pan size"One small pie" suggests a shell nearer 8 inches than a modern 9-inch deep dish; in a larger pan the filling will run thin.
- Oven temperatureNo temperature is given; "as for custard pie" is the only guide. A workable modern schedule is about 425F for 12 minutes to set the pastry, then 325F for a further 30 to 40 minutes, until the centre still trembles slightly and a knife inserted an inch from the edge comes out clean.
- The sour creamSour cream of this sort was generally cream left to sour naturally, and was likely thinner and sharper than the commercial product. Full-fat cultured sour cream is the closest substitute; low-fat or "light" versions contain stabilisers and gums that can affect the set.
- Seeded raisins"Seeded" here means the seeds have been removed, a step once done by hand. Ordinary seedless raisins are exactly what is wanted; chop them fine so they suspend through the custard rather than sinking.
- Whites in or outFolding stiff whites into the filling gives a lighter, souffle-like custard that will sink a little as it cools. Keeping two back for meringue, as the recipe's second sentence assumes, gives a firmer, denser filling. Pick one approach before you separate the eggs. Note that the ingredient list calls for three beaten whites while the method then refers to "the other two", so the recipe is inconsistent on this point.
- The meringueThe recipe says only to brown it in the oven after the pie is baked. Beat the reserved whites, add the 6 tablespoons of sugar a spoonful at a time, and spread so the meringue touches the crust all round to stop it shrinking; a moderate oven, around 350F for 12 to 15 minutes, will colour it.
- CoolingCustard pies continue to set as they cool. Leave this one at room temperature until fully cool before cutting, then refrigerate any that remains.
- YieldAn 8-inch pie gives six modest wedges. It is rich and quite sweet, so small slices suit it.
Sour cream raisin pie belongs to the thrift baking associated with the American Midwest and Pennsylvania and Plains farm kitchens, where cream soured on its own before refrigeration was common and raisins were a pantry fruit available all winter. Spiced with cinnamon and cloves and thickened with egg alone, it sits alongside the vinegar and buttermilk pies of the same tradition, all of them ways of making a dessert without fresh fruit.