Heirloom American Pie

Most people today prefer updated cream pies, in which cooked filling is put in already baked pie shells—pies certain to have crisp, flaky crusts. Here’s a pioneer pie, however, created in farm kitchens along the Wabash River during covered-wagon days. This baked cream pie enjoyed great prestige in the prairie States.

It’s an heirloom recipe used today almost entirely by homemakers who learned to like it at their grandmothers’ tables. We include the recipe primarily for its historic interest, a reminder of what pies were like a century ago. . . . Also for women who’ve searched for the recipe for a rich, cream pie their grandmothers used to make by mixing the filling in an unbaked pastry shell. (Their way of cutting down on dishwashing!)