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.
How to Make Salted Maple Pie, Step by Step
Gather your ingredients:
As always, for best results, use a scale to measure:
Start by whisking together the melted butter and maple syrup:
Then add the cornmeal, brown sugar, and salt:
Whisk until smooth:
In a separate bowl, combine the eggs, egg yolk, heavy cream and vanilla:
Whisk until smooth:
Then add this egg-cream mixture to the maple syrup mixture and whisk until smooth.
Parbake your pie crust. (Find video guidance on how to make and parbake your crust here.)
Fill the shell with the custard:
Then bake for roughly 1 hour or until the custard is set:
Transfer to a cooling rack:
And let cool for at least an hour before slicing and…
… serving with salted whipped cream:
Sister Pie: a heart-warming life-affirming book!
One of my favorite Thanksgiving pies 🥧🥧🥧
4.3 from 16 reviews
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, where you will also find video instructions on how to parbake your pie crust.
I love my Emile Henry pie plate — it makes the best crust. You need a 9-inch pie plate at least 2 inches deep for this recipe.
Finally: A number of people have had issues with this recipe, and I’m not sure why but it makes me sad. My thoughts are that people might be using pie plates that are indeed 9-inches in diameter but perhaps not tall enough. I have added new photo guidance above and a how-to video as well. I made the pie this week (11/13/2024) and it baked up as beautifully as ever. I am eager to make this recipe work for others!
