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Sour Cream and Raisin Pie

By Stacey Mei Yan Fong
A slice of sour cream raisin pie on a plate.
Photo by Elizabeth Coetzee, Food Styling by Emilie Fosnocht

There’s a baking contest at the Iowa State Fair devoted entirely to sour cream raisin pie. Likely brought over from Germany by Mennonite communities, raisin pie soon garnered popularity across the American Midwest. I believe that this pie’s story must be tied to the funeral pie, also known as raisin pie (or rosine pie, using the German word for raisin). Funeral pie was traditionally served with a meal prepared for the family or friends following a funeral. Before the invention of refrigeration, fresh fruits were not always readily available, but most homes had raisins on hand. Unlike many other dishes, raisin pie could be made a day or two ahead of the funeral supper and stored safely without refrigeration.

The original raisin pie was a double-crust pie. My guess is that Iowa’s sour cream raisin pie was an evolution of that. The main differences between the two are that the latter includes sour cream and eggs and is baked before it’s chilled.

This recipe was excerpted from ‘50 Pies, 50 States' by Stacey Mei Yan Fong. Buy the full book on Amazon. Get more pie recipes here →

What you’ll need

Recipe information

  • Yield

    Makes one 10-inch pie

Ingredients

For the crust

All-Butter Crust, rolled out, fit into a greased 10-inch pie pan, crimped, and fully blind baked

For the filling

1 cup raisins
⅔ cup granulated sugar
2 Tbsp. cornstarch
½ tsp. ground cinnamon
¼ teaspoon ground cloves
¼ tsp. kosher salt
1 cup sour cream
½ cup 2% milk
3 large egg yolks, at room temperature, beaten

For the meringue topping

3 large egg whites, at room temperature
¼ tsp. kosher salt
⅛ tsp. cream of tartar
6 Tbsp. granulated sugar

Preparation

  1. Step 1

    Make the filling: In a small saucepan, combine the raisins with enough water to just cover and bring to a boil. Remove the pan from the heat and set aside. In a large saucepan, combine the sugar, cornstarch, cinnamon, cloves, and salt. Stir in the sour cream and milk until the mixture is smooth. Cook the mixture over medium-high heat until it thickens and is bubbly. Reduce the heat to low and cook and stir continuously for an additional 2 minutes, until the bubbles subside and the mixture can coat the back of a spoon. Remove from the heat. Stir a small amount of the hot mixture into the egg yolks to temper, then add the egg yolk mixture to the pan, stirring constantly. Bring the mixture back up to a gentle boil and boil for 2 minutes, then remove from the heat. While the mixture cools slightly, drain the raisins, reserving ½ cup of the liquid. Gently stir the liquid into the filling and then add the raisins. Set the filling aside until ready to fill the pie.

    Step 2

    Make the meringue: In the bowl of the stand mixer or in a small bowl if using a hand mixer, beat the egg whites and salt until soft peaks form. Add the cream of tartar. Gradually beat in the sugar on high speed, 1 tablespoon at a time, making sure that the sugar is fully incorporated before adding more. Beat until stiff peaks form.

    Step 3

    Assemble and bake the pie: Preheat the oven to 350°F and position the top rack about 4 inches from the top of the oven. Place the baked pie crust on a baking sheet and fill with the filling, smoothing the top. Spread the meringue over the filling, making sure to seal the edge of the meringue to the crust. Bake on the top rack for 15 minutes, or until golden brown. Let the pie cool on a wire rack for 1 hour before refrigerating for 1 to 2 hours.

50-Pies-50-States-COVER.jpg
Excerpted from 50 Pies, 50 States by Stacey Mei Yan Fong. Copyright © 2023 by Stacey Mei Yan Fong. Photography by Alanna Hale. Food styling by Caitlin Haught Brown. Used with permission of Voracious, an imprint of Little, Brown and Company. Buy the full book from Amazon or Little, Brown and Company.
TagsCookbooksPieDessertRaisinDried FruitFruitBakingAmericanSour CreamDairyThanksgiving

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