By Kevin Williams
Okay, so Aster, Bea, and I decided to make an Amish pie.
It doesn't get much easier than a cinnamon pie. This is a classic Great Depression-era or earlier Amish pie, six ingredients (counting water) and that's it. But, you know, for such a simple pie it really is good - especially if you like cinnamon.
Aster said "I want to make the whole pie myself." SIGH, easier said than done. I mean, for 4-½ years old I think she does pretty well in the kitchen but she's just not quite there yet. I protested but she'd have nothing of it. "I want to do the whole pie, Dada." But we quickly ran into trouble. She did OK cracking the eggs, but she overdid it on the cinnamon by a full tablespoon. But, you know, I think it worked. The extra cinnamon. I'm not sure you'd want any more than 3 tablespoons, but I think it worked.
What didn't work was Bea coming up to me in the in the middle of the baking and saying "uh-oh, poopa." SIGH....I just couldn't stomach the thought of tackling that and then coming back to the pie (no matter how much I washed my hands), so Aster and I raced through the rest of the pie and then tackled Bea's diaper. By the way, we used the Amish Pat-A-Pan Pie Crust for our crust, easy, easy, easy, I'd never make another kind and forget about buying a crust when you can literally make this in 5 minutes.
Don't be concerned by a VERY liquidly batter. You might as well be pouring broth into the crust, but you are doing it right if that is the case. The liquid should set up nicely after being in the over 45 minutes. All the advice I've with this recipe is to use a deep dish 9" pie pan if you can...that is what I did otherwise I worry you'll have a bubbly mess in your oven. But, really, if you like cinnamon, don't have a ton of ingredients on hand, you can't go wrong with this pie.
My advice is to eat this pie cold with whipped cream.
Aster works on the pie crust.
Pat a pan pie crust is perfect for kids
Not the prettiest pie going into the oven....notice those bits of butter...I'm not sure what to tell you..The pie turned out fine like that, but maybe I would have melted the butter before adding it.....
The pie doesn't win any beauty contests, but it is full of cinnamony goodness.
Add some whipped cream and you're good!
Okay, here is the cinnamon pie recipe and 4 other "Great Depression Pies."
Amish Cinnamon Pie
Ingredients
- 2 tablespoons ground cinnamon
- 2 cups sugar
- 4 eggs
- 2 tablespoons butter
- 2 tablespoons flour
- 2 cups water
- One 9 inch deep dish pie crust unbaked, or 10 inch regular size pie pan crust
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 375°F.
- Mix first six ingredients together with wire whisk- batter will be slightly lumpy.
- The batter is very thin.
- Pour into unbaked 10” or 11" pie crust.
- Bake approximately 45 minutes or until set. If you see that it is not setting up properly, cover crust with foil and bake an additional 10-15 minutes until set.
- Let cool before cutting.
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