Water Pie is one of those magical recipes that came out of the depression era where cooks with little to nothing figured out how to make delicious dishes for those they love. This recipe was shared with me by Kay West and I published it in my third cookbook, Sweetness: Recipes to Celebrate the Warmth, Love, and Blessings of a Full Life.
This recipe belonged to Kay’s grandmother, who had eight children and made her family of ten three meals from scratch every single day. During leaner times, she developed this recipe so that her family could still enjoy dessert from time to time, no matter how hard their days were. These recipes are such a special treasure to us and I think you’ll really enjoy the simplicity of this pie. It has a creamy buttery taste, similar to a warm vanilla cookie once it’s chilled and sliced. Half the thrill will be telling your family the name and that the main ingredient is water!
You know when a recipe was created to make something out of nothing, it’s going to be simple on the ingredients. You’ll need: A deep dish pie crust*, water, sugar, flour, butter, and some vanilla.
*See tips for success at the bottom of this post.
Begin by pouring water into your deep dish crust. It doesn’t have to be hot or anything, just straight from the tap is fine.
Stir together flour and sugar.
Sprinkle this over your water. The original recipe called for doing this with a spoon so I’m showing you that way but I usually just use my hand to sprinkle it because I feel like I can get it more even that way.
This is our water with flour/sugar sprinkled over. Don’t stir.
Drizzle vanilla over this. Don’t stir.
Place pats of butter on top.
Place this in the oven at 400 for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, reduce temp to 375 and cover the edges of the crust if need be to prevent burning. Cook for another 30 minutes once you have reduced the temp.
Pie will be very watery in the center when you remove from the oven. Allow to cool completely and then refrigerate several hours before cutting.
Enjoy this creamy buttery pie recipe that came about from good hearted cooks wanting to bake up something sweet for their loved ones during hard times!
Tips for success:
- I use a Pillsbury all vegetable frozen deep dish pie crust, unbaked, for this recipe. I suggest a store bought deep dish pie crust because homemade pie crusts in your own dish are going to vary in terms of depth and may result in the filling not getting fully done in the prescribed amount of time.
- Before you begin making this pie, tear off a piece of foil large enough to cover your pie dish. Cut an X in the center and peel back the X. This will make it quick and easy to cover your pie should the edges begin getting too dark and will keep you from losing valuable heat during the baking process.
- Pie will be bubbly and could be watery in some spots when you pull it out of the oven. It will gel fully as it cools. It is best if you allow this pie to cool completely and then cover and refrigerate until chilled before cutting.
YUM!
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Ingredients
- 1 9 inch deep dish pie crust, unbaked
- 1 1/2 cups water (that is one and a half cups)
- 4 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- 5 tablespoons butter, cut into 5 pieces
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 and set empty pie crust on a baking sheet.
- Pour 1 + 1/2 cups water into the pie crust.
- In a small bowl, stir together flour and sugar. Sprinkle evenly over water in crust. Don't stir.
- Drizzle vanilla over water in pie crust. Place pats of butter on top of this.
- Bake at 400 for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 and cover sides of crust if needed to prevent burning. Continue cooking for an additional 30 minutes.
- Pie will be watery when you pull it out of the oven but will gel as it cools. Allow to cool completely and then cover and place in the fridge until chilled before cutting.
Nutrition
Some other recipes you might enjoy:
- Chocolate Cobbler (doesn’t even need an egg and can accomodate many food allergies)
- Cubed Steak and Milk Gravy – and how my Granny made it
- Homemade Banana Pudding – A Southern Classic
- Waste Not, Want No French Toast – turn hamburger and hot dog buns into this delicious breakfast!
This recipe featured in Meal Plan Monday and Weekend Potluck!
