Family traditions are woven through holiday gatherings year after year, and for many of us in the Upper Great Plains, a lot of tradition shows up on our plates. In my family, it’s in a slice of pie.
Growing up, I ate a lot of lefse, sugar cookies, and mashed potatoes with gravy during the holidays. Trays of treats were placed on the counter to easily grab from as you walked by, and there were always smoked oysters with crackers off to the side because Grandpa liked them. But pie was extra special.
My mother grew up in Southern California, and worked at a restaurant called Richard’s House of Pies. She admired how beautiful the pastries looked, and tasted. Her favorite was pecan pie, a la mode. When she met my dad and moved to North Dakota, he told her his favorite dessert was pie - so she became inspired. She cracked open the Better Homes and Gardens Cookbook, and got very good at making pies from scratch – and so this, especially, became an important edible tradition during the holidays. After all, nothing is better than a chilled slice of pumpkin pie with a pile of Cool Whip on top!
When I got married I wanted to carry on that tradition, too – so I started bringing pies I baked to my in-law’s for the holidays. At Thanksgiving and Christmas, I proudly presented pumpkin, pecan, and berry crumble pies, and of course the All-American apple pie would show up for the 4th of July.
But there’s one pie recipe I’ve sat on for years now… one I’ve actually heard about my entire life. And I think it’s time I finally gave it a shot.
It’s a recipe for butterscotch pie, and this moment is just over 90 years in the making.
My Webster side of the family originated in Scotland, and ended up in Ramsey County, North Dakota. My dad’s dad, Wilton, or “Wilt,” was a third generation farmer in the region, but before that he had to grow up during the Dust Bowl drought and Great Depression. Bringing in a crop in those days was difficult, to say the least. In 1934, he was just four years old – and an historic day was approaching. President Franklin Delano Roosevelt was making a stop in Devils Lake during a tour to see Dust Bowl hardships firsthand, and offer some words of encouragement and optimism.
Wilt’s family was hardy and resourceful, but also very poor. There was enough gas in the car to get to town, but not enough to make it back – and so they resigned themselves to the fact that they just wouldn’t be able to go. But on the day of the visit, a check for two dollars arrived in the mail – that’s $45 in today’s money! My Great-Grandma Maude had submitted a recipe into a contest sponsored by The Farmer magazine. They informed her they would be publishing her recipe, and this was her monetary prize. The family now could afford to make the trip to town, and so my grandpa and his family piled into their 1928 Studebaker and hit the road just in time to join 35,000 other North Dakotans to see FDR and hear his message of hope – all because of that recipe for butterscotch pie.
I mean, I have to taste this pie. It’s time get the out the flour and sugar.
To make Great-Grandma Maude’s butterscotch pie, I combined a cup of brown sugar, a couple tablespoons of cornstarch, a bit of salt and a couple cups of milk in a glass bowl. The recipe says “may use a double boiler,” so I did.
You’re supposed to keep stirring “until thick,” so I kept whisking... and whisking... to no avail. I thought maybe adding the butter and separated egg yolks would help – but it just wasn’t setting up. I finally dumped in more cornstarch, but after 45 minutes I gave up and started over.
This time, I skipped that double boiler business.
Now, the recipe says to pour the thickened filling into a baked pie crust – but any time I’ve pre-baked a crust, it came out so tough you could barely eat it. So I rolled out a single crust, placed it into my pie dish and used a spatula to scoop in the filling.
For the topping, you just beat the separated egg whites until stiff, combine with two cups of small marshmallows, and spread over the top.
Here’s where I got into some more trouble.
Maude’s recipe says to bake at 350 degrees – but not for exactly how long. Because the filling is already cooked on the stove, it doesn’t need to bake in the oven for an hour. All her recipe says is to “bake til delicately brown.” It was about now I started thinking, I definitely should have pre-baked that pie crust. I also should have googled butterscotch pie before doing absolutely anything; there is no way a crust is going to be done after only ten minutes.
It came out a little more toasty than “delicately brown,” but I felt okay about it. It didn’t look like I could spill the entire pie, and that’s what I was most concerned about.
And now, to my in-law’s house we go.
My husband’s family has Thanksgiving traditions of their own – Candy’s mashed potatoes, Gary’s mom’s dressing, an additional set of turkey breasts to accommodate the large family – and LOTS of gravy. For many attendees, multiple platefuls are heaped and I’m starting to wonder if anyone will have room for pie at all. But to my delight, and let’s be honest – anxiety - everyone is game.
When Candy cut into the pie, I started panicking. It looked a little soupy in the middle! But those fears subsided once slices were plated and passed around the table. The filling was a touch runnier than I’d hoped, but certainly not a disaster. And the reviews were glowing.
I’ve decided to make this pie again for Christmas. My parents, sisters and their families absolutely need to taste it.
If you want to make Great-Grandma Maude’s butterscotch pie, here are a few tips: Skip the double boiler all together and cook the filling directly on the stove. I plan to cook it a little longer next time to see if I can thicken it even more. And definitely pre-bake your pie crust! Use some pie weights so it doesn’t bubble up – 15 minutes is all you should need.
Great-Grandma Maude passed away in 1992, when I was eight. This year, I was lucky enough to hear her voice again as she recalled a treasured memory from Christmas past. “Well then all of a sudden, they told everybody to be quiet and you could hear the sleigh bells ringing! And here comes Santa Claus through the kitchen window! And oh – I just couldn’t get over it. I thought it was the most wonderful thing I’d ever seen. That’s one Christmas I always remember.”
When FDR visited Devils Lake in 1934, one of the things he said was this – “We hope that nature is going to open the heavens. When I came out on the platform this morning and saw a rather dark cloud, I said to myself, ‘maybe it is going to rain.’ Well, it did not. All I can say is, I hope to goodness it is going to rain, good and plenty.”
If you know anything about Devils Lake, you know those rains eventually came - creating a whole new set of problems for farmers in the region, and a whole different flavor of hope had to take hold.
For the Websters in the Devils Lake Basin, hope may have tasted a little like butterscotch.
Whatever hope, tradition or memories taste like at your holiday table – enjoy it, and make the effort to share it with those you love most.
Great-Grandma Maude's Prize Winning Butterscotch Pie
2 cups milk
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbs cornstarch
3 tbs butter
1/4 tsp salt
2 eggs - separated
1 tsp vanilla
2 cups small marshmallows
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix: sugar, cornstarch and salt. Add to scalded milk and cook (may use a double boiler). Keep stirring while it cooks til thick. Add butter. Beat egg yolks and add a small amount of sugar mixture and stir, then add to sugar mixture and continue stirring until thick. Cool. Add vanilla and pour into a baked pie crust. Beat egg whites til stiff, add marshmallows and spread over pie. Bake til delicately brown.