Water pie is a dessert recipe that has an interesting history; it dates back to the Great Depression, a time when many ingredients were scarce and expensive. However, this recipe proves that with a little creativity, humble ingredients can still make a delicious, family-friendly dessert. The main ingredients in water pie are water, flour, sugar, vanilla extract, salt, butter, and a splash of vinegar, all of which come together to create a unique and delightful treat.
To make water pie, you first need to preheat your oven to 400°F. Once the oven is ready, pour water into an unbaked pie crust and add vanilla and vinegar. Then sprinkle a sugar, flour, and salt mixture on top of the liquid without stirring. Add thin slices of butter on top of the mixture and bake the pie for half of the time at 400°F. After that, reduce the temperature to 375°F to finish baking. Once the pie is done, you need to refrigerate it for several hours before slicing.
Water pie has a texture that is similar to the gooey bottom of a pecan pie but with a less caramel-like flavor. This is because Water Pie uses white sugar and light corn syrup in its recipe. The butter on top of the filling does not mix in thoroughly, so it congeals on top when the pie chills, creating a buttery richness in every bite. Additionally, the small amount of cider vinegar used in this recipe adds complexity to the flavor, making it more than just one-note sweet.
So, the next time you’re craving a scrumptious sweet, or you need to make a dessert you hadn’t planned for, just look to your pantry. You likely have all the ingredients you need to make one of these famously delicious desperation pies without making a trip to the store. Give water pie a try and experience the unique and delightful flavors it offers.
Water Pie
Ingredients
1 1/2 cups water
1 unbaked pie crust
2 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp. cider vinegar
1 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 tsp. kosher salt
6 tbsp cold butter, cut into thin slices
Directions
Preheat oven to 400°F.
Pour water into Perfect Pie Crust. Drizzle vanilla and vinegar over the water.
Stir together sugar, flour, and salt in a medium bowl.
Sprinkle the sugar mixture over the water mixture in the crust.
Float butter slices on top.
Bake at 400°F for 30 minutes. Shield the pie crust and reduce the oven temperature to 375°F. Bake at 375°F for 30 minutes. Remove the pie from the oven (the filling will be very loose and watery). Cool the pie to room temperature for about 1 hour. Loosely cover the pie and refrigerate until fully set, about 8 hours.
this is the water pie recipe I talked
about earlier ingredients are one and A2
cups of water you need two teaspoons of
vanilla extract one and 1 12 teaspoons
vinegar you have a cup of granulated
sugar you have a four of cup of all
purpose flour we have a half a teaspoon
of salt and then six tablespoon of cold
butter cut into thin slices so this is
kind of unusual the way this works pour
water into the p
together the sugar the flour and the
salt there’s the vinegar and this is my
homemade vanilla extract too by the way
so here we go we’re sprinkling float the
butter slices on top so I’m going to put
this in the oven 400° for 30 minutes
High shield on it at 30 minutes and
reduce the temperature to 375 and then
bake it for another 30 minutes it says
remove pie from oven feeling is very
loose and watery just take it out after
30 minutes I have decreased temperature
to 375 in the oven and I use these for
pie Shields this is just an aluminum pie
pan that I cut the bottom out of it and
it works very nicely and then I’m going
to put this back in the oven for an
additional 30
minutes and there is our
pie can you hear it’s sizzling let it
cool at room
temperature and then we’re going to put
it in the refrigerator it’s said for it
takes about 8 hours for it to set up so
I will see you back uh here after this
is set up and we’ll slice the pie we’ll
taste the pie and we’ll see what we
think good morning here’s our water
pie I can taste the vanilla it’s not as
sweet as I thought it would
be and I think some of that goes to the
the apple cider vinegar we put in here
it kind of reminds me a little bit of
flavor of a kind of like a sugar cookie
because you can taste the vanilla you
have the butter um that’s in there this
is definitely worth
making I think it’s very interesting the
history of it um I’m a huge
baking or history baking nerd I guess
you could call it um that’s why I get
all these cookbooks because I’m
fascinated
with the
resourcefulness of cooks especially
women because you know you had very
little to work with and you created some
pretty interesting things so I am going
to finish eating this um I have just
made on cup tea number three I think and
um y I’m going to finish eating this and
you should give it a try water pie happy
baking