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Photo: Ali Redmond
Active Time:15 minsTotal Time:1 hr 30 minsServings:12Jump to Nutrition Facts
Active Time:15 minsTotal Time:1 hr 30 minsServings:12
Active Time:15 mins
Active Time:
15 mins
Total Time:1 hr 30 mins
Total Time:
1 hr 30 mins
Servings:12
Servings:
12
Jump to Nutrition Facts
Jump to recipe
How Another Family’s Recipe Brought My Community Together
Several years ago, I spotted something that belonged to an ex-boyfriend in my kitchen drawer. On a yellow index card in unfamiliar handwriting was the recipe for surprise pie, a speciality of his Virginian family.
Surprise pie gets its name from a layer of fruit—the index card suggests canned peaches in syrup—stirred into a batter of butter, milk, sugar and self-rising flour. The cake puffs as it bakes, hiding the fruit inside. On a whim, I made one in my New York City kitchen with a pint of blueberries I’d bought at the farmers' market earlier that afternoon.
It was delicious, the perfect vehicle for ripe summer fruit. And so, I started making surprise pies regularly. I tinkered with the recipe over the years, swapping in apricots or plums, adding citrus zest plus spices like cardamom or nutmeg, and using baking powder and salt instead of self-rising flour. I made versions in different-shaped pans, and sometimes put in so much fruit the pie cratered around it, spoiling the surprise but adding juicy flavor and texture.
Eventually, I made so many iterations that I began to wonder about the origins of the recipe. Surprise pie is so crowd-pleasing and accessible, I figured it must be a widespread cultural phenomenon, like baseball or the Beyoncé catalog.
Surprisingly, it isn’t. In the 10-plus years that I’ve been baking surprise pie, I’ve never seen anything similar on a menu or in a cookbook. Online search results for the term “surprise pie” include meringue-like desserts with whipped egg whites, no-bake cream cheese pies and lattice-crusted cranberry pies. Historically, surprise pies took a darker turn. In 16th-century France,royal courts reportedly prepared cage-like pastriesthat were served with live fowl inside. When a diner cut into the dough, a flock of birds would fly out.
Confident that my surprise pie experimentations were nowhere near that unsettling, I still felt uneasy taking ownership of the dish. Is it OK to make another family’s recipe without ever telling them? Was I unwittingly committing some sort of dessert erasure?
Then, in March 2020, the pandemic arrived, priorities shifted, and people who had never so much as held a whisk began fervently baking. Those with the means to stay indoors started nurturing sourdough starters and Instagramming banana breads as a way to quell their nerves and fill their hours. As the weeks stretched into months, a friend who was quarantining alone in a small Brooklyn apartment asked if I could teach her something to bake over Zoom. “What’s an easy dessert I can make with stuff I already have in my fridge?” she asked.
To me, this is what makes cooking so special. It feeds us physically and emotionally, and adapts in tandem with our lives and circumstances. While I firmly believe that it’s important to contextualize what and how we cook, like all cultural expressions, food is forever evolving. The version of surprise pie that I like to bake in the fall has gingered pears in lieu of canned peaches and some whole-wheat flour in the mix, but it’s a proud descendant of its forebear.
Cook Mode(Keep screen awake)Ingredients1mediumripe but firm Bartlett pear, peeled, cored and cubed (1/2-inch)2teaspoonssugar plus 1 cup, divided1teaspoonlemon juice¾teaspoonground ginger¾cupall-purpose flour¼cupwhole-wheat flour1 ½teaspoonsbaking powder1teaspoonbaking soda¾teaspoonkosher salt1cupwhole milk4tablespoonsunsalted butter (1/2 stick), melted, plus more for the panConfectioners' sugar for garnish
Cook Mode(Keep screen awake)
Ingredients
1mediumripe but firm Bartlett pear, peeled, cored and cubed (1/2-inch)
2teaspoonssugar plus 1 cup, divided
1teaspoonlemon juice
¾teaspoonground ginger
¾cupall-purpose flour
¼cupwhole-wheat flour
1 ½teaspoonsbaking powder
1teaspoonbaking soda
¾teaspoonkosher salt
1cupwhole milk
4tablespoonsunsalted butter (1/2 stick), melted, plus more for the pan
Confectioners' sugar for garnish
DirectionsPreheat oven to 375°F. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan, line with parchment and then butter the parchment.Combine pears, 2 teaspoons sugar, lemon juice and ginger in a shallow bowl; toss to coat. Let stand at room temperature to macerate.Combine all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Add the remaining 1 cup sugar and stir. Add milk, stirring just to combine.Pour melted butter into the prepared pan. Pour the batter into the pan. Do not stir. Using clean hands, lightly place the macerated pears on top of the batter. Do not stir. Drizzle any remaining syrup over the pears.Bake until the cake is evenly browned and the edges are pulling away from the pan, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack, at least 20 minutes, before serving. Sift confectioners' sugar over the top, if desired.Equipment9-inch round cake pan; parchment paperOriginally appeared: EatingWell.com, November 2022
Directions
Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan, line with parchment and then butter the parchment.Combine pears, 2 teaspoons sugar, lemon juice and ginger in a shallow bowl; toss to coat. Let stand at room temperature to macerate.Combine all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Add the remaining 1 cup sugar and stir. Add milk, stirring just to combine.Pour melted butter into the prepared pan. Pour the batter into the pan. Do not stir. Using clean hands, lightly place the macerated pears on top of the batter. Do not stir. Drizzle any remaining syrup over the pears.Bake until the cake is evenly browned and the edges are pulling away from the pan, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack, at least 20 minutes, before serving. Sift confectioners' sugar over the top, if desired.Equipment9-inch round cake pan; parchment paper
Preheat oven to 375°F. Butter a 9-inch round cake pan, line with parchment and then butter the parchment.
Combine pears, 2 teaspoons sugar, lemon juice and ginger in a shallow bowl; toss to coat. Let stand at room temperature to macerate.
Combine all-purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt in a medium bowl. Add the remaining 1 cup sugar and stir. Add milk, stirring just to combine.
Pour melted butter into the prepared pan. Pour the batter into the pan. Do not stir. Using clean hands, lightly place the macerated pears on top of the batter. Do not stir. Drizzle any remaining syrup over the pears.
Bake until the cake is evenly browned and the edges are pulling away from the pan, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely in the pan on a wire rack, at least 20 minutes, before serving. Sift confectioners' sugar over the top, if desired.
Equipment
9-inch round cake pan; parchment paper
Originally appeared: EatingWell.com, November 2022
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Nutrition Facts(per serving)160Calories5gFat29gCarbs2gProtein
Nutrition Facts(per serving)
- Daily Values (DVs) are the recommended amounts of nutrients to consume each day. Percent Daily Value (%DV) found on nutrition labels tells you how much a serving of a particular food or recipe contributes to each of those total recommended amounts. Per the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), the daily value is based on a standard 2,000 calorie diet. Depending on your calorie needs or if you have a health condition, you may need more or less of particular nutrients. (For example, it’s recommended that people following a heart-healthy diet eat less sodium on a daily basis compared to those following a standard diet.)
(-) Information is not currently available for this nutrient. If you are following a special diet for medical reasons, be sure to consult with your primary care provider or a registered dietitian to better understand your personal nutrition needs.
