Oatmeal Pie for National Pie Day

Today is National Pie Day in the US (not to be confused with Pi Day, on 14 March).  To mark the occasion (as who doesn't want to celebrate pie), I made Oatmeal Pie from p178 of my new pie book, The Hoosier Mama Book of Pie by Paula Haney.  Hoosier Mama is the name of a pie bakery in Chicago, and it is one the coolest names for a bakery that I have heard of.

There are heaps of terrific sounding pies in this book, although not many pictures. of the finished products  I chose Oatmeal Pie on the criteria of (a) easy; (b) quick to make; and (c) I had all the ingredients in the house.  This is what I need when I bake during the week after work.

I liked their all butter crust recipe, which used red wine vinegar - I have never seen this done before.  I will confess to having used white wine vinegar as I was out of red wine vinegar, and it didn't seem to have any ill effect on the dough.  I also did not freeze any of the butter, as suggested in the recipe.  This pie crust was easy to work with, which is a bonus in my books.

The filling is, as the author says, like pecan  pie with oats instead of pecans.  I ran out of maple syrup so used half and half maple syrup and honey.  Again, the results did not seem to be affected by this.

Served warm, this pie is incredibly sweet.  I am looking forward to trying it cooled down to see if there is a marked difference in flavour and texture.

To make this pie, you will need:

For the pie shell:

 

100g cold butter, cubed

1/2 tablespoon red wine vinegar

1/4 cup cold water

165g plain flour

pinch of salt

1/4 tablespoon sugar

 

Stir the vinegar into the water and set aside.

 

In a food processor, whiz together the flour, salt and sugar.  Add the butter and pulse until the mixture turns sandy.   Add half the water mixture and pulse - if the mixture starts to clump together, it's ready, otherwise keep gradually adding the water mixture until the dough just clumps together.   

 

Turn the dough out onto a floured bench and knead gently until it just comes together, then flatten it into a disc and wrap in cling film for half an hour.

 

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius.  Remove the pie dough from the fridge and roll it out until it is around 5mm thick and it is big enough to cover the base and sides of a 9" inch buttered pie dish.  Blind bake the pie shell and allow to cool slightly.

 

For the filling:

 

¼ cup sugar

50g butter, softened

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon cloves

pinch of salt

250ml maple syrup

3 eggs

1 cup traditional rolled oats

 

Preheat your oven to 180 degrees Celsius. 

 

Beat the butter and sugar in a stand mixer until light and fluffy.  Beat in the cinnamon, cloves and salt, followed by the maple syrup.   

 

Beat in the eggs, one at a time, then stir through the oats with a spoon.

 

Pour the filling into the blind baked pie shell, and bake in your preheated oven for 45 minutes to an hour, until the filling is completely set.

 

Serve with a splodge of your favourite icecream, or enjoy as is.