Vintage Recipe: Strawberry Sponge Pie
This old fashioned Pennsylvania Dutch Strawberry Sponge Pie recipe is light, airy and a little crunchy from the meringue type "sponge" filling.
The Vintage Recipe Project
One of the reasons I started the Vintage Recipe Project was because I longed for my own family recipes handed down from generation to generation.
Sadly my mother and grandmother never handed any recipes down to me and the ones I remember my Nanny cooking were things like oxtail soup, neck bones, and sauerkraut to name just a few.
Well, I couldn't pay my family enough to eat those types of meals.
My grandmother of course came from a different era than myself, my family or probably even you.
People back in those days ate what they grew up eating or what they could afford to buy.
Mostly they ate things they were used to eating meals that their parents cooked from the old country. My grandmother was a first-generation American born to parents who immigrated from Germany in the late 1800s.
Since I don't have family recipes from my own family I collect vintage cookbooks.
Old Family Recipes
I collect other people's family recipes.
Recently my mother-in-law handed down to me some of her mother's and her grandmother's cookbooks. I will cherish these cookbooks as part of my children's heritage.
Some of the recipes you can find on my Old Fashioned Recipes page. As time allows I will be making other recipes from those old family cookbook. Some of the old fashioned recipes I share will come from those old books from my mother-in-laws family. Most of them are church cookbooks.
Along with the recipes I will be sharing the names of the women who shared their recipes with the church they attended.
This is one of those recipes. My MIL's family came from the Dover, Ohio area. So if your family hails from that part of the country you might want to keep an eye on my Vintage Recipe Project.
You never know when one of your ancestor's recipes might show up on my blog.
Old Church Cookbook recipes
My hope is that I might, one day connect a family member with a family recipe that has been lost through time.
If you think it's possible that a family member might be listed in these cookbooks from Dover Ohio drop me an email with your family members name and I will look through the books for your family members name.
Strawberry Sponge Pie recipe was submitted to the Good Things To Eat Vintage Cook Book, possibly from the Dover Ohio area pre-1950 by Mrs. George Lohrman
I'm not sure if this is actually church cookbook because the front and back cover has been lost.
But since the rest of the cookbooks from my husband's grandmother and great grandmother are church cookbooks it is safe to assume that this one is also.
How To Make Strawberry Sponge Pie Recipe
Ingredients
- 1 unbaked pie shell, thawed if frozen
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 quart of strawberries (I used about 4 cups sliced strawberries)
- 2 eggs, separated
- ½ cup whole milk
This recipe makes enough filling for one nine-inch pie crust. There will be enough filling left over to fill 4 small ramekins.
See my Musing From The Vintage Recipe Project post here for more information about the vintage recipes.
Since the pie pan I used was a 9-inch pan you may be able to fill 2 - 8-inch pie crusts. I hate waste so I filled the ramekins also.
Or you may just want to fill individual ramekins.
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.degrees.
- If making a homemade pie crust prepare the pie crust before beginning and place the pie plate on a cookie sheet in the refrigerator to keep chilled until needed.
- Rinse the strawberries with cold water. Hull the strawberries and slice. In a large bowl mix the strawberries with the sugar, and flour. Toss to evenly coat the strawberries.
- In a separate bowl beat the egg yolks with a fork and add the milk, beating to combine. Pour the egg mixture over the strawberries and gently fold to combine.
- Set the bowl aside.
- In a medium bowl with a hand mixer beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
- Fold the stiffly beaten egg whites into the strawberry mixture until combined.
- Carefully pour the pie filling into the pie crust. If you have filling leftover after the pie crust is filled you may bake the remaining filling in ramekins with the pie.
- Bake for 45 minutes or until the center is no longer jiggly.
- Remove the baked pie from the oven and allow to cool completely before serving.
- Makes 8 servings.
Strawberry Sponge Pie Ingredients
Vintage Strawberry Sponge Pie
The pie had a very nice texture and flavor. The beaten egg whites floated to the top and gave the top of the pie a nice crisp meringue texture. Think marbled meringue. I say marbled because the strawberries poked through the meringue on the top of the pie. The juices didn't run all over the plate when I sliced it which I liked very much.
I think although the recipe is for a strawberry pie that you could substitute peaches or use any other type of berries you might have.
This recipe is very easy to throw together and if you used a packaged pie crust instead of homemade like I did it would only take about 15 minutes to throw together.
As I was looking through a new vintage cookbook circa 1950 that I just bought last week I came across two more "sponge" pie recipes.
One was named lemon sponge pie, the other was called Lemon Cake-Top Pudding
They both sound like the same recipe ..almost so I may have to try them out to compare them.
Thanks for stopping by! I really appreciate all the comments I have been getting on my Vintage Recipe Project posts and want to say thank you for leaving such nice comments!
Print the Strawberry Sponge Pie Recipe below
Vintage Recipe Project: Strawberry Sponge Pie
Strawberry Sponge Pie Recipe
Strawberry Sponge Pie has a light and airy filling, hence the name sponge pie. This old fashioned Pennsylvania Dutch sponge pie recipe is made with strawberries instead of the more common Lemon Sponge Pie.Ingredients
- 1 9 inch unbaked pie shell
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 quart strawberries (I used 4 cups sliced strawberries)
- 2 large eggs (separated)
- ½ cup milk
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 F.degrees.
- If making a homemade pie crust prepare the pie crust before beginning and place the pie plate on a cookie sheet in the refrigerator to keep chilled until needed.
- Rinse the strawberries with cold water. Hull the strawberries and slice. In a large bowl mix the strawberries with the sugar, and flour. Toss to evenly coat the strawberries.
- In a separate bowl beat the egg yolks with a fork and add the milk, beating to combine. Pour the egg mixture over the strawberries and gently fold to combine. Set the bowl aside.
- In a medium bowl with a hand mixer beat the egg whites until stiff peaks form.
- Fold the stiffly beaten egg whites into the strawberry mixture until combined.
- Carefully pour the pie filling into the pie crust. If you have filling leftover after the pie crust is filled you may bake the remaining filling in ramekins with the pie.
- Bake for 45 minutes or until the center is no longer jiggly.
- Remove the baked pie from the oven and allow to cool completely before serving.
- Makes 8 servings.
- Serve with a dollop of whipped cream.
Recipe Expert Tips
- The original recipe says to bake slowly for half an hour. The upper part will be like sponge cake: the remainder like strawberry pie.
Nutrition
Check out the Lemon Sponge Pie recipe
Theresa @DearCreatives
Looks so delicious! I got our first basket of strawberries for the season. Can't wait to try this recipe! Stop by to share your posts sometime at my party! Pinned for later.
Arlene Mobley
Theresa
Thank you! The Florida strawberries have been beautiful this year.
Sandy
I have GOT to make one of these. I make lemon sponge pies all the time - we love them. I saw the strawberries poking thru the crust and I wondered, if you added another egg and especially the beaten whites, if that would cover the top better. My ls recipe calls for 3 eggs and forms a golden brown "dome" type of top. Of course the lemon is more of a pudding type filling so it wouldn't poke thru. Any other lemon sponge pie makers have an idea on this?
Sandy
Be sure to use fresh strawberries. I used some I had frozen and it was a complete disaster. Had to throw the whole mess away. But, being stuborn, I will try again with fresh berries.
Maggie
I inherited a lemon sponge recipe from my great grandmother, I am so happy to find a strawberry version. I cannot wait to try it. I never thought of substituting fruits in this pie!!!
Joy
I never heard of this recipe before. It looks great.
RetroRuth
Looks sooooooooo good! Yum!
Flour On My Face
Tina
Thanks you for leaving a comment! Yes there is a large population of Amish in the area. My next recipe is for a lemon sponge pie, funny you should mention lemon sponge pie in your comment! The recipe booklet this recipe comes from is an area of Pennsylvania.
Tina
Does the part of Ohio where your mother-in-law's cookbooks came from have an Amish community nearby? Sponge pies, especially lemon sponge, are very typical Amish or Pennsylvania Dutch recipes. The description that you gave of the finished consistency of your pie was exactly they way they should turn out, a layer of sort of crispy, spongy meringue with the bottom layer sort of custardy.
Good luck with your project!
Flour On My Face
Medifast Coupons
I am so happy I could help you find a missing family recipe! Enjoy!
Medifast Coupons
Thank you so much, I have been searching around for this recipe. Was a family favorite back in the day and with strawberry season hopefully soon I look forward to lots and lots of pies.