Vintage Recipe: Strawberry Sponge Pie
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, meals that their parents cooked from the old country.Since I can’t have those family recipes from my own family I collect vintage cookbooks. 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 These I will cherish as part of my childrens heritage.
Some of the recipes I will be making for the VRP 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 ancestors recipes might show up on my blog.
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 cook books 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
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 husbands grandmother and great grandmother are church cookbooks it is safe to assume that this one is also.
Ingredients
1 unbaked pie shell
1 cup sugar
2 tbs flour
1 qt berries (4 cups sliced strawberries)
2 eggs, separated
1/2 cup milk
2 tbs flour
1 qt berries (4 cups sliced strawberries)
2 eggs, separated
1/2 cup milk
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| Strawberry Sponge Pie Ingredients |
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
Hull the berries and rinse with cold water. In a large bowl mix the berries, sugar and flour. Stir to evenly coat the berries.
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| Sliced Strawberries |
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| Strawberry Sponge Pie Ingredients |
Beat the egg yolks in a small bowl and mix with the milk. Add the egg milk mixture to the bowl of strawberries and mix well.Beat the egg whites in a medium bowl until stiff.
Fold the stiffly beaten egg whites into the strawberry mixture and pour into the unbaked pie shell.The original recipe says to bake slowly for half an hour. The upper part will be like sponge cake: the remainder like strawberry pie.
Any kind of berries can be used.I baked the filled pie at 350 degrees for 45 minutes. I baked the ramekins for 25 minutes.I did not find this pie to be sponge like on the top like the recipe claims. But I have never eaten a “sponge” pie before. So the top of the pie probably turned out exactly as the recipe claims.
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| Vintage Strawberry Sponge Pie |
The pie had a very nice texture and flavor. The beaten egg whites floated to the top and give 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 berry pie that you could substitute peaches and it would also be very good. I may try that myself when the fresh peaches come in season. 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!
Arlene
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.
Flour On My Face
Medifast Coupons
I am so happy I could help you find a missing family recipe! Enjoy!
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
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.
RetroRuth
Looks sooooooooo good! Yum!
Joy
I never heard of this recipe before. It looks great.
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!!!
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.
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.