Flapper Pie
Flapper pie! As always, I’m late to the party – I’ve made two of these in two days, and only managed to eat a slice this afternoon. I’m a sucker for recipes with unusual names, particularly Canadian ones and anything that has to do with pie – if you haven’t heard of it, flapper pie is a prairie thing, although no one can say whether or not it was invented here. It’s a graham crust filled with vanilla custard and topped with meringue, and was popular in the prairies because its ingredients are easy to find on farms and don’t depend on seasons – there is nothing more exotic than sugar, milk, eggs, cornstarch and a box of graham crackers that were easily obtained at the corner store. (In fact, some say this recipe was originally printed on the box.)
There are plenty of flapper pie recipes out there, and most of them are very similar, with small tweaks to the quantity of each ingredient, and often a pinch of cinnamon added to the crumbs sprinkled overtop. I couldn’t resist going with a recipe shared by Amy Jo Ehman, whose grandmother won first prize for her flapper pie (among others) at the Saskatoon fair in 1957. I consider any Saskatchewan grandma to be the preeminent expert on flapper pie – or all pie, really. I made a few tweaks – reducing the crumbs slightly to allow the crust to hold together a bit better, and upped the sugar from 2 Tbsp to 4 in the meringue, making it closer to the ratio I usually use to top a pie. Other than that, it stayed true to the 1957 version.
It’s simple, truly – a press-in graham crust (I like bashing Digestive cookies into crumbs, too) quickly baked while you stir sugar, cornstarch, milk and three egg yolks into pudding on the stovetop. This reminded me of how delicious plain vanilla pudding is, and made me wonder why I never make it. You pour the custard into the shell – this part can be done a day ahead of time if you like – then top with meringue and pop it back in a hot oven for a few minutes to brown. You don’t have to worry about your pie being too juicy or runny or stodgy – there’s a reason everyone on the prairies relied on flapper pie.
If the idea of meringue makes you nervous, you can always keep the egg whites for pancakes and top the custard pie with fresh or stewed fruit – rhubarb comes to mind – but don’t try to pass it off as flapper pie. Great, now I want to serve my flapper pie with a pitcher of cold stewed rhubarb, just to double down on the prairieness of it.
I need to stop writing about pie immediately before bed. I sent some of this home with a friend, but the rest is calling to me from the fridge…
Flapper Pie
AuthorJuliePreheat the oven to 375?F. In a small bowl, stir together the graham crumbs, sugar and butter. Remove a couple spoonfuls and set aside. Press the rest into the bottom and up the sides of a pie plate and bake for 8 minutes, or until golden.
In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar and cornstarch. Whisk in the milk and cook over medium heat until it bubbles and thickens. Remove from the heat and stir a spoonful of the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks; quickly whisk back into the milk mixture and cook for another two minutes, until it thickens. Stir in the vanilla and pour into the crust.
To make the meringue, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until it holds soft peaks; gradually beat in the sugar, beating until it holds stiff, glossy peaks. Spread over the custard, mix the reserved crumbs with a pinch of cinnamon and sprinkle over top. Return to the oven for 6-8 minutes, until meringue is lightly brown. Cool and refrigerate for an hour or two before serving.
Ingredients
Directions
Preheat the oven to 375?F. In a small bowl, stir together the graham crumbs, sugar and butter. Remove a couple spoonfuls and set aside. Press the rest into the bottom and up the sides of a pie plate and bake for 8 minutes, or until golden.
In a medium saucepan, whisk together the sugar and cornstarch. Whisk in the milk and cook over medium heat until it bubbles and thickens. Remove from the heat and stir a spoonful of the hot milk mixture into the egg yolks; quickly whisk back into the milk mixture and cook for another two minutes, until it thickens. Stir in the vanilla and pour into the crust.
To make the meringue, beat the egg whites and cream of tartar until it holds soft peaks; gradually beat in the sugar, beating until it holds stiff, glossy peaks. Spread over the custard, mix the reserved crumbs with a pinch of cinnamon and sprinkle over top. Return to the oven for 6-8 minutes, until meringue is lightly brown. Cool and refrigerate for an hour or two before serving.
This is my dad’s favourite pie, though w always skip the meringue (he’s not a fan) and top it with whipped cream instead.
YES. I like the way he thinks! Add some bananas before you pour in the custard and you have banana cream pie!
I have never really been tempted to make this (sorry!) but your post and pictures might convince me to change my mind!
Don’t be! I wasn’t for a long time either, but we had a few requests on CBC, and I’m glad I gave it a go!
I would love to try this one…
You should! it’s surprisingly easy!
The recipe was probably printed on the FLAP of the graham cracker box, don’t you think?
Possibly! who knows?
My sister-in-law’s mother made this all the time. And yes, the recipe was on the Graham Cracker Crumb box.
love it.
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Thank you for this recipe Julie. It was my favourite as a child, but I have never made it! My grandmother owned a restaurant on the prairies and said she could never keep up with demand. I went to Pie Sunday at Art & Soul Gallery in High River last week & Herb had made it but they were already sold out! I believe the name Flapper came from the flapper girls in the 1920’s. Not sure but I love the image. Grandma said it was a staple during the Depression years.
I had some graham crackers and milk to use up, so I’m making this right now! I’d never heard of this pie before, but it has all my husband’s favourite pie components, so I think it will be a hit. Thanks!
I hope he loves it!
My meringue always come watery , over my custard , it a mess ???
We had a graham cracker issue last summer at our cabin when it was s’mores time. The crackers were off and we weren’t sure of the reason. The crackers were purchased for campfire time and we thought they were fresh. Turns out the major graham cracker company (which will remain nameless) had changed their recipe, used some kind of weird ingredient and the crackers smelled like paint thinner and tasted worse. We still laugh at the sounds people made after one bite! Have you ever tried scraping graham cracker off your tongue in 3 seconds or less? My kids are of the google generation and sure enough there was a #stinkycrackers with all kinds of comments so it was a thing not just our one off package. Since that experience I think I’ll stick with the digestive cookies. Anyone else have issues with graham crackers because flapper pie is the best!
HILARIOUS! I wonder if they still taste like paint thinner??
Yum! In my family we call this “My Pie” as it was the only kind of pie that my little brother liked, and he would always get so excited when my mom would make it. And I just made it for my parents last night, modifying our family recipe to make it gluten free (GF graham crackers), and used coconut sugar which made it more like a butterscotch pudding. We loved it! Thanks for sharing this great prairie recipe!!
Thank you, Julie. I am definitely going to try this one. It looks delicious.
My mom made this often when I was young. Was a favorite. Haven’t made it in forever. Must do it this weekend.
Yes!
Just made this yesterday for Canada Day. So good! Had it for breakfast this morning too 🙂 Thanks for keeping up one of my favorite food blogs!
Aw thanks, you made my day!
Flapper’s Pie in our house was always made with lemon pie filling and was our all time favorite dessert. The yolks went in the filling and the whites were used in the meringue.
I hear a lot of them are lemon!
I just love your blue and white pie dish…
thanks! My friend Karen bought it for me!
Flapper pie is my favourite pie! i don’t make it very often because I will eat the whole pie if there long enough. Have to make sure I have people to share it with. I love it best the next day when the sugar turns to a caramel like syrup that beads out here and there. My recipe only differs by not using any vanilla, I may have to try that when I make it next time.
Classic!!
Hi, I am wondering if you could tell me how you get a meringue to be more creamy, marshmallowy like the topping on the banana cream pie if you’ve ever had it at Brigette Bar. Not even sure if that is really even considered a meringue. This has been my favourite pie since I was a kid and am going to make your recipe for Thanksgiving this weekend.
Hi Julie: I’m going to make this for Easter Sunday, but I’ll be a bit short of time. Have you tried making the pie the day before and adding the meringue the day of eating? This would simplify things for me. Thanks for sharing the recipe. Brings back SO MANY happy memories of days spent at the curling rink in small town Saskatchewan. Happy Easter!
I remember this growing up. My fave dessert. But I do not remember the meringue. Is it possible my Mom put the meringue in the custard? If so, do you wait until the custard has cooled? Thanks.