Water Pie – Recipe from the Great Depression
Discover the magic of water pie. A Great , it takes simple ingredients to create this deliciously creamy and buttery pie. You won’t believe one of the main ingredients is water!
Water pie is one of those magical recipes that came out of the depression era where cooks with little to nothing figured out how to make delicious dishes for those they love. This Depression era pie recipe was shared with me by Kay West and I published it in my third cookbook, Sweetness: Recipes to Celebrate the Warmth, Love, and Blessings of a Full Life.
This recipe belonged to Kay’s grandmother, who had eight children and made her family of 10 three meals from scratch every single day. During leaner times, she developed this recipe so that her family could still enjoy dessert from time to time, no matter how hard their days were. These recipes are such a special treasure to us!
I think you’ll really enjoy the simplicity of this water pie. It has a creamy buttery taste, similar to a or warm vanilla cookie once it’s chilled and sliced. Half the thrill will be telling your family the name and that the main ingredient is water!
Recipe Ingredients
You know when a recipe was created to make something out of nothing, it’s going to be simple on the ingredients.
- A deep-dish pie crust (see tips for success at the bottom of this post).
- Water
- Sugar
- Flour
- Butter
- Vanilla extract
Begin by pouring water into your deep dish and unbaked pie crust, which should be in a . It doesn’t have to be , either – just straight from the tap is fine.
In a , stir together flour and sugar.
Sprinkle the flour mixture over your water in the . The original recipe called for doing this with a spoon so I’m showing you that way but I usually just use my hand to sprinkle it because I feel like I can get it more even that way.
This is our water with flour/sugar sprinkled over. Don’t stir.
Drizzle vanilla over this. Don’t stir.
Place pats of butter on top.
Place your pie plate in the oven at 400 for 30 minutes. After 30 minutes, reduce temp to 375 and cover the edges of the flaky crust if need be to prevent burning. Cook for another 30 minutes once you have reduced the temp.
The pie will be very watery in the center when you remove it from the oven. Allow to cool completely and then refrigerate for several hours before cutting.
Enjoy this creamy buttery pie recipe that came about from good-hearted cooks wanting to bake up something sweet for their loved ones during hard times!
Storage
You can store pie leftovers in an airtight container in the fridge for up to four days.
Recipe Notes
- I use a Pillsbury all vegetable frozen deep-dish pie crust, unbaked, for this recipe. I suggest a store-bought deep-dish pie crust because homemade pie crusts in your own dish are going to vary in terms of depth and may result in the filling not getting fully done in the prescribed amount of time.
- Before you begin making this pie, tear off a piece of foil large enough to cover your pie dish. Cut an X in the center and peel back the X. This will make it quick and easy to cover your pie should the edges begin getting too dark and will keep you from losing valuable heat during the baking process.
- The pie will be bubbly and could be watery in some spots when you pull it out of the oven. It will gel fully as it cools. It is best if you allow this pie to cool completely and then cover and refrigerate until chilled before cutting.
Recipe FAQs
What is the difference between a water pie and a Sprite pie?
A Sprite pie is basically a modern-day version of the water pie. It became famous in 2020 when TikTok took the world by storm. They both taste very similar, like a delicious sugar cookie. If you’d prefer to make a Sprite pie instead of a water pie, simply substitute the water for 1 can of Sprite. Follow the same instructions and ingredients in the recipe card and voila, you have yourself a Sprite pie!
Because you can never have too many great pie recipes:
Peanut Butter Pie Recipe: Made the Old Fashioned Way
Ingredients
- 1 9-inch deep-dish pie crust, unbaked
- 1 1/2 cups water (that is one and a half cups)
- 4 tablespoons all-purpose flour
- 1 cup sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 5 tablespoons butter, cut into 5 pieces
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 400 and set empty pie crust on a baking sheet.1 9-inch deep-dish pie crust, unbaked
- Pour 1 + 1/2 cups water into the pie crust.1 1/2 cups water
- In a small bowl, stir together the flour and sugar. Sprinkle this mixture evenly over the water in the crust. Don't stir.4 tablespoons all-purpose flour, 1 cup sugar
- Drizzle the vanilla over the water in the pie crust. Place pats of butter on top of this.2 teaspoons vanilla extract, 5 tablespoons butter, cut into 5 pieces
- Bake at 400 for 30 minutes. Reduce heat to 375 and cover sides of crust if needed to prevent burning. Continue cooking for an additional 30 minutes.
- Pie will be watery when you pull it out of the oven but will gel as it cools. Allow to cool completely and then cover and place in the fridge until chilled before cutting.
Nutrition
In French Canada, we have also inherited a desert from the Great Depression. It is called Pouding chômeur (literally means Welfare Pudding). It is also made with water instead of cream. It contains brown sugar. It is really interesting to watch because the hot syrup is pourred over the batter and you can watch it start to cook as pieces of the batter start to float up from the bottom. The end result is a cake bathing in a caramel sauce. Delicious! Some recipies have now been modified to contain cream instead of water and maple syrup as well as brown sugar.
Interesting! Thanks for sharing!
I would love to also have the Canadian version. My ancestors were French Canadian. Please consider sharing.
Oh my how yummy that sounds as well! Would you be willing to share a recipe for the Canadian version?
Yum! Made this last night and will definitely make again. Everyone wanted a second helping. I substituted two pressed sheets of puff pastry for pie crust because I was sick of the room they were taking up in my freezer. I also reduced to 3/4 cup of sugar and it was still quite sweet. Finished it with a sprinkle of cinnamon before going in the oven.
I love how cheap and easy going this pie is. Tasted great and had a really unique texture! Tasted reminiscent of a cinnamon donut.
Isn’t it amazing how resourceful our ancestors were with what they had on hand and it still tasted great. So glad you liked it!
So good to hear. Thanks for sharing!
Well, I’ve heard all kinds of stories about the Great Depression and I am going to try this pie in the near future. My parents are gone now but I still remember them telling us how they lived back then. I still have some of the rationing stamps they had back then and cherish them. Thank you for sharing this recipe.
You are so welcome, thank you for commenting 🙂
Thank you for commenting! Aren’t those things precious. Glad you are holding on to them.
Looks interesting! Reminds me a bit of Vinegar pie… a favorite when I was young. So sweet and tangy- great on a hot summer day. My mother told me it was an old pioneer recipe from her mother’s family.
Do I thaw the pie crust or start with it frozen?
Can you use margarine instead of butter?
If you like, i have moved away from margarine in all my cooking but if that’s what you have you can use it.
Me too. Marg is the new lard now ☹ They don’t sell Blue Bonnet in my city anymore
I just made this pie for the second time and being the holidays I decided to spice it up with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and all spice. I served it with egg nog poured generously over it and it was one of the best damn things I’ve had in a while!
Forgot to add the picture.