The Vintage Southern Pie Known For Its Creamy Filling And Flaky Crust

Banana pudding, cheese pie, and pecan pie are just some of the decadent Southern desserts that are popular everywhere these days. Then of course there are the forgotten Southern sweets like transparent pie that you might not know. But somewhere in between the staples and the forgotten is a vintage Southern pie that lets a creamy filling and flaky crust shine. Perhaps you've heard of buttermilk pie?

Buttermilk pie most likely made its way to the Southern United States byway of early English settlers. It was often known as desperation pie, because it was made with ingredients households had in supply during tough economic times. It has had waves of popularity in the United States during periods when households needed to make their resources stretch, such as the Great Depression and World War II. These days, you can still find buttermilk pie both in households and bakeries in states like South Carolina. You can even order it online from bakeries like Southern Baked Pie Company down in Georgia, so it's still got some popularity.

You can think of buttermilk pie as similar to (or even a type of) chess pie, which has a custard-like filling and a flaky, buttery crust. The key difference is that the use of buttermilk, which chess pies typically don't contain. (Though some versions do.) The Southern dessert is rather simple, but you might find variations topped with crushed nuts like pecans, fresh fruit like strawberries, or candied cranberries.

If you're interested in making this vintage treat yourself, consider using our original classic buttermilk pie recipe. It takes less than an hour to pull together and bake. So it's not as time consuming as you might expect from a made-from-scratch dessert. Or course, if you prepare a homemade pie crust, it'll take a little longer. Besides buttermilk, it only requires relatively-standard ingredients like eggs, butter, sugar, lemon juice and zest, and vanilla extract.