Sugar Pie Recipe (Quebec Tarte au Sucre)
- Preparation 15 min
- Refrigeration 2 h
- Cooking 55 to 60 min
- Servings 8
- Freezing Absolutely
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🥧 The sugar pie that tastes like the sugar shack!
Sugar pie is just too good. I needed my own version on the site, and this one takes me straight back to the sugar shack: a brown sugar and cream filling that sets like a slightly runny custard, with a caramelized top that cracks a little under the fork. It is an old-fashioned Quebec tarte au sucre, no detours, and one slice is never enough!
🥣 Two bowls, a whisk, and into the oven
This is an easy sugar pie recipe, for real. Brown sugar, flour and salt in one bowl. Cream, melted butter, eggs and vanilla in the other. You whisk the two together until smooth, pour it into the crust and the oven does the rest. Fifteen minutes of work, no more.
🍮 A cream filling with a caramelized top
In the oven the filling puffs a little, then settles back as it cools, and it is a beautiful thing to watch. The top turns golden and lightly caramelized, with a thin crust that cracks. Underneath it is creamy and firm enough to cut into clean slices. It has nothing to do with my maple syrup pie: this one is made with brown sugar, and it is a very different pie. Both are unreal.
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⏱️ Wait until it is golden right to the center
At fifty minutes, mine looked great around the edge, but the very center was still short on colour. At sixty minutes it was golden all over, and that is when I pulled it. The center still jiggled a little, like gelatin. That is fine, it finishes setting as it cools. It always depends on the oven, so trust the colour more than the timer.
🥧 Store-bought pastry does the job just fine
I used store-bought pie dough. I rolled it out and let it hang about an inch past the plate, so I had enough to build a nice rim afterward. My pie plate is metal, and the bottom came out fully baked.
💧 The baking sheet underneath is not optional
The filling comes right up to the top of the crust. Mine spilled over slightly onto the sheet, and that is no big deal: the sheet catches it, not the floor of your oven. Use a deep-dish crust if you have one. You can add pecans to the filling if you like, but careful, it may overflow even more.
🛡️ If the rim browns too fast
Mine did not brown too much, it was perfect. If yours darkens before the center is golden, cover just the rim with aluminum foil and keep baking.
🧊 Counter first, fridge second
Let it cool on the counter for about two hours before it goes in the fridge. After that, two hours in the cold is plenty. You want it to hold when you cut it, and the cold is what does that.
🔪 Wipe your knife between slices
The filling sticks to the blade. One wipe between each cut and your slices come out clean.
🥄 Golden brown sugar
That is what I used, and it is pretty much what everybody has in the pantry in Quebec. Pack it firmly into the measuring cup.
📅 Make-ahead prep
Make it the day before: it is even better the next day. It keeps for three to five days in the fridge. It freezes too, for two to three months. I like to freeze it in slices so I can take out one at a time. The texture may change slightly, but it stays very good.
✅ What to serve with my sugar pie
Plain is just enough, trust me. Otherwise, whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream. For a sugar shack dessert table, set it next to my maple syrup pie and my pouding chômeur. And for anyone with a sweet tooth that goes all the way, there is my grandma’s sugar fudge and my honey and pecan pie.
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Ingrédients
- 1 unbaked 9-inch (23 cm) pie crust
- 2 cups (500 ml) golden brown sugar, firmly packed
- ½ cup (125 ml) all-purpose flour
- ½ tsp (2 ml) salt
- 1 ¼ cups (310 ml) heavy cream (35%)
- ¼ cup (60 ml) unsalted butter, melted and cooled to lukewarm
- 4 large eggs
- 2 tsp (10 ml) vanilla extract
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Preparation
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (180°C). Fit the crust into a greased 9-inch (23 cm) pie plate, letting it hang over the edge by about 1 inch (2.5 cm). Trim the excess, then shape the rim by pinching it with your fingers or a fork.
- In a bowl, mix the brown sugar, flour and salt.
- In another bowl, whisk the cream, melted butter, eggs and vanilla.
- Gradually add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients, whisking until the filling is smooth.
- Set the pie plate on a baking sheet. Pour the filling into the crust.
- Bake for 55 to 60 minutes, until the filling is set and the top is golden all over, right to the center. The center can still jiggle slightly.
- Let cool completely on a rack, about 2 hours, then refrigerate for at least 2 hours or overnight.
- Serve cold, plain, with whipped cream, ice cream or a little icing sugar.
Mine is made of brown sugar, heavy cream, eggs, melted butter, a little flour, salt and vanilla, whisked together and baked in a single pie crust. No topping, no second crust. The filling sets like a custard with a lightly caramelized top.
It is tarte au sucre, a Quebec classic: a single-crust pie filled with brown sugar and cream, the kind of dessert you get at the sugar shack and on holiday tables. This version uses eggs and a little flour, so the filling bakes into a custard that holds its shape when sliced.
It probably did not bake long enough. The top should be golden all over, right to the center, with only a slight jiggle in the middle. Mine took sixty minutes. Then it finishes setting as it cools: two hours on the counter, then at least two hours in the fridge before you cut it.
Yes, for two to three months. I freeze it in slices so I can take out one at a time. The texture may change slightly after freezing. In the fridge, it keeps for three to five days, and it is even better the day after baking.
Plain, with whipped cream or ice cream. For a full sugar shack dessert spread, add my pouding chômeur and my grandma’s sugar fudge.
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