The Cheap, Vintage Holiday Pie Everyone Seems To Have Forgotten

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In the midst of our passion project of digging up vintage desserts that fell off the map, we've uncovered old-fashioned Kentucky sawdust pie and shoofly pie, which is local to Pennsylvania Dutch country. With the winter holidays fast approaching, we were delighted to turn up yet another vintage bake that deserves to be saved from oblivion — eggnog pie, which celebrates our favorite winter quaff in a whole new way.

We've found eggnog pie recipes dating back to the 1940s, which would be right in line with the time at which nonalcoholic eggnogs began to be marketed for family enjoyment. During the years of World War II, eggs were rationed, which could have made eggnog a very rare treat indeed. Perhaps eggnog pie was created to ensure that not one drop of the precious liquid went to waste after holiday revelers had drunk their fill?

As strange as it may seem to have a pie based on a liquid, it's not without precedent in American baking. Water pie and vinegar pie were both a hit during the Great Depression, so bakers in the 1940s would likely have been familiar with thickening a liquid to make a simple pie filling. Today, eggnog pie is a unique creation due to the fact that there are largely two distinct methods of creating it: a no-bake method in which the eggnog is thickened with gelatin, and a baked version using an eggnog custard. No matter how you make it, none of the ingredients are particularly expensive today, which makes it a great candidate for some retro culinary experimentation.

In the no-bake version of this pie, eggnog is thickened with gelatin and either jelled in a pre-cooked crust or whipped with egg whites into stiff peaks for a chiffon-style filling. Sometimes, instead of actual eggnog, its core components — eggs, sugar, milk, and spices — are combined. Keep in mind that eggnog is generally safe to drink because it has been pasteurized, so you may want to slightly cook your eggs in your milk to make them food-safe before consuming the result. We've also seen Southern cooks make a custard out of eggnog, eggs, sugar, and a bit of flour, then bake it within a crust to set it. The result has a cooked texture like a sweet potato pie or any other type of eggy dessert confection.

Regardless of how you make your eggnog pie, you'll want some high-quality vanilla bean paste and organic ground nutmeg to elevate the sublime flavors of your eggnog and really lend your pie those warming, sweet notes that whisper "holiday magic." Despite being budget-friendly and fairly easy to whip up, it's elegant enough for your Christmas table or for serving on pretty dishes alongside a Champagne toast on New Year's Eve. It may have been a long time since eggnog pie was the star of the holidays, but that doesn't mean you can't coax it out of retirement for your festivities.