We made a quick trip to visit family in California over the holiday weekend. In honor of our visit, my aunt made a dessert from a cookbook that had belonged to her late sister. It was a Good Housekeeping cookbook, we assume it was published in the early 1940s because there was a Wartime Supplement with tips and recipes to save on rationed items. The cover and pages with publication details have gone missing over the years. The dessert itself was a first for me, this vintage pineapple pie recipe, similar to lemon cream pie in taste and tartness, but with more texture was delicious.
My aunt said she likes to make this with canned pineapple in its own juice, but she has made it with fresh pineapple when she lived in Brazil, juicing some of the fruit to make up for the juice from the can. She tops it with a lighted baked meringue or whipped cream.
I love fresh pineapple, pineapple upside down cake, and pineapple sherbet, and now. I can add pineapple pie to the list.
Maybe it’s just that I didn’t grow up with pineapple pie; it’s not something my mother made, but it never occurred to me this was something I was missing. How about you? Are you familiar with pineapple pie?
Smacznego!
Lois
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Vintage Pineapple Pie Recipe
- Category: Dessert
- Cuisine: American
Description
A vintage dessert recipe
Ingredients
- 1 baked 8 inch pie shell (crust)
- 2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 20 ounce can crushed pineapple
- 2 eggs, separated
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 300 F
- Combine cornstarch, 1/4 cup sugar, and salt in a saucepan
- Add pineapple (including liquid)
- Cook over medium heat, stirring, until clear and thickened
- Beat egg yolks with 1/4 cup sugar and add to pineapple mixture
- Cook 1 minute
- Cool
- Add lemon juice and pour into pie crust
- Make meringue by beating 2 egg whites until stiff, gradually add the remaining 1/4 cup sugar
- Top pie with meringue and bake for 30 minutes
An accountant by trade and a food blogger since 2009, Lois Britton fell in love with Polish cuisine during the years she lived in Poznań, Poland. As the creator of PolishHousewife.com, she loves connecting readers with traditional Polish recipes. Lois has a graduate certificate in Food Writing and Photography from the University of South Florida. She is the author of The Polish Housewife Cookbook, available on Amazon and on her website.
vicki
My mom only made pineapple upside down cake with the canned rings. I just had fresh pineapple spears for breakfast. I love pineapple so this sounds good to me!
polishhousewife
The cake you describe is the pineapple dessert I grew up with too, Vicki. Fresh pineapple doesn’t last long in our house. It’s like candy!
Jola Lott
My mom used to make a pineapple pie with meringue topping. It was my brother’s favorite. I just thought it was ok but I think i’d love it now. I’m saving this recipe and will be trying it soon.
polishhousewife
I hope it’s as good as your mom’s, Jola!
kat newkirk
the pineapple pie i know is sweet, so i’d omit the lemon juice. add a top crust, and instead of cooking the filling on the stove top, mix well and bake all at once.
polishhousewife
Sounds good, Kat!
Carolyn
Wouldn’t the lemon juice cut the sweetness.? I make without pre cooking anything. I don’t add lemon to it either. It’s a great pie! I use a top crust.
David
I love cookbooks like your “Wartime Supplement” – so many simple and good recipes! Glad to know the pineapple pie wa sad good as it looks.
polishhousewife
Cookbooks can be a look back into history and family life!
Audrey Goodale
Yum extremely good. This will be made again. The only thing i did different was use a small amount of vanilla extract instead of lemon juice.
Jackie
My mom made what she called Tutti Fruti pie. Canned pineapple and blackberries or raspberries. No eggs. Made like any fruit two crust pie. I think she was using the canned pineapple to stretch the fresh fruit. She was a young housewife during World War 2. Everyone loves her pie.
polishhousewife
Those are sometimes the best recipes!
Sandy
My Mom made a 2 crust pineapple pie in a rimmed cookie sheet. We called it Pineappl Squares. Yum!
J Williams
Absolutely delish! I followed the instructions and ingredients, except that I omitted the meringue because I wanted to use vanilla ice cream and/or whipped topping instead. The pie was perfect and both the ice cream and whipped topping were really good. Next time I’ll try it with the meringue!
Jan
My husband requested a pineapple pie and I’m so glad I happened upon this recipe! It is delicious!
I used pineapple in light syrup and it was tidbits, not crushed…though I tried to crush them. Definitely get crushed pineaple!
I used whipped cream for the topping.
The lemon juice adds a lemony twist that we both loved. It was very easy to make and I will do it again…probably for Thanksgiving!
Johanna
My great-grandmother would make pineapple pie with meringue 🙂 I’ll have to look to see how her recipe compares to this one! Planning on making for Thanksgiving.
polishhousewife
Enjoy, Happy Thanksgiving!