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Dessert

Molasses Pie

A sweet pie made with molasses, sugar, butter, flour, meal, milk, eggs, and vanilla, baked in a crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 9 ingredients
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Why it works: Milk and vanilla are a kitchen classic. They rank in the top 5% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 19,187 recipes. Both carry ethyl caproate, which smells fruity, apple peel. The science ↓

Molasses Pie

Ingredients

Directions

Make the filling

  1. Combine dark molasses, sugar, and butter in a saucepan.

  2. Boil until thickened.

  3. Mix flour and meal with cold milk in a small bowl to form a smooth paste.

  4. Add the paste to the boiling mixture and stir well.

  5. Remove from heat and let cool slightly.

  6. Stir in sweet milk and beaten eggs. Add vanilla extract for flavor.

Bake and serve

  1. Pour the mixture into pie crusts.

  2. Bake until set.

  3. Serve hot or cold.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Milk + vanillatop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together19,187 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethyl caproate (fruity, apple peel).

  2. Butter + milktop 7% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together81,283 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  3. Sugar + vanillatop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together35,032 recipes

    Shared aroma: beta-damascenone (apple, rose).

  4. Molasses + sugartop 11% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together9,225 recipes

    Shared aroma: ethanol (alcoholic, ethereal).

  5. Butter + flourtop 12% of all pairs
    Smell alikelow
    Cooked together124,287 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

Sugar and vanilla barely smell alike, yet cooks put them together in 35,032 recipes: they work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Dark molasses
Provides the main sweetness and deep, rich flavor of the filling.
Eggs
Set during baking to give the filling structure and body.
Flour and meal
Thicken the filling when mixed into a paste and cooked.
Butter
Adds fat for richness and a smoother, softer texture.
Sugar
Adds sweetness and supports the molasses flavor.

The step that matters

Adding the eggs after cooling. Eggs scramble if added to very hot mixture, so letting the filling cool slightly before stirring in the beaten eggs keeps the texture smooth. Baking then sets the eggs into a firm custard.

Swap the vanilla

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (molasses, sugar, butter, flour, milk, egg):

  1. Raisinfits about as well
  2. Vanillathe original
  3. Figfits less well
  4. Peachfits less well

Fit is the average pairing score against molasses, sugar, butter, flour, milk, egg. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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