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Dessert

Molasses Pie

A sweet pie made with eggs, molasses, water, flour, spices, butter, and a flaky crust.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 8 ingredients
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Why it works: Cinnamon and nutmeg match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 11,917 recipes. Both carry estragole, which smells anise, licorice. The science ↓

Molasses Pie

Oven, in the book's wordsA hot oven

Ingredients

Directions

The book says “a hot oven”. The 400°F (200°C) in the steps is the modern equivalent, not the book's own figure.

Make the filling

  1. Beat the eggs until light.

  2. Add the sorghum molasses and water to the eggs.

  3. Mix the flour, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together, then add to the egg mixture.

  4. Add the melted butter and beat everything together.

Bake

  1. Line a pie pan with flaky crust and flour the bottom.

  2. Pour the mixture into the crust.

  3. Bake in a hot oven at 400°F (200°C) for the first 8 to 10 minutes, then reduce the heat and continue baking until the mixture is set firmly.

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. Cinnamon + nutmegtop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together11,917 recipes

    Shared aroma: estragole (anise, licorice).

  2. Sorghum + cinnamontop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together45 recipes

    Shared aroma: 4-ethyl-2-methoxyphenol (smoky, clove).

  3. Sorghum + nutmegtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together33 recipes

    Shared aroma: acetic acid (sour, vinegar).

  4. Sorghum + flourtop 5% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together99 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Flour + nutmegtop 8% of all pairs
    Smell alikemoderate
    Cooked together18,623 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

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

What each ingredient does

Eggs
Set the filling into a firm custard as they cook and bind the mixture.
Sorghum molasses
Provides the sweet, deep flavour and dark colour of the filling.
Flour
Thickens the filling so it holds its shape when sliced.
Butter
Adds richness and fat, giving a smoother texture and mouthfeel.

The step that matters

Bake until set firmly. Eggs set as their proteins coagulate with heat. Pulling the pie too early leaves a runny filling, while overbaking can make it weep or crack, so check that it is firm before removing it.

“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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