Honey Pie Recipe

5 from 1 vote
Make my Honey Pie Recipe featuring rich, deep flavor with just 8 ingredients and 30 minutes of prep. A year-round dessert you'll love baking!

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Hi Bold Bakers!

WHY YOU’LL LOVE THIS RECIPE: This Honey Pie Recipe delivers such a deep, satisfying taste with just eight simple ingredients and only 30 minutes of prep! It’s a year-round favorite that’s perfect to keep in your back pocket.

  • Deliciously intriguing flavor: This is my riff on the Salty Honey Pie from Brooklyn’s Four and Twenty Blackbirds bakery. I tinkered with the salt and honey recipe and used my experience to put my own spin on it, adding dark brown sugar to bring out the caramel notes and sour cream to balance the sweetness. After many rounds of testing, it’s foolproof and fantastic.
  • Crowd-pleasing: Everyone adores homemade pie, and also this is one of those “just right” recipes—it’s not overly rich or sweet but definitely screams “dessert”!
  • Quick and easy: There’s no stovetop custard cooking or tempering. Mix the filling in one bowl, pour it into the crust, and bake.
  • No special equipment: You don’t need a mixer or food processor to make the crust or the filling.

I absolutely loved making (and eating!) this Honey Pie. When testing the recipe, I found that my sour cream pie crust added just the right balance to the sweet, rich filling. Since honey is the star of this show, I highly recommend using high-quality honey—the kind with deep, floral notes that really stand out. A little splurge here goes a long way in making this pie extra special.

It’s truly kitchen magic when you can take a handful of ingredients from the cupboard and fridge and transform them into a fantastic dessert that’s even better than the sum of its parts. For more budget-friendly treats with a short ingredient list, check out our Flourless Chocolate Torte, No Bake Chocolate Pie, 5 Ingredient Apple Crumble, and Brownie Roll.

Table of Contents

Two slices of Honey Pie are cut from the big pie and served on two dessert plates with ice cream.

What is Honey Pie?

  • The Honey Pie Recipe yields a one-crust pie filled with a lusciously gooey, creamy, custard-like filling highlighting sweet floral honey balanced with tangy sour cream.
  • This pie is made with my Flaky Sour Cream Pie Crust, a genius recipe with one of my favorite pastry hacks! It differs from standard pie crust recipes because water is replaced with sour cream, which makes it easy to work with and gives it a super tender texture.
  • Honey has been used as a baking sweetener since at least ancient Egyptian times. Whether it’s a drizzle of honey on a dessert, or it’s stirred in a batter, honey was the go-to sweetener for centuries. Today, honey is treasured as a uniquely delicious, natural alternative to refined sugar. Pro chefs and home cooks are rediscovering the nuances of different types of honey, highlighting unique flavors in honey-centric recipes like this pie.

Tools You Need

Make it Bolder!

I love serving this with a dollop of Crème Fraîche Whipped Cream! Adding crème fraîche to whipped cream makes it more velvety, and its tangy taste is perfect here. Plus, it’s more stable and holds its shape longer than regular whipped cream, so it’s ideal for a holiday dessert buffet!

Key Ingredients and Why

1 recipe Flaky Sour Cream Pie Crust

  • Flaky Sour Cream Pie Crust is a dream match for the sweet filling.
  • In this recipe, we use sour cream instead of water. Sour cream has a high fat content, which makes this pastry flavorful and rich.
  • Importantly, sour cream’s acid breaks down the flour’s protein, making the pie crust tender.

Eggs

  • Eggs emulsify the ingredients to make the filling cohesive, and they help thicken the filling.
  • Use large, room-temperature eggs for this pie. If your eggs are cold, here’s how to warm them up quickly.

Honey

  • Pure honey is the key to giving this dessert its mellow sweetness with herbal, floral flavors.
  • As the pie bakes, the honey develops intense, toasty notes.

Sour cream

  • Sour cream gives the filling creaminess and moisture.
  • Tangy sour cream plays off of honey’s syrupy flavor.

Butter

  • Butter’s rich texture and fresh dairy flavor contribute to the luscious filling.
  • As the pie cools, butter helps set the filling, resulting in a tender pie that’s firm enough to slice.

Vanilla extract

  • Warmly sweet vanilla ties all of the other flavors together and adds to the irresistible scent of the pie as it bakes.

Dark brown sugar

  • Dark brown sugar contributes caramel-like notes that elevate the filling. Additionally, it helps thicken the filling.
  • Make your own brown sugar with just two ingredients.

Fine-ground cornmeal

  • Cornmeal gives the honey custard a fuller-bodied, thicker texture than most custard pies.
  • In addition, cornmeal’s texture adds a subtle, pleasantly gritty contrast to the filling’s smoothness.
  • Make sure you use finely ground cornmeal for this pie.

Salt

  • A pinch will enhance your pie’s flavor by playing up that irresistible salty-sweet duet.

How to Make Honey Pie

Prepare to bake

  1. Place a rimmed baking sheet on a middle rack in the oven and preheat to 350°F (180°C).
  2. Melt the butter and set aside.

Make the crust

3. Roll out the Sour Cream Pie Crust to a 1/8-inch (3 mm) circle and use the dough to line a 9-inch pie pan (23cm).

4. Crimp the edges, brush with egg wash, and refrigerate the crust.

Prepare the filling

5. Whisk the eggs, honey, sour cream, melted butter and vanilla extract.

6. Add the brown sugar, cornmeal, and salt to the egg mixture and stir until smooth.

Bake the pie

7. Pour the pie filling into the prepared crust.

8. Brush the edges with egg wash.

9. Place the pie on the baking sheet and bake for 45 minutes, until browned, puffed around the edges, and a slight jiggle in the middle.

10. Cool for two hours before serving.

A top-down view of a whole Honey Pie with golden crust and smooth, gooey filling. A bowl of ice cream is served on the side.

Gemma’s Pro Chef Tips

  • We like our slightly tangy Flaky Sour Cream Pie Crust best for this recipe, but our Buttermilk Pie Crust or our regular pie crust will also work quite well.
  • Here in California, we have access to a variety of locally sourced types of honey like orange blossom, buckwheat, and sage. If you can find local honey in your area, it will be perfect in this recipe. But honestly, all honey is delicious, and whatever type of honey you use will make a delightful pie.
  • If the edges start to brown before the filling is set, cover with a ring of aluminum foil.
  • If you are a fan of salty-sweet, sprinkle a generous pinch of flaky sea salt on top of the pie while it’s still warm from the oven.
  • This is lovely served with our Homemade Vanilla Ice Cream.

Make Ahead and Storage Instructions

Make ahead tips

  • To save time on baking day, make the pie crust in advance:
    • Make the pie crust, shape it into a disc, or roll it out completely and use it to line the pie pan.
    • Cover well and refrigerate for up to two days.
    • For longer storage, wrap well and freeze for up to two months.

How to store leftovers

  • Wrap leftover pie loosely and store in the fridge for up to two days.

FAQs

Do I have to blind-bake (par bake) the pie crust for this recipe?

  • It is not necessary to blind bake this pie because the moisture content is low, so the filling is thick enough to set and cook without the crust getting soggy.
  • Additionally, baking the pie on the preheated baking sheet helps crisp up the crust.

Can I make this pie without an egg?

  • Eggs are an essential ingredient in a custard-like pie like this. I would not suggest using a substitute.

Is it necessary to cool this pie for two hours before serving?

  • Absolutely! The cooling time is not just a temperature issue. During the two hours the pie cools off, it continues to set.
  • Waiting the full two hours ensures that the pie will have the perfect texture and be sliceable.

More Honey Dessert Recipes

Honey Pie

5 from 1 vote
Make my Honey Pie Recipe featuring rich, deep flavor with just 8 ingredients and 30 minutes of prep. A year-round dessert you'll love baking!
Author: Gemma Stafford
Servings: 8 slices
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 45 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 15 minutes
Make my Honey Pie Recipe featuring rich, deep flavor with just 8 ingredients and 30 minutes of prep. A year-round dessert you'll love baking!
Author: Gemma Stafford
Servings: 8 slices

Ingredients

Pie Crust

Honey Filing

  • 3 large eggs, at room temperature
  • cup (7 ½ oz/213 g) honey
  • cup (5 oz/142 g) sour cream
  • ½ cup (4 oz/115 g) butter, melted
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • ¾ cup (4½ oz/128 g) dark brown sugar
  • 2 tablespoons fine ground cornmeal
  • 1 teaspoon salt

Instructions

  • Place a rimmed baking sheet on a middle rack in the oven and preheat to 350°F (180°C).
  • On a floured surface, roll out the sour cream pie crust to an 1/8 -inch (3 mm) thick round and line a 9-inch (23 cm) pie pan with it. Crimp the edges and refrigerate while you prepare the filling.
  • In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, honey, sour cream, butter and vanilla extract.
  • To the bowl, add the brown sugar, cornmeal and salt and whisk until smooth.
  • Pour the filling into your prepared crust, brush the edges with egg wash and bake on the hot baking sheet for about 45 minutes, or until it is nicely browned, puffed at the edges and still a bit jiggly in the center.
  • Let cool fully for at least 2 hours before serving.
  • If you wish to serve this cold, transfer the cooled pie to the refrigerator for at least 4 hours to fully chill.
  • Store leftovers loosely covered in the refrigerator for up to 2 days.
5 from 1 vote
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Jakki
Jakki
3 months ago

I don’t usually have any cornmeal, is there an alternative ingredient?

Lyndam
Lyndam
3 months ago

Can you freeze any leftovers or the whole pie? It sounds so delicious!

Jeri lyn Turnbow
Jeri lyn Turnbow
3 months ago

Thank you for sharing your recipes 😊

About Us

Meet Gemma

About Us

Meet Gemma

Hi Bold Bakers! I’m Gemma Stafford, a professional chef originally from Ireland, a cookbook author, and the creator of Bigger Bolder Baking. I want to help you bake with confidence anytime, anywhere with my trusted and tested recipes and baking tips. You may have seen one of my 500+ videos on YouTube & TikTok or as a guest judge on Nailed It! on Netflix or the Best Baker in America on Food Network. No matter your skills, my Bold Baking Team & I want to be your #1 go-to baking authority.

 

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