Tang Pie
City/Region: United States of America
Time Period: 1960s
Contrary to popular belief, NASA did not invent Tang, but the company that did, General Foods, used the association in a lot of their marketing. They even developed this recipe for Tang pie, also called astronaut pie.
The texture of the pie is smooth and very nice, but it had too much of a sour zip in it, or “tang” if you will, for me. If you like sour notes like in lemon meringue or key lime pies, or if you just like Tang, then I think you’ll like this. You can use a ready-made graham cracker crust to make this pie even easier to put together.
Ingredients:
Crust
- 1 1/2 cups (170 g) graham cracker crumbs
- 3 tablespoons (40 g) brown sugar
- 7 tablespoons (100 g) melted butter
Filling
- 1 14 oz (396 g) can sweetened condensed milk
- 3/4 cup (150 g) Tang powder drink mix, orange flavor
- 1/2 cup (120 g) sour cream
- 9 oz (255 g) Cool Whip*
*Cool Whip comes in 8 oz tubs now, so you can use 8 oz instead of having to buy two tubs of Cool Whip
Instructions:
- For the crust: Mix the graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar, and melted butter together. Press it into the sides and bottom of a 9-inch (23 cm) pie pan. Place the crust in the refrigerator to firm up while you make the filling.
- For the filling: In a large bowl, stir together the sweetened condensed milk and the Tang until combined and a shocking shade of orange. Add the sour cream and stir until smooth. Gently fold in the Cool Whip a little at a time until just combined so that you maintain the fluffiness.
- To assemble: Pour the filling mixture into your graham cracker crust and smooth the top. Refrigerate for at least 4 hours.
- Slice the chilled pie and serve it forth.