Today's Case:
New Seasons Butter Pie
Re: Recipe Request - Pie carried by New Season's Portland 2010-12ish
From: Heather
To: Phaedrus
Date: 9/25/2025, 5:11 PM
On 9/25/2025 4:04 PM, heather wrote:
Hello! I posted this on Reddit, but haven’t gotten anywhere, so you’re my last resort!
Over the years I've probably tried 10-12 different variations of gooey butter cake/boterkoek
and butter kuchens, without quite hitting it.
Does anyone remember the butter kuchen-type of pie that New Season's carried back
around 2012?*
This cakey/pie was not quite a St. Louis gooey butter cake, but close (didn't have quite
as much gooey, and was more consistent throughout vs. 2 layers). Back in the day the
small bakery that supplied to New Seasons would ship, so I sent one once to my Mom
in Georgia (and yes, I dug through my old emails to see if I could find confirmation receipt).
I remember on the bakery website the baker said it was adapted from an older family
recipe - maybe German? Dutch? I seem to remember they didn't sell anything other than
this particular cake/pie. But I could be misremembering.
I've tried to recreate it using recipes for boterkoek and butter kucken, and boterkoek is
close, but I don't remember the New Season's quite as almondy. It was sold as a round
pie - very dense like a blondie. No almonds or anything else.
Just dense sugary chewy goodness.
I called folks at New Seasons Central bakery a few years ago and one person remembered
there'd been an issue with the packaging (apparently not sturdy enough), but they couldn't
remember the name of the bakery.
Pretty sure the bakery is not in business anymore because I've looked up just about every
single bakery in the Northwest. But if anyone can without a doubt confirm the name of the
bakery, I can try and get in contact with the original baker. If someone has a recipe dupe
that matches? You get my eternal adoration and if I were younger, I'd promise my first child.
Seriously it was that good.
Many thanks and appreciation for all you do!
Heather
Hello Heather,
I did not have any success at all. The only mention of this is in your own Reddit post. I enlisted the help of Google's Artificial Intelligence, and the AI could not find any leads, either. New Seasons is noted for its butter pie CRUSTS, and that's all I'm finding.
The big problem here is that it's quite uncertain exactly what you are talking about. You call it a "pie" and then you call it a "cake" and then you say it's like a butter cake, which I am familiar with. I can give you recipes for butter cakes and German butter cakes, but you say those aren't it. What I need to know is the name on the LABEL of the pie when you bought it. What did New Seasons call it? There is no recipe - not even any mention - on the web of a "butter pie" or a "butter cake" on the same page as a mention of "New Seasons." This is a dead-end search without any better clue.
Sorry, but I can't do any better.
My only suggestion for you is to call bakeries in Portland that were open at the time. Bakers try to keep up with what other shops sell. One of them might remember something about it. Also call former New Seasons deli employees.
I'll post this for reader input.
Phaed
On 9/26/2025 9:16 AM, heather wrote:
I appreciate the effort! And I know I sound crazy haha- it was a chimera of a dessert!
It was in the shape of a pie, but didn't have the traditional crust of a pie, but wasn't
really a cake either? If a dutch baby had the chew and texture of a blondie, that
would be it. I wish I could remember the label! Gah!
Oh well, back to testing recipes - I'll let you know if I ever get close!
At least I remember what it tasted like!
Best,
Heather
