butterscotch pie

One of my favorite desperation pies, butterscotch meringue pie is nostalgic, homey, comforting and so very tasty. I do hope you enjoy it--and if you think you don&#x27;t like butterscotch, be prepared to change your mind.

Butterscotch Meringue Pie

cornstarch

kosher salt, (I used Morton's)

oz whole milk, (2 1/2 cups)

oz unsalted butter, (1/2 stick)

oz heavy cream, (1 cup)

vanilla extract

9" pie shell, baked, NOT deep-dish

oz brown sugar (dark

Whisk together the cornstarch, salt, whole milk, and...

Whisk together the cornstarch, salt, whole milk, and egg yolks until smooth. Set aside convenient to the stove.

In a heavy saucepan, melt the butter.

Add the brown sugar and stir together until...

Add the brown sugar and stir together until all the sugar is moistened.

Cook over medium heat until the butter/sugar mixture...

Cook over medium heat until the butter/sugar mixture is boiling, stirring frequently with a long-handled wooden spoon or heat-resistant spatula.

As soon as the butter/sugar mixture barely starts...

As soon as the butter/sugar mixture barely starts to smoke, carefully pour in the heavy cream. It will bubble up and spatter. The sugar will seize up into a hard mass. Worry not. Continue to cook and stir, switching to a whisk to make things a bit easier, until the sugar melts back into the cream.

Once the mixture is smooth again, pour about...

Once the mixture is smooth again, pour about half of it into the egg mixture, whisking all the while. Then pour the egg mixture back into the pan.

Cook over medium to medium-high heat until the...

Cook over medium to medium-high heat until the mixture comes to a boil. Boil, stirring constantly, for 2 minutes. Do not slack on this part, or the pudding will not set up correctly. 2 full minutes. Set a timer.

Strain the pudding through a fine-mesh strainer into...

Strain the pudding through a fine-mesh strainer into a bowl. Stir in the vanilla. Fill the prepared pie shell so it is full up to the crimped edge. Set aside for a few minutes while you make the meringue.

In a metal bowl set over a pot...

In a metal bowl set over a pot of simmering water, whisk the whites, salt, and brown sugar together until all the sugar has dissolved and the mixture is very hot--about 165F.

Remove the bowl from the heat and beat...

Remove the bowl from the heat and beat on medium speed with a hand mixer until the mixture thickens somewhat and lightens in color.

Add the vanilla and beat on high speed...

Add the vanilla and beat on high speed until the tips of the meringue just curl over a bit at the ends when you hold the beaters upright.

Dollop the finished meringue onto the pie filling...

Dollop the finished meringue onto the pie filling and carefully spread it out so it completely covers the filling and meets the crust all the way around. 

Using an offset spatula, press it onto the...

Using an offset spatula, press it onto the meringue and then lift straight up to make swoops and peaks if you'd like.

Place under the broiler, watching it carefully, or...

Place under the broiler, watching it carefully, or use a torch to brown your meringue. Chill overnight before serving. Share. Or don't. Enjoy!

Butterscotch Pie is fun to make and simply stunning to serve with a light and airy meringue atop a silky smooth cooked butterscotch custard layer.

Butterscotch Pie

heavy whipping cream ((60 milliliters))

light brown sugar ((293 grams))

cornstarch ((42 grams))

salt

whole milk ((480 milliliters))

unsalted butter (cubed)

sugar ((50 grams))

In a medium heat-safe bowl, whisk together the egg yolks and cream.

In a medium heavy-bottomed saucepan, whisk together the brown sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Slowly whisk in milk until well combined. Add the butter.

Place the pan over medium-high heat. Cook, stirring frequently, until the mixture begins to boil and thicken, about 5 minutes. Reduce the heat to medium-low, and continue cooking for 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.

Slowly whisk in a few ladles of the hot sugar mixture into the egg yolks. Whisk the egg yolk mixture into the saucepan with the rest of the sugar mixture. Return to medium heat. Cook, whisking constantly, until the mixture begins to bubble. Cook, stirring constantly, until the mixture thickens and an instant-read thermometer registers between 190°-200°F.

Pour the hot filling directly into the baked pie crust. Let the pie cool for 10 minutes.

For the Filling:

Preheat oven to 375°F.

In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, add the egg whites. Beat on medium speed until soft peaks form, about 3 minutes.

With the mixer still running, slowly add the sugar 1 tablespoon at a time, waiting until the sugar has time to incorporate after each addition. Continue beating until stiff glossy peaks form, about 3 to 4 minutes.

Spoon the topping onto the warm filling and bake until the meringue is lightly browned on the peaks, about 10 minutes. Allow the pie to cool completely before serving, about 3 hours.

For the Topping:

Velvet-rich and deeply flavored homemade butterscotch pudding, fluffy whipped cream, and a flaky crust come together to make one incredible butterscotch pie. In this recipe, you're building layers of flavor starting with caramelized sugar. This recipe is an advanced baking recipe. Read through the entire recipe before beginning because there are several different components. It's also helpful to review my tutorial on how to blind bake pie crust. This pie is a wonderful make-ahead option because it needs time to set up in the refrigerator.

Flaky Pie Crust or All-Butter Pie Crust (what I used)*

egg egg

(150 grams) packed light or dark brown sugar (I strongly recommend dark)

Tablespoons (24 grams) cornstarch

(300 milliliters) whole milk (not low-fat

egg yolks,

(67 grams) granulated sugar

Tablespoons (45 milliliters) water,

(240 milliliters) heavy cream,

Tablespoons (28 grams) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature

bourbon, scotch, or rum (or replace with more vanilla)

(240 milliliters) heavy cream, cold

Tablespoons (25 grams) packed light or dark brown sugar (I strongly recommend dark)

salted caramel sauce,

At least 2 hours ahead, make the pie dough

Make and chill the pie crust dough through step 5 in either recipe. It needs to chill in the refrigerator for at least 2 hours before rolling out (next step). The recipe makes 2 crusts, and you only need 1 for this pie, so save the other for another pie. (Pie dough freezes well!)

Roll out the chilled pie dough

On a floured work surface, roll out one of the discs of chilled dough. Turn the dough about a quarter turn after every few rolls until you have a circle 12 inches in diameter. Carefully place the dough into a 9-inch pie dish. Tuck it in with your fingers, making sure it is completely smooth. To make a lovely thick edge, I do not trim excess dough around the edges. Instead, fold the excess dough back over the edge and use your hands to mold the edge into a rim around the pie. Crimp the edges with a fork or use your fingers to flute the edges. (Review this how to crimp and flute pie crust page if you need extra help with this step.) If dough is too warm, fluting/crimping will be difficult, so you can always chill it in the refrigerator for 5–10 minutes first. After fluting/crimping the edges, chill the shaped pie crust in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes, and up to 5 days. Cover the pie crust with plastic wrap if chilling for longer than 30 minutes. Chilling the shaped dough helps prevent the crust from shrinking.

While the crust is chilling, preheat oven to 375°F (190°C).

Blind bake the crust

Line the chilled pie crust with parchment paper. (It helps to scrunch up the parchment paper first so that you can easily fit it into the crust.) Fill with pie weights or dried beans. (Note that you will need at least 2 standard sets of pie weights for this.) I like to push the weights up against the sides of the pie crust to help ensure the sides don&#8217;t shrink down. Bake until the edges of the crust are starting to brown, about 15–16 minutes. Remove pie crust from the oven and carefully lift the parchment paper (with the weights) out of the pie. Prick holes all over the bottom crust with a fork. If desired for a shiny golden crust, brush egg wash on edges. Return pie crust to the oven and bake for 14–15 minutes, or until the bottom has browned. Remove from the oven, and place on a cooling rack to cool before filling. You can blind bake the crust up to 3 days ahead of time. Cover cooled crust tightly and refrigerate until ready to fill. (Review this how to par-bake pie crust page if you need extra help with this blind-baking step.)

Make the butterscotch filling

In a medium bowl (preferably with a pour spout), whisk together dark brown sugar and cornstarch. Add in whole milk and egg yolks, and whisk until combined; try to rid any large brown sugar clumps. Don&#8217;t worry if the egg yolks separate a bit. It will all come together on the stove. Set mixture aside.

Place granulated sugar and water in a medium or large stainless steel saucepan (do not use nonstick) and cook over medium heat. Whisk or stir until the sugar and water are combined, and then stop stirring. Use a water-moistened pastry brush to brush down any sugar on the sides of the pan, to prevent it from crystallizing. Cook, picking up and swirling the pan occasionally, until the sugar mixture turns amber-brown, about 5 to 7 minutes. Reduce the heat down to low. Pouring very slowly, whisk in a little of the heavy cream. The mixture will rapidly bubble and steam, so use caution. Continue slowly pouring in the remaining heavy cream a little at a time, whisking constantly. The cooked sugar syrup may clump up or stick to the bottom of the pot. That is completely normal, just keep cooking and whisking. Don&#8217;t give up! I promise it will come together.

Once all of the heavy cream has been added and there are no more cooked sugar clumps, increase the heat back up to medium and whisk and cook the mixture for 2 minutes.

In a slow and steady stream, pour the brown sugar-egg yolk mixture into the saucepan, whisking the entire time. Keep whisking until the mixture thickens and large bubbles begin to burst on the surface, about 5 minutes, give or take. All stoves are different, so use an instant-read thermometer to check for doneness. The cooked mixture is done when it reaches 195–200°F (91–93°C).

Remove from heat and whisk in the butter, salt, vanilla, and alcohol (or more vanilla). Let the filling cool for 5 minutes, give it another whisk, and then spread it evenly into the baked pie shell. I use an offset spatula for this, but the back of a spoon works, too. (It&#8217;s not a super thick layer of filling, because it&#8217;s so intensely flavorful.) The baked pie shell can either be completely cooled, or it can still be a bit warm. Just make sure it&#8217;s not piping hot.

Refrigerate, uncovered, for at least 6 hours and up to 2 days. After 6 hours, cover it with plastic wrap with the plastic wrap touching the surface of the pie to help prevent condensation.

When ready to serve, or up to 1 hour before serving, make the whipped cream

Using a handheld or stand mixer fitted with a whisk attachment, whip the heavy cream, brown sugar, and vanilla extract on medium-high speed until medium peaks form, about 3 minutes. Medium peaks are between soft/loose peaks and stiff peaks and are the perfect consistency for topping and piping on desserts. Pipe or spread the whipped cream on top of the pie. If desired, top with a few drizzles of salted caramel sauce.

Slice and serve. Cover leftovers and store in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.

To be honest, I was hesitant to try given the 9hr time frame.... This was really worth it. Absolutely amazing. Followed the recipe exactly (used dark brown sugar and spiced rum). Absolutely Amazing.

This recipe is THE ONE! Try it if you are looking for a true butterscotch flavor!

I'm a huge fan of Sally's recipes but I thought this one was a little underwhelming. It was a fair amount of work to pull it together but it was only good, not great. Maybe just my personal taste.

We love butterscotch so I just had to give this a try. Truthfully, I could have eaten the filling by itself because it was just that good. Paired with Sally's always wonderful all-butter crust, and the lightly sweetened whipped cream, this pie is a worthy addition to our Thanksgiving line up. I made one this weekend just to try, and will be making another for our family gathering on Thursday.

I loved it, right up until the instruction.to cover with plastic wrap touching the surface of the pie....the pie filling stuck to the plastic wrap and ruined 8 hours of work. I actually cried. It tasted amazing,  but looked like an 8 year old made it.

I followed the recipe but had trouble getting the sugar and water dark enough to get a good butterscotch flavor. I used a thick bottom medium saucepan but the water started to evaporate the first time and the sugar stuck together before it turned very brown since it’s only 3 tablespoons. I tried again and just used it before it before it evaporated but it wasn’t able to turn very dark so the pie didn’t get a strong butterscotch flavor. A smaller saucepan might have helped but I only have medium and large pans with a thick base. 3 tablespoons of water did not seem enough water to cook for the length of time needed to turn brown. Some photos of how it was cooking and the color might have been helpful.

This was absolutely delicious. My whole family loved it. It’s been requested that I make this every Thanksgiving. It’s velvety and sweet but not so much that you couldn’t handle a second serving ;).  I only had hexclad pans to work with (which I was worried about) and it turned out just fine!

This pie was so good! I made it for a Thanksgiving dessert and everyone who tried it loved it. I used a different pie crust recipe I already had made so I can’t speak to that, but the butterscotch filling and whipped cream were so good! I will absolutely be making this again!

This was very very yummy but I did find straining the filling to be necessary (I did this after cooking but before adding butter / vanilla / etc). My strainer caught a few egg pieces!

This recipe turned out phenomenal. We made it for Easter and everyone loved it. We made it with the salted caramel sauce which I felt really took it to the next level. I think this is one of those recipes where using high quality ingredients really makes a difference.

This is one of our family favorites and is a big hit at our church potlucks! So delicious. I highly recommend and it deserves all the stars! ⭐️

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