Tessa’s Recipe Rundown
Taste: Sweet caramelized heaven.
Texture: The crust is buttery yet crunchy, the butterscotch filling is thick and rich, while the whipped cream is light and creamy.
Ease: The butterscotch pudding filling does take a few steps, but there’s no pie crust involved and it can be made ahead of time.
Pros: Delightful fall pie.
Cons: None!
Would I make this again? Absolutely.
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This Butterscotch Pie packs so much fall flavor into one smooth, creamy, delectable pie.
In a world full of salted caramel, butterscotch is often overlooked and forgotten. Poor butterscotch.
That’s why I’m excited to shine the spotlight on butterscotch with this pie recipe. It’ll make you remember just how wonderfully sweet and complex the stuff is. Liquid gold! Well, in this case, pudding gold.
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I particularly love this recipe for holidays like Thanksgiving. Why? Well, there’s no pie crust involved. Just a simple ground cookie crust, which comes together in no time.
Also, this recipe has to be made ahead of time. It doesn’t take up more than 10 minutes in the oven, since the filling is made on the stovetop.
Every bite tastes like fall goodness. I hope you will give this pie a try this Thanksgiving or Friendsgiving!
Sprinkle of Science
How to Make Butterscotch Pie
The Crust
One of my favorite parts of this recipe is the sweet yet spiced Biscoff cookie crust! They’re like a combination of gingerbread and graham crackers and they complement the butterscotch flavor so well.
You can find them at most grocery stores. I’ve seen them at Walmart, Target, and Kroger stores and you can find them under the name Speculoos at Trader Joe’s. You can also buy them from Amazon here.
Crust Alternatives
If you can’t find or don’t want to use Biscoff, you can easily replace it with 250 grams of any other crispy cookie, like vanilla wafers, gingersnaps, or shortbread. That’s 17 graham crackers (when I say graham cracker, I mean the full rectangle).
Butterscotch Pie Filling (read this!)
I highly recommend reading the recipe through once or twice before making the filling. It’s not hard, I promise, but there are a few different components involved. You make a caramel / butterscotch sauce, then make pudding which involves tempering eggs.
Tempering sounds really fancy but it’s basically just how we gently bring the eggs up to temperature without scrambling them – just like making homemade ice cream.
Do I Have to Use Whole Milk?
Whole milk really does work best here. You may be able to get away with 2% milk, but anything lower will lead to a watery filling that won’t set quite as well. I have not tried this recipe with any non-dairy milks.
The Best Pie Pan for Butterscotch Pie?
This recipe was written to use a 9-inch pie pan. Be sure your pie dish isn’t too shallow. This recipe basically fills the pie pan all the way to the top with butterscotch goodness.
Learn more about different pie pans in my Best Pie Pan article here.
How to Make Butterscotch Pie Ahead of Time
This pie must chill for at least 6 hours in the fridge. I almost always just make it the day before I plan to serve it so it can firm up completely overnight.
It’ll stay good in the fridge for a few days, but the crust will continue to soften the longer it sits.
How to Serve Butterscotch Pie
Top the pie with whipped cream as close to serving as possible. The cream will deflate and weep the longer it sits on the pie.
More Pie Recipes You’ll Love:
Butterscotch Pie
Butterscotch Pie is made with an easy spiced Biscoff cookie crust, a homemade butterscotch pudding filling, all topped with fresh whipped cream. Delicious fall treat, perfect for Thanksgiving!
Instructions
Make the filling:
Read the filling instructions completely before beginning.
Whisk the egg yolks together in a large heatproof bowl until smooth. Set aside.
In a small stainless saucepan, combine the granulated sugar with 1/4 cup water. Gently stir with a silicone spatula. Cook over medium heat until the sugar is dissolved. Increase the heat to medium-high and continue to cook, swirling the pan occasionally without stirring, until the mixture turns a dark amber color, about 10 minutes total. Be careful not to burn. You can always return to heat and cook more, but you can't undo a burnt butterscotch!
Remove from heat. Gradually stir in the heavy cream. Set aside.
In a medium saucepan, whisk together the brown sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Add half of the milk, whisking to combine. Whisk in the remaining milk. Set over medium-high heat, whisking often, until the mixture comes to a boil. Remove from heat and add in the butterscotch mixture.
Gradually ladle about a quarter of the hot liquid into the egg yolks, whisking constantly, to temper the eggs. Add another quarter of the hot mixture to the eggs, whisking constantly. Slowly transfer the egg mixture back into the saucepan. Whisking constantly, bring to a boil over medium-high heat. Boil for 2 to 3 minutes, or until thickened like pudding.
Remove from heat and stir in the butter. Whisk vigorously for 1 minute to encourage the mixture to cool. Pour through a mesh sieve into the prepared crust to remove any lumps.
Cover with plastic wrap and chill in the fridge for at least 6 hours or overnight to set. At this point, the pie can be made ahead of time and stored in the fridge for up to 2 days.
Make the topping:
In a medium mixing bowl, use an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment to beat the cream on medium-high speed until it begins to thicken. Add in the sugar and vanilla and continue to beat until soft peaks form.
Spread over the chilled pie. Garnish with Speculoos crumbs, if desired. Serve chilled.
Recipe Notes
*Feel free to use the same amount by weight of any other crispy cookie in place of the Biscoff cookies. Graham crackers, vanilla wafers, gingersnaps, or shortbread would all work just fine.
This post was published in 2018 and has since been updated with additional recipe tips. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
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