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.
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.
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Ingredients
For the cookie crust:
- 32 Speculoos / Biscoff cookies (250 gram package)*
- 6 tablespoons (85 grams) unsalted butter, melted
For the filling:
- 6 large egg yolks, beaten
- 3/4 cup (150 grams) granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup (59 grams) heavy cream
- 1/2 cup (100 grams) packed dark brown sugar
- 1/3 cup (43 grams) cornstarch
- 3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt
- 3 cups (711 grams) whole milk
- 1 tablespoon (14 grams) unsalted butter
For topping:
- 1 cup (237 grams) heavy whipping cream, cold
- 3 tablespoons (23 grams) powdered sugar, sifted
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- Crushed Speculoos / Biscoff cookies, for garnish, if desired
Instructions
Make the crust:
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the Speculoos cookies until finely ground. Add the butter and pulse until moistened. Use the bottom of a measuring cup or glass to press the crust mixture into the bottom and up the sides of a fairly deep 9-inch pie plate. Bake until fragrant, about 12 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.
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.
Notes
This post was published in 2018 and has since been updated with additional recipe tips. Photos by Ashley McLaughlin.
Thank you! This pie was phenomenal! After reading reviews i dod also use advice from 2 other bakers. Sharing in case its helpful. I ended up using 3 Tbsp sugar to biscoff crust to help bind it & lessen chance it would crumble. It did not turn out overly sweet as I’d feared.Better than some ones at our local pie place. Highly recommend. I used directions from Sally’s Baking Addiction just because I like the extra details so I would not screw it up. Also i did 2 tbsp dark brown sugar in topping instead of powdered sugar as per hers bc i was curious. If I take this to family for holidays I will just double tge recipe (bc its that good!) & use 9 x 13 pan or dish. Thank you again!!
For anyone looking for an excellent Butterscotch pie recipe, this is it! I made this last thanksgiving as my contribution and the family loved it! You have to be very wary of not burning the butterscotch, but after that the rest of the pie is truely pretty easy. Thank you for posting this recipe!!
I had to do the carmelizing process twice, since it completely crystallized the first time. I think perhaps the first pan was not stainless steel and I didn’t think that could be important. It came out well, but I just used a frozen pie crust. Wish I had gone for the cookie crust.
Tried making this for a dinner party a while ago and for some reason the filling didn’t set. I’m going to try again, this time whisking the corn starch, brown sugar and salt in a bowl, but the first attempt still tasted great so it’s probably my fault and not the recipe’s
I just finished making this pie and luckily per your #1 instruction I wasn’t stressed making this and have exactly 6 hours until we get to slice into it. Questions – My crust, even when cooled, didn’t harden. Is that something that will occur after the fridge step? And, my filling color came out closer to tan and the flavor while still hot didn’t scream butterscotch. Would you say the flavor intensifies as it sets up or did I not cook my butterscotch long enough? I was so worried about burning it but did it a full 10 minutes. It wasn’t a dark amber but more medium
Hi Michelle! I’m so glad you gave this recipe a try—and thank you for your patience, our team was out of office over the Easter holiday. How did the pie turn out after it chilled?
For the crust, it should firm up enough that slices hold together well and don’t crumble. Pressing the crust firmly into the pan using a flat-bottomed measuring cup or something similar before baking really helps everything bind properly.
As for the filling, it does sound like it may have needed just a bit more cooking time. Butterscotch gets its signature deep flavor and color from caramelizing the sugars just enough—ideally until it’s a rich amber color. It can be a little tricky, though, since we’re all cautious about burning it! That said, the end flavor should be extremely, deeply butterscotch-y. I hope it was delicious after chilling in the fridge. Let us know how it sliced up!
This pie is seriously amazing. I’ve made it for the last few years now and it gets rave reviews every single time. Highly recommend. It does take quite a bit of time to make, but it is absolutely worth it!
Can I do a meringue topping?
Fiancé prefers meringue!
Thanks
We haven’t tried that, but I don’t see why not! Let us know how it goes if you give it a try 🙂
2 stores were out of dark brown sugar so I used light brown sugar.
The pie is very yummy. Not super butterscotch flavor but still yummy.
The biscott cookies were delicious!
I’d like to make tartlets using a small muffin tin. Have you done this? Thoughts? TIA
Hi Susan! We haven’t tried that! Let us know how it goes if you give that a try 🙂
My husband LOVES this recipe. I’m not a butterscotch kind of person but this was spectacular. My question: can I make the filling the day prior and put it in the fridge until I’m ready to put the filling in the pie crust?
Hi Tammy! So glad to hear that your husband loves this pie! We haven’t tried storing the pudding separately, but the pie will keep nicely if you make it the day ahead (filling in crust) and just top it with fresh whipped cream shortly before serving. Tessa talks about this in the pink tip box (above the recipe). Check out the answer to your question, along with countless other great baking tips for this recipe, there! Happy baking!
I did make the pudding ahead of time, it was refrigerator for 2 days in fact and it came out just fine. Just make sure you put Saran wrap across the top so it doesn’t form a skin.
Hi! Will this pie taste good with a graham cracker crust?
Hi Anjali! Please check out the second item in the pink tip box (above the recipe) for more info on this 🙂
I am almost afraid to make this again because it tasted so good. I followed the recipe exactly. The consistency was similar to Crème Brulee but I was wondering if it could be a little thicker and how to make it a little thicker? Maybe add more cornstarch but I am afraid that it will change the taste. Just wondering what your thoughts are. Thank you, Elizabeth
Hi Elizabeth! So glad to hear that you enjoy this pie so much! This pie should thicken beautifully on the stovetop, so I would recommend allowing it to cook there a bit longer if you’re finding the consistency too loose. Feel free to add more cornstarch, as it shouldn’t change the flavor – but just add a little, as too much can definitely overthicken the pie. I hope that helps!