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.
This was such a fun recipe! Thank you for very clear instructions and helpful tips. I halved the recipe and made four individual pies in ramekins and it worked out wonderfully. A unique and delicious dessert!
I have to admit I never liked pudding before until I made it homemade. However it was always either chocolate or vanilla. I forgot about butterscotch pudding until I made this pie. The pudding alone was great enough to eat but a pie version just escalates it. It had the right amount of sweetness to it. It’s so perfect for the Fall.
Absolutely Ah-Maz-Ing! I love the contrast in texture between the silky filling and crunchy base.
I’m already planning other deserts I can use the filling in
This is so yummy. And fun to make. It was my first time making pudding from scratch. It’s never as hard as you think it’s going to be. I will definitely do it again.
We would give this recipe 200 stars if we could! Excellent flavor, and the cookie crust is perfectly paired with the pudding. Will definitely make this again. Thank you!
Love this pie. Easy to follow and a delicious result!
Delicious and simple. Be sure to let it sit long enough before serving
Excellent taste but mine did not set as well as I would hope.
Just made this pie as my own challenge to myself to make a new pie every month in 2020. I’m so happy I chose this one for October, turned out so delicious!
I was excited to see the this recipe as the October challenge as I have had it marked on my “Must try” list since last year. The pie was delicious. I loved the crust. It was lovely to have something with a different flavour than a regular graham cracker crust. The filling took a few extra steps but nothing was too difficult to handle. It made a lovely butterscotch flavoured filling. Another great pie to add to my repertoire.
Was very delicious! Very different than the usual desserts I’ve made. The combination of the biscoff cookies and butterscotch filling goes so well together! Will definitely make again.
I am not usually a fan of butterscotch, but this was delicious! Everyone loved it.