A scrumptious Butterscotch Pie made with creamy homemade butterscotch pudding in a crumbly cookie crumb crust, and topped with fresh whipped cream and shaved chocolate. See Notes for a fast and easy, no bake, no cook alt-version (ready in just 10 minutes)! Recipe adapted from Toffeetastic Butterscotch Mud Pie.
Preheat oven to 350°F (175°C) degrees. Spray a 9-inch pie dish with non-stick cooking spray.
In a food processor or by hand, finely crush the cookie crumbs. Stir in the sugar and melted butter and combine evenly. Pour the mixture into the 9-inch pie dish.
Press crumb mixture evenly into the pie dish.HINT: Lay a sheet of plastic wrap on top of the cookie crumb mixture, and use it to press the mixture around the pie dish.
Bake the crust in a preheated oven for for 10-12 minutes; until warm, fragrant, and lightly toasted.
Remove from oven and cool on wire rack.
Butterscotch Pudding
In a small bowl, thoroughly whisk the egg yolks. Set aside.
Whisk together brown sugar, cornstarch, and salt in a heavy medium saucepan. Stir in the milk and cream, and heat over medium until the mixture begins to bubble and thicken.
Reduce the heat to medium-low and cook an additional 2 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat.
Before adding the eggs to the mixture, you must first temper them. Do not skip this step!To temper the eggs, slowly add about a half cup of hot milk mixture to the egg mixture on tablespoon at a time, whisking constantly as you add it. Beat until well blended.
Once the eggs have been tempered, slowly drizzle them into the hot mixture, once again whisking constantly until the are thoroughly mixed in. The mixture should be very smooth.
Return the saucepan to medium-low heat and cook until the mixture once again begins to simmer. Cook for another 2 minutes.Remove from heat and stir in the softened butter and vanilla.Pour the butterscotch pie filling into the prepared pie shell.
Refrigerate for 3 hours.
Topping
Beat chilled heavy cream in a chilled bowl with electric mixer on high speed until soft peaks form. Reduce the speed to medium and slowly add the sugar, cream of tartar, and vanilla. Beat until firm peaks begin to form. Do not overwhip.
Spread or pipe the whipped cream over cold pudding-pie and sprinkle with shaved chocolate.
Chill until serving time.
Notes
To maintain this as a gluten-free recipe, be sure any cookies used to make the crust are gluten-free.
No-bake, No-Cook 10-Minute Butterscotch Pie
For a super fast and easy version of the butterscotch pie recipe that you can make in less than 10 minutes, use ready-made substitutions for the crust, filling, and topping.Start with a prepared pie crust. Mix up boxed instant pudding mix using heavy cream instead of milk for a thicker consistency. Top it all off with canned whipping cream or a non-dairy whipped topping, and garnish with shaved chocolate or mini chocolate chips.