Jolean's Butterscotch Pie, Pennsylvania Dutch Style

Stacky5's Note:

This is a personal, absolute favorite of mine!!! Mom never would tell us where she got this recipe (which always made Dad raise one eyebrow...LOL!) And she never gave us girls the recipe while she was here --- it was something truly special to her as well, although I don't know exactly why. I found the old, yellowed, hand-written recipe hidden deep in her personal recipe box after she passed away... The taste and the texture of this pie is incredible, and I've never been able to match it -- I've tried for 6 or 7 years to find a "quick" fix for this. But nope...Nothing doing. Gotta have this exact recipe!!! Once you have this, you'll never fully enjoy any other butterscotch pie!!! (I sound pretty serious, don't I?) LOL! No, seriously, the recipe looks a whole lot more complicated than it really is -- super simple, just home-made! YUM!

• Total Time: 1 hrs
• Prep Time: 45 mins
• Cook Time: 15 mins

Ingredients:

Servings: 6

• 1/4 cup real butter
• 1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
• 4 tablespoons flour (fresh)
• 2 cups whole milk
• 3 large egg yolks, separate eggs (reserve whites for meringue topping)
• 1/2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 1 pinch salt
• 1 (9 inch) pie crusts, prepared (baked and cooled)

meringue SEE RECIPE BELOW

• 3 large egg whites (reserved from pie filling recipe)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
• 1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
• 6 tablespoons granulated sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350°.
2. Stir brown sugar and butter in a saucepan until butter melts and sugar dissolves. Cook 2-3 minutes longer on low-medium heat, and then remove from fire.
3. Beat egg yolks.
4. In separate large bowl, mix flour with 1/2 of milk, until smooth. Then add beaten egg yolks and salt and mix well. Blend remaining milk with this mixture.
5. Add flour mixture to saucepan with sugar/butter mixture and cook on low/medium heat until thickened (anywhere from 30-45 minutes), stirring CONSTANTLY.
6. Remove from heat and blend in vanilla extract. Stir CONSTANTLY until well blended and slightly warm and then pour into a prepared (baked) 9" pie crust.
7. Top pie with meringue (recipe to follow).
8. After meringue is spread on top, Bake at 350° for 12 to 15 minutes, or until meringue is golden. Cool for 10-15 minutes.
9. MERINGUE: 3 egg whites (reserved from pie filling recipe), 1/2 teaspoons vanilla, 1/4 teaspoons cream of tartar, 6 tablespoons granulated sugar.
10. With a mixer, beat egg whites with vanilla and cream of tartar until soft peaks form. Gradually add sugar, beating until stiff and glossy peaks form and all sugar is dissolved.
11. Spread meringue over slightly warm filling, sealing to edge of crust. (Then bake and cool as directed above.).

Reviews

[Chef #1205319]

This is a great recipe! I did have to sub dark brown sugar (out of light) and used canned evaporated milk (had no whole milk) and the texture of this filling was superb. You really do have to be patient with the thickening because I think I stirred constantly for about 20-30 minutes before I thought it was really thick enough for pie filing. I then took it off the heat and while still warm whisked out any lumps that may have formed. But I did cook it on low on a gas stove too. My patience was rewarded with a silky textured pie and fabulous flavor. Very well worth the effort!!!

[camohn]

Yeah! I have an identical story of The Butterscotch Pie recipe. My grandmother made the best butterscotch pie for holiday dinners. She also guarded her secret recipe (cooked out of her head and I doubt she even wrote it down.). She never did share it with any family members. I have tried many recipes over the years to no avail....too runny, too grainy, not the right flavor, tasted like gelatin.....nada. THIS IS IT! It is an enormous amount of work to stir constantly for 45 minutes...but it DID work.

[SherieWestielover]

Wonderful pie! My stove faces a wall so I wasn't happy about standing there stirring for 45 min.so I used a electric frying pan on low and sat at my kitchen island. Worked wonderful and set up thick in about 20 minutes..I did turn heat off and kept stirring while the butterscotch kept cooking. Very easy I sure will make again. Electric frying pan and a stool is the secret! Wonderful