Butterscotch Cream Pie

This Butterscotch Cream Pie is absolutely over-the-top in all the best ways. Homemade butterscotch pudding is topped with silky whipped cream, drizzled with more butterscotch, and nestled inside of a sweet saltine chocolate toffee crumb crust.

Butterscotch Pie with Saltine Chocolate Toffee Crust

Ready to make a pie that everyone is going to go nuts over? This Butterscotch Cream Pie is sure to be in high demand; the first bite will have everyone hooked! Let's start with the crust, which consists of a salty-sweet combination of saltine crackers and milk chocolate toffee pieces. It's crunchy and luscious but nicely balanced by the salted crackers.

Then you make homemade butterscotch. It's similar to caramel, but almost with a darker smoky edge to it, thanks to the use of molasses-laced brown sugar. However, the bonus is that it's super simple to make compared to caramel. Once you've got the butterscotch, you set some aside (to serve with the finished pie, of course) and turn the remainder into a decadent and rich pudding.

Lastly, you assemble the pie and top the whole thing with some lightly sweetened stabilized whipped cream and a drizzle of the butterscotch you set aside.

The effort put into this pie will absolutely pay off. It's such a fun and delicious pie to make, and beyond perfect to serve at a holiday gathering.

So, let's get to making it, shall we? The text below offers tons of tips and helpful notes, or you can scroll to the bottom to grab the recipe and get started!

Butterscotch Pie Ingredients

Here is an overview of the ingredients needed for this recipe. The full recipe is listed below in greater detail.

• dark brown sugar
• granulated sugar
• saltines
• health bar english toffee baking pieces or candy bar (if you can't find the toffee pieces in the baking aisle, you can just cut up the candy bar and use those pieces)
• unsalted butter
• heavy cream
• cream cheese (to stabilize the whipped cream)
• cornstarch
• kosher salt
• vanilla extract

Tools Needed

Here is a list of some of the primary tools I use in this recipe. You won't necessarily choose to use them all, but they are exactly what I used. Any links may contain affiliate links.

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Making the Saltine Chocolate Toffee Crumb Crust

Did you know you can use a lot of fun ingredients to make an easy crumb crust for a pie?

In this pie, saltines are used because they not only offer a salty kick to compliment the sweetness of the pie but also add a crunch factor. This pie then takes it one step further by also adding in milk chocolate toffee pieces--also known as a Heath bar--to play up the flavor of the toffee/butterscotch medley.

The good news is that it's pretty simple to make! All the ingredients (minus the melted butter) are pulsed together in a food processor until they are a fine crumb. Then, it's mixed together with the butter and patted inside of a pie plate, just as you would any other crumb crust.

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Why and How to Temper Eggs

This recipe uses a technique called tempering. Tempering eggs ensures they are cooked slowly and properly. The reason you temper eggs is so that when a hot liquid touches them, such as butterscotch, it doesn't immediately cook them.

If you didn't temper them, you could end of with bits of cooked egg yolks. This is bad not only because it messes up the texture, but cooked eggs have a distinct taste, and that will be added into the flavor of the pie, even if you strain it out.

Tempering eggs is easy. To do it, slowly add in drips of whatever hot liquid you are using, in this case, butterscotch, while whisking. This ensures the eggs heat slowly and evenly. Generally speaking, you can add in about half of the hot liquid, which will slowly bring up the temperature of the eggs. After which, you pour the tempered egg mixture back into the pot to continue to cook.

Pro-tip: make sure to stabilize the bowl. Tempering eggs means you need the use of both of your hands and are not able to use a hand to stop the bowl from sliding around while you whisk. So put your bowl with the eggs over a wet towel so it doesn't slide around while you whisk in the hot liquid.

How to Make Butterscotch Pudding for the Filling

If you've never made homemade pudding before, don't stress; I'm here to tell you it's really simple and far better tasting than anything that comes from a box.

But before the pudding can be made, the butterscotch needs to be prepared!

Butterscotch is made by cooking butter and dark brown sugar together in a pot until the sugar starts to melt. Heavy cream is whisked in, and then, the whole mixture is cooked until thickened. Finally, some salt and vanilla are folded in for the ultimate flavor kick.

Once you have the butterscotch made, set some aside for drizzling over the top of the pie. Then it's time to make the pudding.

The pudding is made by whisking together cornstarch and egg yolks and then slowly adding in some of the hot butterscotch. Do this slowly, so you don't accidentally cook any eggs. Once about half of it has been whisked in, you can pour the egg/butterscotch mixture into the pot with the remainder of the butterscotch.

Next, the whole mixture is cooked again over medium heat, while you alternate between whisking and using a rubber spatula to scrape up any thickened bits from the bottom. The trick is to slowly heat the egg yolks with all of the ingredients at once so they don’t scramble. You will see the added cornstarch helps stabilize the egg yolk mixture so that doesn’t happen. Additionally, it helps the mixture to thicken to the proper consistency.

A few tips on making the pudding:

• Be sure to have both a rubber spatula and a whisk handy. I use both to make sure the the mixture cooks evenly. I swap between using them while I’m cooking the pudding to be certain I’m getting all the mixture out of the crevices of the pot while whisking to ensure a consistent cook.
• Don’t walk away from the pudding. It takes no more than 10 minutes to cook. Also, it’s incredibly important to stir almost constantly in the beginning when you are cooking it to ensure no egg yolks get stuck to the bottom of the pot and scramble.
• Strain the pudding to get rid of any small bits of cooked eggs you might have. It makes the final pudding smoother.
• Lastly, put the cooked pudding directly into the prepared pie crust. It will set pretty firm; you want to make sure the pudding does so inside of the pie crust instead of a bowl. You can make the pudding ahead of time, and place it into the pie plate later, but it won't set quite as nicely as it would immediately after making it.

How to Decorate It

As with most pies, you can use your discretion with how to decorate the top of the pie! You have the whipped cream, butterscotch, and milk chocolate toffee pieces to use to decorate the top of the pie as you wish.

Make-Ahead Tips

As with most pies, there are a few steps you need to complete to get to the finished pie. A lot of these components can be broken down into steps and done ahead of time.

• You can make the pie crust ahead of time, up to 2 days in the refrigerator or up to 3 months in the freezer.
• Make the butterscotch. This can be done up to 7 days or more ahead of time! Butterscotch keeps really well.
• Make the butterscotch pudding: It should be noted that it's best not to make the pudding alone ahead of time. It should be made and placed directly in the crumb crust immediately. But, you can do this step up to 2 days in advance if placed in the crust.
• Whip the cream: The cream is stabilized so it can be made up to 2 days ahead of time. It may need a quick mix with a hand whisk the further ahead it is made.
• Assemble the pie: The entire pie can be assembled 1 day in advance. It can last up to 2 days, but leave the cream off until you are ready to serve in case it needs a brief whisk.

Serving and Storage Tips

Serve this pie cold from the fridge. It should slice up very easily.

The pie will keep fully assembled for 1-2 days. Leftover pieces should be stored in the fridge.

More Cream Pie Recipes:

• Chocolate Cream Pie
• Banana Cream Pie
• Strawberry Cream Pie
• Triple Coconut Cream Pie

I am so honored when you make a recipe from my site! If you make this Butterscotch Cream Pie, please leave a comment and a star rating with your experience! If you have any questions about this recipe, feel free to comment here, too!