It’s not a secret, but man I love pie. I am just crazy about it. It’s the best dessert in my opinion. Obviously, I welcome all desserts. Even cookies. But if there’s one, proper dessert-dessert that is my complete favourite, it is PIE.
Fruit pies, cookie pies, brownie pies, cream pies and pudding pies – all equally delicious! And this here butterscotch pie is a pudding pie. But it’s been kicked up a notch, because instead of just using all brown sugar, I added a little burnt sugar, and a fancy-pants crust to it. Because the weekend’s coming, and I know how to party.
The filling is creamy, smoky, silky and deep. The crust is crunchy, buttery and textural. And together, like the power rangers fusing their individual animal-shaped robots together, forming a giant Megazord to defeat their foe, these elements are truly greater than the sum of their parts.
Yes I did have to google the name of the giant Power Rangers robot guy. I have no regrets. Other than when I was 7 or 8 and I lost the swan-head of my power rangers Megazord toy…sigh.
Ah well, life is full of lost toy parts. And in all honesty, I’m more interested in the things I can make these days, rather than the things I can acquire. Acquired things are cool, but there’s nothing like the feeling of successfully pulling together a pie.
I particularly like this type of cooking, because it’s just a bunch of small easy steps, pulled together slowly over a few hours. Make the crust, press it into the tin (no rolling!), and bake it. Burn some sugar, make the filling, fill the pie. Chill, decorate aaaaaand serve!
I topped my pie with chopped up Daim (Dime) bars, because I’m totally obsessed, and I have to make the hike out to IKEA to get them, but any chopped up caramel candy would do. In fact, you could even reserve some of the burnt sugar mix (aka caramel) that goes into the pie and do a drizzle on top.
This pie is your oyster, and so is the weekend. Enjoy it! And tell me, what are you baking your Mum for mother’s day?
xx Sarah.
- 1 cup (100g) whole rolled oats
- 1 cup (150g) plain flour
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 stick (115g) cold butter
- 2-3 tbsp cold water
- For the filling:
- ¾ cup (150g) caster sugar
- ¼ cup (60ml) cream
- ½ cup (110g) brown sugar
- ⅓ cup (30g) corn flour
- ¾ tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla bean paste
- 4 egg yolks
- 2½ cups (625ml) milk
- 2 tbsp butter
- whipped cream + chopped dime/daim bars to decorate
- To make the crust, place the dry ingredients into a food processor and pulse until the oats are about ¼ their original size (that's just a guide, though, don't stress).
- Cut the butter into ½ inch (1cm) pieces and add to the food processor and pulse until the butter is the size of peas. Then, while continuously pulsing, add water until the dough looks like it's about to come together.
- Pat the dough into a well-greased 9 inch pie plate, making sure it's an even thickness all the way around, and place into the freezer for half an hour.
- To bake the crust, preheat the oven to 180C/375F, and then place the cold pie straight into the oven for 30-40 minutes, or until golden brown and no longer doughy. Leave the crust to cool completely.
- To make the filling, place the caster sugar and ¼ cup of water into a large, deep saucepan. Cook the sugar over a medium heat, without stirring, until it boils and then turns a dark amber. Remove from the heat and VERY CAREFULLY add the cream, stirring together. It will sputter and hiss and steam, so don't burn yourself. Set aside to cool.
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, corn flour, salt, vanilla, egg yolks and ¼ cup of milk.
- Place the remaining milk into a large saucepan and heat until steaming. Whisk half of the milk into the egg yolk mixture, and then whisk that all back into the saucepan.
- Bring the mixture to the boil, whisking constantly, and cook for 1-2 minutes. It will be very thick.
- Remove from the heat and stir in the caramel, and then leave to cool, whisking occasionally for 10 minutes.
- Finally, whisk again and pour into the cooled pie crust. Cover with plastic and place in the fridge to set for at least four hours.
- To serve, decorate with whipped cream and chopped dime bars!
I love this. This is everything I want. I love the yellow/blue background you used too. This really is everything.
All of it!
Last night I didn’t go to bed because I had volunteered to be a vote counter in the general election. When it got to 5am and I saw this I was so happy to take ten minutes to look at pie and not ballot forms. Thank you! It looks amazing.
More than happy to help! And good on you for volunteering – but considering how close the vote was I bet you were glad to have a break!
xx
Sarah
with A pie as good looking as this, there’s no thinking twice! Diets aside, we will put this in our mouths wholeheartedly :D
Julie & Alesah
Gourmet Getaways xx
Wow – I don’t think I’ve though of Power Rangers in a long time. Thanks for bringing me back! Ha! This pie is stellar!!
This pie is killer. i am so in love with anything butterscotch.
I cannot get enough pie lately! Any kind, I’ll take it. But this, with butterscotch (one of my favorite flavors) and the oat crust, this is especially singing to me.
I just want to eat it right now.
Butterscotch is my favorite pie!!! This looks awesome!
Oh yes! I would enjoy such pie a lot!
I am also a serious pie lover. I’ve never had a oat crust before, now I’m dying to try it.
I HAVE ALSO BEEN KNOWN TO TREK TO IKEA FOR DAIM BARS.
They’re the best thing about Ikea/Springwood imo.
Damn straight! In fact, I love the entire food section of IKEA! But I rarely buy more than Daim bars and lingonberry jam.
MEGAZORD! bahahaa love.
This pie? Absolutely insanely wonderful! I love every delicious element!
Omg! I’m drooling. This pie … It’s screaming my name. The crust, the filling, it’s my everything.
I made this for THanksgiving and it turned out very well! I am not much of a baker and this was very simple. I have one question though. THe filling recipe calls for 2 tbsp of butter, but I didn’t know what to do with it as it wasn’t listed in the instructions. THe pie still turned out well, but I’m guessing it would have been better if I used the butter. What do I do with it?? THanks!
Hey Nikki,
sorry about that! The butter just gets stirred into the filling while it’s still warm – it just gives a lovely shine and helps the mixture to set. So glad you tried this recipe!
xx
Sarah