Old-Fashioned Butterscotch Meringue Pie with a buttery pie crust, a rich and creamy homemade butterscotch pudding filling and a light and fluffy mile-high meringue. Pie doesn’t get any more delicious than this.
Perfect Holiday Dessert
It’s a great pie for Easter, Thanksgiving, or anytime you feel like doing some baking. I think I love this pie even more than Chocolate Meringue Pie.
Butterscotch pudding has always been my very favorite pudding flavor. There’s just nothing like it. The silky, buttery brown sugar texture is delectable.
From-Scratch Filling
The combination of half-and-half and egg yolks whisked with sugar and cornstarch creates a luscious custard with tons of butterscotch flavor.
NOTE: If you want to try an easier version of this recipe try this No-Bake Butterscotch Pie.
Recipe Tips
- The pie crust needs to be pre-baked for this pie. I find that metal pie pans are better than glass pie plates for pre-baking. Too often when I use a glass pie plate, the pie crust shrinks and slides down. Metal heats up faster and helps prevent shrinkage.
- Don’t forget that you will need pie weights or dried beans to pre-bake the crust as well as a piece of parchment paper.
- When tempering the eggs for the butterscotch filling, be careful. Very gradually whisk about 1/4 of the entire amount of the filling into the eggs. This will slowly bring the temperature of the eggs up to the temperature of the filling so that they don’t scramble and curdle. If your eggs do curdle a little bit, pour the filling through a fine-meshed strainer before pouring it into the pie crust.
- When making the meringue, you want to beat the egg whites until stiff, glossy peaks form. You can tell they are done when you lift the beater and the meringue holds its shape when held upside down.
- Butterscotch Meringue Pie is meant to be served cold straight out of the refrigerator. It is so cool and creamy this way.
You are going to love how rich, creamy, and indulgent this pie is. It’s a great pie for the holidays or anytime you feel like baking!
More Old-Fashioned Pie Recipes
- Chocolate Chess Pie– pie making doesn’t get any easier than this.
- Oatmeal Pie– This pie has a wonderful chewy texture.
- Vinegar Pie– a delicious custard-based pie. Don’t worry, it doesn’t taste like vinegar.
- Sugar Cream Pie– an egg-free pie with a creamy filling.
- Coconut Pumpkin Chiffon Pie
- Sweetened Condensed Milk Chocolate Pie
Butterscotch Meringue Pie
Ingredients
- 1 refrigerated pie crust
- pie weights or dried beans
- 3/4 cup firmly packed brown sugar
- 1/4 cup granulated sugar
- 1/4 cup cornstarch
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups half-and-half
- 4 large egg yolks,, lightly beaten
- 1/4 cup butter,, cubed
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 5 large egg whites
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 6 tablespoons granulated sugar
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Place pie crust in a 9-inch pie pan and gently press into the bottom and up the sides. Fold edges under and crimp edges.
- Top piecrust with a piece of parchment paper and add pie weights or dried beans. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove the parchment paper and weights and bake another 5 minutes. Let cool.
- Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees.
- In a large heavy saucepan, combine brown sugar, 1/4 cup sugar, cornstarch, and salt. Whisk in half-and-half and bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring constantly.
- Cook and stir for 2 minutes. Remove from heat.
- Place egg yolks in a medium bowl and gradually whisk in 1/4 of the hot half-and-half mixture. This will temper the eggs so that they do not curdle.
- Add the egg yolk mixture to the saucepan and whisk in. Cook, whisking continuously, until thick and bubbly, about 3 minutes.
- Remove from heat and stir in vanilla and butter until the butter completely melts. Pour into prepared pie crust. Cover with plastic wrap.
- In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat egg whites and cream of tartar on high speed until foamy.
- Gradually beat in 6 tablespoons of sugar and keep beating until stiff peaks form.
- Remove plastic from pie and spoon meringue over filling. Spread it all the way to the edges so that it completely covers and seals the filling.
- Bake until golden, about 12 minutes, in in 350 degree oven.
- Let cool completely before slicing.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition information is automatically calculated, so should only be used as an approximation.
Originally posted February 3, 2020.
Recipe Source: Taste of the South
Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.
Thank you so so much for sharing this particular recipe with us because I’ve never tried it before, but I’ve heard that it was really good, thanks again. 😊
How long do you cool the butterscotch pie before putting in the refrigerator?
I am head over heels for pie, they are my favourite desserts and this Butterscotch Meringue pie looks sumptuous. Thanks for sharing the recipe and the points to be careful about like the tempering of the eggs. 🙂
I like to eat desserts with a lot of cream in it. The Recipe that you have shared looks tasty and easy to make. Thank you for sharing is with us. Keep sharing.
How long do you cool the butterscotch pie before putting in the refrigerator?