Butterscotch Cream Pie with Ginger Snap Crust

This Butterscotch Cream Pie is sure to please anyone who is in the mood for plenty of sweet and creamy butterscotch. 

The recipe is adapted from Karen DeMasco's The Craft of Baking. I was intrigued with the concept of this book as the author teaches you how to create your own recipe from a combination of basic recipes. I like how the author made the recipes to be versatile so that it can be used in other recipes. For instance, the crust of this pie is made from the crumbs of ginger snap cookies. If you ever get bored of eating ginger snap cookies you could turn them into this wonderful pie. 

If you already have a bottle of ginger snap cookies lying on your kitchen counter, this will be an easy and quick pie to make. You will only have to bake the crusts and pour the cooked filling into the pie and refrigerate it for a few hours before serving.

Butterscotch Cream Pie with Ginger Snap Crust

Preparation time: 3 hours
Cooking time: 1 hour
Utensils needed: 8" pie pan

Makes an 8" pie

Level of difficulty: **

Pie Assembly Instructions
1/2 recipe or 160g Ginger Snap Cookies
55g melted butter
20g brown sugar
1 tbsp AP flour
1 recipe Butterscotch Cream Filling
50g almond nibs, toasted and lightly salted

1. Crush 160g ginger snap cookies to crumbs with a blender.
2. In a large bowl, whisk together the crumbs, brown sugar and flour. Add the melted butter and stir until mixture is well-combined.
3. Press the crumbs into a 8" pie pan, evenly covering the bottom and sides. Chill in the freezer for 10 minutes. Preheat the oven to 160C and bake the crust for 10 minutes or until the crust is fragrant and set.
4. Transfer the pie pan onto a wire rack and cool crust completely.
5. Pour the hot butterscotch cream into the pie crust.Garnish with almond nibs.
6. Transfer the pie to a wire rack to allow to cool completely. Then chill the pie in the refrigerator. It is best consumed within one week.

Ginger Snap Cookies
(makes 36 cookies)
250g AP flour, sifted
1 1/2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 tsp kosher salt
190 caster sugar
170g butter, soften and cut into pieces
1 large egg
4 tbsp blackstrap molasses (60ml)
1 tbsp finely grated fresh ginger

1. Preheat oven to 160C and line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In a bowl, whisk together the flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt.
3. In a bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the sugar and butter on medium speed until light and fluffy for 5 minutes. Beat in the eggs, molasses and ginger to combine. Fold in the dry ingredients until well-incorporated.
4. Shape the dough into 3/4 inch balls and place them on the prepared sheet pan about 1 1/2 inches apart.
5. Bake until the cookies are dark golden brown about 15 minutes. Transfer the baking sheets to wire racks to cool.
6. The ginger snaps can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

* to spice up the cookies, press some candied ginger into the cookie dough prior to baking

Butterscotch Cream Custard
240ml heavy cream
3 large egg yolks
40g cornstarch
1 tsp vanilla extract
30g butter, cubed
50g caster sugar
50g brown sugar
60ml milk
1/4 tsp kosher salt

1. In a bowl, stir in together the heavy cream, vanilla extract, egg yolks, cornstarch and salt until well-combined.

2. Combine the sugars, butter and milk in a medium saucepan and stir until the sugar is well dampened throughout. Then heat the mixture over medium heat until the sugar becomes a yellow-golden caramel about 8 minutes. Immediately, stir in the cream slurry carefully to avoid splatters. Do not allow the caramel to cool and then re-cook as this will cause the butter to separate from the brown sugar and melt. Bring the mixture to a boil and allow to simmer constantly stirring until the mixture is thick and gooey. Allow to cool.
3. If the butterscotch cream is lumpy, whisk with an electric mixer until smooth and creamy. 

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This pie doubles as a salted caramel pie since it is slightly saltish from the nuts and has a sweet caramel flavour from the butterscotch.

It is perfect with a hot cup of tea.

Happy baking! xx