For the first week of David’s class, I decided to attempt a Butterscotch Pecan Custard Pie – Yum.

The ingredients:

1 cup pecan halves

3/4 cup butterscotch chips

1 cup heavy or whipping cream

3/4 cup light cream or half-and half

3 large eggs

2 large egg yolks

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

 

Step 1:

The day before, Nico and I handmade the pastry crusts and had left them overnight in the fridge. On the morning of the pie-making, we took them out, rolled, and prebaked the pie crusts. They looked like this:

 

Looks pretty good!

 

Step 2:

I prepare the filling. First I preheated the oven to 350 degrees. On a large baking sheet (aluminum foil), I spread out all the pecans and put them in the oven for about 10 minutes- which actually turned out to be a few minutes too long for this oven. Next time I would try it for 6-7 minutes first. 

When they were “lightly” toasted, I took them out and set them on the table to cool on a cutting board. When they were cool, I chopped them into small bits using a kitchen knife and set them aside.

 

Step 3:

I put the butterscotch chips in a large heat-resistant mixing bowl. I pour the heavy and light cream into a small saucepan over medium and stir a little, until they near a boil. This took around 5-6 minutes. Then I poured the cream over the butterscotch chips, and left them to melt for around 5 minutes while I prepared the eggs.

In another large bowl, I beat the eggs, egg yolks, and sugars with a whisk until they were frothy.

*At this point the eggs still looked pretty watery, so I think part of it step I missed here was getting it to a thicker, consistent state. This might’ve been done with a hand mixer.

I added the melted butterscotch chips/cream mixture and the vanilla, and used a spatula to gentle mix it. Lastly I poured in the chopped pecan.

 

 

Step 4:

The filling was poured into the prebaked pie crust, using a small ladle to distribute the pecans evenly.

 

 

Step 5:

The oven was preheated to 350, and the pie was left in to bake for about 50-53 minutes. About halfway I checked on it and rotated it 180 degrees to even out the baking.

What happened was the crust began to look a little over-baked by the 30 minute mark, so I put crust-savers over them. In the end they still came out a little darker than they should’ve, but they still tasted okay.

Next time: Maybe put the crust savers on the pie crust during the prebake, and in the early stages of the final bake.

 

The end pie!

Apart from the slightly burnt crust, pecans, and top of the pie, the custard was decent!

Stay tuned for Katie’s 3rd Pie Ever next week when I attempt savory.