Butterscotch Pie O My

Here is a pie made from two different sources.  The pie crust is from Cooks Illustrated, the group that takes a recipe and using science, comes up with foolproof ways to make them the best they can be.  I saw their show one Saturday where they used this vodka pie crust recipe and thought I would give it a "shot"(pardon the pun).  It certainly worked fine, but I think I will stick to the Dorie Greenspan foolproof recipe I last tried for pie crusts as my go-to method.

The butterscotch pudding recipe is from a Better Homes and Gardens Holiday magazine I recently purchased.  It is actually from a Butterscotch Meringue Pie but the sound of the meringue part didn't thrill me so I just made the filling and it was by far, the best butterscotch pudding I have ever tasted.

One note:  This pie does not travel well as noted by the Tupperware of mush we ended up delivering to my mother-in-law and brother-in-law.  Though it wasn't very pretty, I hope it tasted fine.

Vodka Pie Crust
(this makes a single crust)

1 1/4 cups unbleached all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon table salt
1 tablespoons sugar
6 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1/4-inch slices
1/4 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into 2 pieces
2 Tbsp cold vodka
2 Tbsp cup cold water

Process 3/4 cups flour, salt, and sugar in food processor until combined, about 2 one-second pulses. Add butter and shortening and process until homogeneous dough just starts to collect in uneven clumps, about 15 seconds (dough will resemble cottage cheese curds and there should be no uncoated flour). Scrape bowl with rubber spatula and redistribute dough evenly around processor blade. Add remaining flour and pulse until mixture is evenly distributed around bowl and mass of dough has been broken up, 4 to 6 quick pulses. Empty mixture into medium bowl.

Sprinkle vodka and water over mixture. With rubber spatula, use folding motion to mix, pressing down on dough until dough is slightly tacky and sticks together.  Flatten dough into 4-inch disk. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 45 minutes or up to 2 days.

Once chilled, roll out the pie crust using quite a bit of flour on your board, as it is a sticky dough. Place in 9 inch pie pan gently and turn under 1 inch overlay of dough and crimp edges. Or you can do as I did and make a decorative pattern and applique them on to the edges of the pie using egg white as your glue.

Place crust in the fridge while preheating the oven to 425 degrees. Place a vegetable oil sprayed piece of foil pressed into the crust and fill with pie weights or beans and bake for 15 minutes.  Take from oven, carefully remove foil and weights and bake for another 10 minutes until crust is golden brown.  Cool on a rack.  Once cooled, it is ready for a pre-cooked filling.

Butterscotch Filling

3/4 cup packed brown sugar
1/4 cup cornstarch
1/4 tsp salt
1 12 oz. can evaporated milk
3 egg yolks
1 cup milk (I used non fat and it worked fine)
3 Tbsp butter, cut into pieces
1 tsp vanilla

In a medium saucepan, combine brown sugar, cornstarch and salt. Whisk in about 1/2 cup of the evaporated milk.  Whisk in the egg yolks until combined.  Whisk in the remaining milks. Cook over medium heat until thickened and bubbly, stirring constantly.  Remove from heat. Stir in butter and vanilla. Put a piece of plastic wrap on the surface so a skin doesn't form while mixture cools.

Put in cooked pie crust and refrigerate 4-5 hours.  I decorated mine with whipped cream and shards of hardened caramelized sugar.  To do this I just cooked 1/2 cup of granulated sugar over high heat in a shallow pan, swirling pan constantly until sugar was melted completed and a medium amber color. Be very careful as once the sugar starts to turn amber it can get too dark and bitter quickly.  I then poured this onto a greased piece of foil, let it cool completely, then broke it into small pieces.  It was a nice addition to the butterscotch flavored pie.