This Chocolate Butterscotch Pie is dangerous. The combination of sweet butterscotch and salty pretzel will make your mouth sing. The chocolate brings a slight richness without going over the top. It’s topped off with a sweet homemade whipped cream to lighten the whole thing up. Perfection! This pie will disappear faster than you can blink!
I love looking through old recipe books for ideas for new recipes to make. It’s so fun to see what kinds of desserts where popular and what methods were used to make them. It’s so interesting to see what’s changed and what’s stayed the same.
This particular recipe was inspired by an old Hershey’s cookbook that I got from my husband’s grandmother. It was printed in the 70’s, but it’s full of recipes and stories about life in the 30’s. I love it! I saw this recipe for a chocolate butterscotch pie as I was flipping through it, and my mouth immediately started to water. Yum!
I stayed pretty true to the original filling recipe, with one exception, I switched out most of the chocolate syrup that it called for and opted for semisweet baking chocolate instead. Although, I did find that it needed a little syrup in there for color. I added the whipped cream to cut some of the richness and the salty pretzel crust to balance everything out.
How To Make a Pretzel Crust
It’s easy! Just take about 2 and 1/2 cups of pretzels (the hard kind) and pulverize them in a food processor until they’re like bread crumbs. If you’re feeling a little stressed you can always put them in a plastic bag and go to town with a rolling pin. It’s a great way to work out some aggression!
Pour the pretzels and 2 tablespoons of sugar into a medium sized bowl. Stir until thoroughly combined. Next, add in 1 stick (8 tablespoons) of melted butter (unsalted). stir that up until the pretzels are completely covered with butter.
Pour the mixture into a buttered pie dish. Using your fingers or a heavy glass, press the mixture into the dish. Bake it at 350° for 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack while you make the filling.
Making the Filling
This is a pretty simple filling to make. Basically all you do is dump everything into a medium sized pot and stir stir stir! You’ll need to cook it over medium heat until it’s nice and thick like pudding. You want it to hold its shape. I do have to admit that I didn’t quite cook mine quite as long as I needed too so it was a tad bit soft but it still tasted fantastic.
Pour the filling into your baked crust. Let it cool a little then chill in the refrigerator for a few hours to overnight. Once it’s chilled, top it with whipped cream. You could even add a chocolate drizzle and crushed pretzels for an extra fun texture layer.
My Secret for the Best Whipped Cream
Homemade whipped cream is 1000 times better than anything you can buy in the store and it’s so easy to make. There really is no reason not whip it up yourself. What’s my secret to make it extra special? Sugar for sweetness and stability, and vanilla for flavor! Here’s how to make it:
- Pour 1 cup of heavy whipping cream into a large bowl. Add 1 tablespoon of sugar and 1 teaspoon of vanilla.
- Whip it with a hand mixer on medium-high speed until it reaches stiff peaks. That’s it! Easy, right?
Chocolate Butterscotch Pie
This easy, sweet and salty pie is everything you've been dreaming of. The combination of chocolate, pretzels and butterscotch will delight your tastebuds and make them sing!
Ingredients
Crust
- 2 & 1/2 cups hard pretzels
- 2 tablespoons sugar
- 8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
Filling
- 3/4 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/3 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2 & 1/2 cups milk
- 4 oz semi-sweet baking chocolate, roughly chopped
- 2 tablespoons chocolate syrup
- 2 egg yolks, beaten
- 2 tablespoons butter, unsalted
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Whipped Cream
- 1 cup heavy whipping cream
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
Crust
Preheat oven to 350°. Butter a 9 inch pie dish, set aside.
Pulverize pretzels in a food processor until they resemble bread crumbs. Pour into a medium sized bowl. Add in sugar, mix. Add in melted butter. Stir until well combined.
Press pretzel mixture into prepared pie dish with your fingers or a heavy glass. Bake for 10 minutes. Cool on a wire rack while you make the filling.
Filling
Combine the sugar, flour and salt in a large saucepan. Add in the milk, baking chocolate, syrup and egg yolks. Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until it thickens to a pudding like consistency.
Remove from heat and stir in the butter and vanilla. Pour into the baked crust and cool. Chill in the refrigerator for a few hours, or over night.
Whipped Cream
Add heavy whipping cream, sugar and vanilla to a medium sized bowl. Whip with a hand mixer until you get stiff peaks. Spread over the top of the chilled pie.
Notes
This recipe was adapted from Hershey's 1934 Cookbook
For extra flair and texture, spread crushed up pretzels and a chocolate drizzle over the top of the pie.
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