Butterscotch Pie in Graham Cracker Crust @LucyBurdette

LUCY BURDETTE: we are fast approaching the season of publication for A Dish to Die For! So I am diving into old-timey recipes that might have been found in the Key West Woman’s Club Cookbook that features prominently in this installment of the Key West mysteries. Also, I wanted to make a nice dessert for a friend turning 95 who doesn’t care much for cake or chocolate. (I know, right? But it was his birthday!) I thought butterscotch pie might hit the spot since he does love pecan pie. Here’s my rendition, which we all liked a lot.

Ingredients for the crust

One package graham crackers ground up, making about a cup and a half of crumbs

2 tablespoons sugar

4 tablespoons butter, melted

For the filling:

6 tablespoons butter

6 tablespoons flour

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

2 cups whole milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

Three egg yolks, room temp

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

For the meringue

Three egg whites, room temp

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 350. Crush the graham crackers to crumbs either in a food processor or by placing them in a Ziploc bag and rolling with a big rolling pin. Meanwhile, melt the 4 tablespoons of butter. Stir the sugar and butter into the crushed crumbs until well combined. Press this mixture into a pie plate, using a big spoon or the bottom of a glass to make sure the crust reaches up the sides of the pan. Bake for 10 to 15 minutes until lightly browned, then let cool.

Separate the egg yolks from the egg whites and leave them at room temperature. (Cook's note: You might ask the question is it OK if a little bit of the yolk falls into the white? I tried moving ahead with this scenario and you will see that my meringue was not as fluffy as it should have been. So be careful not to contaminate those whites!)

For the butterscotch filling, melt the butter in a medium pan. Whisk in the 6 tablespoons of flour until thick and smooth, almost like a gravy.

Stir in the brown sugar. Stir in the milk and salt until blended and cook this over medium heat until it’s thick and bubbly.

 Remove it from the heat. Take about a cup of this hot filling and whisk it into the egg yolks. (You temper the egg yolks this way so they don’t turn into scrambled eggs.) Return the eggs to the pan with the hot filling, bring it to a boil and cook while stirring for another two minutes. Fold this mixture into your graham cracker crust.

To make the meringue, whip the egg whites with the cream of tartar until soft peaks appear. Then gradually add in the sugar, still beating, until the peaks are stiff and glossy.

Place the meringue on top of the hot pie filling, pushing the egg whites to the edges.

Bake at 350 until the meringue turns golden, somewhere between 12 and 15 minutes.

Cool the pie for an hour. Then refrigerate for at least three hours before serving.

Serve with ice cream if your special guests prefer this....

A DISH TO DIE FOR, #12 in the Key West food critic mystery series, will be out on August 9. 

Kirkus Reviews said: 

“Key West food critic Hayley Snow proves once again that she understands crime as well as cuisine. A suitably steamy background for a complex tale of murder and deceit.” 

 A DISH TO DIE FOR is now available for preorder wherever books are sold

About A Dish to Die For:

Peace and quiet are hard to find in bustling Key West, so Hayley Snow, food critic for Key Zest magazine, is taking the afternoon off for a tranquil lunch with a friend outside of town. As they are enjoying the wild beach and the lunch, she realizes that her husband Nathan’s dog, Ziggy, has disappeared. She follows his barking, to find him furiously digging at a shallow grave with a man’s body in it. Davis Jager, a local birdwatcher, identifies him as GG Garcia, a rabble-rousing Key West local and developer. Garcia was famous for over-development on the fragile Keys, womanizing, and refusing to follow city rules—so it’s no wonder he had a few enemies.

 When Davis is attacked in the parking lot of a local restaurant after talking to Hayley and her dear friend, the octogenarian Miss Gloria, Hayley is slowly but surely drawn into the case. Hayley’s mother, Janet, has been hired to cater GG’s memorial service reception at the local Woman’s Club, using recipes from their vintage Key West cookbook—and Hayley and Miss Gloria sign on to work with her, hoping to cook up some clues by observing the mourners.

But the real clues appear when Hayley begins to study the old cookbook, as whispers of old secrets come to life, dragging the past into the present—with murderous results.

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