Butterscotch Pie

Having a freshly baked pie to serve after a meal is always a treat for family and friends. When I make this pie I have the crust baked earlier on in the day, and then make the filling and brown sugar meringue not more than 2 hours before I will be serving it. I got this recipe from my mother in law's recipe collection. She is known for her wonderful pies. For the crust she uses the recipe on the Crisco box, but I use the recipe on the Tender Flake box. The key to a good pie crust is to not over mix, and to insure that your liquid and shortening are very cold. So experiment and find the one that you like best. I always make the full recipe on the box and roll out and fit pie plates with the crusts for future use. They freeze very well, and it is so handy to just pull out a frozen shell and bake it for a fresh pie.

Butterscotch Filling

-1 cup brown sugar

-4 tbsp cornstarch

-1/2 tsp salt

-2 cups milk

-2 egg yolks

-1 tbsp butter

-1 tsp vanilla

Place first 5 ingredients in a microwaveable bowl and whisk together well. Microwave for 3 minutes and stir well. Microwave again for 2 minutes and stir again. Mixture should be thick and bubbly. Depending on how hot your microwave is you may need to heat another minute or two. Make sure it has bubbled well, thickened and very creamy... but don't over cook it. Once it is done, add the butter and vanilla. Give filling a good whisk and pour it into your cooled pie shell.

Brown Sugar Meringue

-2 egg whites

-1/8 tsp salt

-2 tbsp brown sugar

Beat ingredients together in a metal or glass bowl until stiff peaks form. It is very important that when you are beating egg whites that your bowl is completely dry and also that you have no egg yolk in the whites. Pile the meringue on top of the hot filling and spread it to cover the entire surface of the pie. Bake in 400º oven for 5 minutes or until golden brown. Never walk away from meringue as it browns very quickly. Remove to a cooling rack. Do not cool this pie in the fridge because you will loose the creamy texture of the filling. It is best served just before it is completely cooled.