I am so excited to participate in Yinzerella’s blog Dinner is Served 1972’s first annual #Pieathalon where 12 bloggers have swapped vintage pie recipes and agreed to make those pies for today’s event. Here is a list of the blogger’s and their assigned pie:
Brian of Caker Cooking – Chess Pie
Ruth of Mid Century Menu – Avocado Lime Pie
Mimi of The Retro WW Experiment – Nesselrode Pie
Erica of Retro Recipe Attempts – Curried Egg Pie
Jenny of Silver Screen Suppers —Mile-High Lemon Chiffon Pie
S.S. of A Book of Cookrye — Upside Down Chicken Pie
Sarah of Directionally Challenged Cooking —Simone’s Pet Strawberry Pie
Ashley of A Pinch of Vintage —Schoolteacher Pie
Poppy of Granny Pantries —Black Bottom Pie
Carrie of Ginger Lemon Girl —Chocolate “Pie”
Emily of Dinner is Served 1972 —Seafoam Cantaloupe Pie
I was given the Butterscotch Pie recipe from Carrie at Ginger Lemon Girl while I submitted the Nesselrode Pie recipe that Mimi from The Retro WW Experiment received. I was thrilled to receive the recipe because it was Carrie’s Great-Grandma P’s original recipe written in her own hand! This is Granny P with Carrie.
Because of my love for my own Nana’s recipes, I asked Carrie some questions about her grandma that I could include with the recipe. This is what she told me:
Great-Grandma P was born in 1910 in the Appalachian Mountains of North Carolina where there were as many moonshine stills as there were Baptist Churches. Always a bit of a rebel, Great-Grandma P and Great-Grandpa P traveled with two friends to South Carolina where they wed when she was a mere 18 years old. They had to travel south because the age of consent there was 18 and she did not have her parent’s consent to marry.
She LOVED to read!
She and GGP had two children (sadly, a third baby was lost to miscarriage) on a 100+ acre ranch where they harvested honey and raised hogs, cows, and chickens. There was also hunting, skinning and tanning bear and fox hides which were bringing top dollar in those days (that would be around 1930). In between she cooked, cleaned and ran the household. Even though she had all those daily chores, she also wanted a job to bring in more money. Now, this caused a rift between her and GGP, but her twinkling eyes and flirty smile won him over and after the kids started school she learned to drive and became a switchboard operator (bet there aren’t any of THOSE jobs left) and sold AVON around the county. When GGP passed away, she was distraught because she loved him very much but, she was also relieved to finally be her own person. **Note: my Nana said the exact same thing when my Jim-Pa passed away!**
Carrie was as close to her Great-Grandmother as I was to my Nana. She remembers going shopping in her big ‘ol Chevy Caprice that just MAY have been owned by Jimmy Johnson, a local stock car driver, celebrity, and reputed moonshine runner in Western North Carolina. Don’t you know that made her smile each time she got in and revved the engine? Carrie and Great-Grandma P cooked country-fried steak with a handful of potato salad and for dessert, her favorite German Chocolate Cake unless they got Chicken Q from a local church (Bar-B-Que chicken). During her visits, Great-Grandma P regaled her with old stories punctuated with infectious and beautiful laughter that Carrie carries in her heart to this day.
Great Grandma P passed away sometime before her birthday in 2008 at the ripe old age of 97 but her legacy lives on in her letters and hand-written recipes, one of which I was honored to make for this post. For those of you not familiar with old fashioned butterscotch, it is not enhanced with preservatives, flavorings, or colors so it is not going to look as “brown” or taste as strongly as what many of you are used to. I had forgotten the subtle delicate flavor of the old fashioned kind that used to grace my milkshakes (my favorite kind and oh-so-hard to find these days) and pudding that Nana made for me. Once I was finished Wonder Boy, Top Girl and Son-in-law noticed the taste difference right away – so did Mr. Picky Eater and he was as happy as I was about it! Rocket ate it like there was no tomorrow with the entire pie as well as six tarts being devoured within 12 hours! Wonder Boy, Son-in-law and Rocket ate the most and the fastest. I will be making this again and again…..at Mr. Picky Eater’s request!
Can you see the toffee bits on the one to the right?
The pie requires no baking to help you through those hot summer months and because I used purchased graham cracker crusts, came together quickly! This filling makes enough for one pie and six tarts of the purchased graham cracker variety but I suspect there is enough for one deep dish pie with some leftover for “sampling” by all the bystanders! I am sure a regular crust would taste great with it; I just chose to go the fast route. Also, if you want an even faster pie, you could put Cool Whip on top but I wanted homemade whipped cream to match the homemade flavor of the filling. You could also make it completely without topping however, I do highly recommend the chocolate covered toffee bits I threw on at that last minute……..YUM!!
Great-Grandma P’s Butterscotch Pie
Ingredients for filling:
3 Tablespoons Butter
1 Cup Brown Sugar
3 Cups Scalded Milk (I will tell you how in the Directions)
½ Cup Sifted Flour
1 Egg Yolks beaten
½ Cup Cold Milk
1 Teaspoon Vanilla
1 Baked Pie Shell or graham cracker crust
Directions:
First, scald the 3 Cups milk by pouring the 3 cups into a pan and place on the stove at Medium – Low heat. You will need to whisk this the entire time so it does not scorch. You are looking for those tiny bubbles that form just before it boils. Do not let it boil because it will ruin the consistency. When those million tiny bubbles form around the edges of the pan (while you are still whisking) take off the burner immediately and set it down to cool. It must cool about 10 minutes before you start the rest.
Melt the butter in a different saucepan. Once it is melted, add in the brown sugar and whisk and whisk until the sugar has melted and is liquid like.
Add the scalded milk and incorporate well leaving the heat at medium low.
Meantime, in a small bowl mix flour, egg yolks, and the cold milk together into a smooth paste – get all those little lumps out or the pudding will be lumpy!
Gradually add the mixture to the saucepan stirring constantly. Once the pudding has thickened, cook for a few minutes more and then take off the stove to cool and add the vanilla.
Now, if you have lumps, don’t worry – mine did and really often does because I can never get my thickener completely smooth! Just use a fine mesh strainer on top of a clean bowl and strain the pudding through! Works every time.
After it has cooled some, pour the pudding into pie crusts and place in the fridge for about 20 minutes.
Take it back out and lay plastic wrap directly over the pudding so it does not form a “skin” on top.
Let it cool for about four hours and then you can either eat it plain, grab a tub of Cool Whip and spread it around or, you can make some homemade whipped cream to put on top – I highly recommend this one!
Ingredients:
3 Cups Heavy Cream
6 Tablespoons granulated sugar
Note: you can cut this as small or large as you want – 2 Tablespoons sugar with each cup cream.
Directions:
Put the mixing bowl and beaters (I use the whisk attachment) in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before you make the cream. I usually do it when I start making the pie and do not take it out until hours later.
Put the sugar and cream in the bowl and beat until soft peaks form. Don’t let it keep beating or you will have sweet butter!
Spoon on top of pie and serve!
I hope you will go over to each of the blogs and check out all those old fashioned pie recipes – you are going to love them!
I am linked up at Weekend Potluck today – come over and check it out!
Mama told me that Aunt Ila used to make the best butterscotch pie, but she used white sugar and caramelized it! I’ve never been able to figure that out myself, so I’ve always used brown sugar. This sounds very good, particularly with the addition of the toffee bits!
Hmmmm…..I can’t imagine having to stand at the stove for the amount of time it would take to carmelize regular sugar………Aunt Ila had a lot of patience!
It was so lovely to read all the history behind Great Grandma P’s Butterscotch Pie and they look so cute and delicious! It’s lunchtime here in the UK and my stomach is rumbling looking at your lovely photographs. Mmmmm!
Thank you! I love writing about others’ history so I did my best to do Great-Grandma P’s memory proud!
This sounds very similar to my mother’s pie which I haven’t made in a long time – I’ll have to make one soon.
I’m definitely going to check out the other pie recipes.
Lillian
I bet your mom’s is fantastic! Thanks for dropping by!
Good morning Kelli!
What a great story and history behind Great Grandma P and her Butterscotch Pie!! The pies look very delicious, never had Butterscotch Pie but I am going to try this recipe soon! 🙂 Where did you find the small graham cracker shells?
Did you see my post on my Ooey Gooey Caramel Pie?
http://michaelswoodcraft.wordpress.com/2014/06/29/ooey-gooey/
Sam’s – do you have Sam’s out there? If not, Costco then but maybe even Walmart!
I have to say – this looks a LOT better than the instant pudding butterscotch pies my mom used to make. I’ll have to try it, although I have a feeling my scalded milk will turn into scorched milk.
I had only done scalded milk one other time and it was not fun waiting on a pot to not boil. 🙂
thank you, we do have a Sam’s, I will try them! 🙂
I’m now having a butterscotch craving. What a terrific life story, and a decadent pie filling! Homemade pudding is the absolute best.
I love homemade pudding as well – it spoils you for the instant kind!
I love the writeup- it’s a very lovely story. It’s so rare you find out anything about the person who wrote a recipe down- and she used a lot of detail when she did! You can tell she thought this recipe was worth giving out.
Yes she did and I wanted to do it justice – I hope I did! Thanks for dropping by!
Butterscotch pie was my favorite for a while when I was little. I’m pretty sure my grandma just made it with cook-and-serve pudding mix, though. This version looks great!
Thank you!
Lovely. Absolutely lovely. A sweet treat and a sweet story!
I am so glad that you joined in on the Pieathalon!
Thank you!! I’m glad I joined as well – can’t wait for the next one!
This pie, I tried it a year ago, and my mouth has been fixed on it ever since – so so tasty 😀
Your family recipe looks incredible!
Cheers
Choc Chip Uru
Thank you CCU!
Kelli- Your pictures are always so beautiful, and I loved that you shared the family history behind this recipe. It’s so wonderful when we can preserve the history behind these fabulous recipes.
Thank you so much! This was a very special recipe and I wanted to treat it with respect – I really appreciate your compliment about the pictures – I have worked hard for a long time to do a few well here and there! 🙂
What a fun!! The pies look yummy!!
Thanks Tana!
Pieathalon has to be one of the most brilliant words I’ve ever read! Yours looks yummy and what fun to have a collection like this. Thanks for sharing.
Thanks Liz – Yinzerella came up with that word and I love it too!!
you absolutely did this story justice Kelli! Thank you so much for transforming my quick thoughts to you into a beautiful piece! your writing is so thoughtful and lovely! I cannot thank you enough for this piece! I LOVE it! and I’m so glad you loved the pie!!!
Whew! I’m so glad you liked it – I was worried……….I enjoyed the pie and many of my followers are either planning to make it, making it right now, or passing it on to someone else to make it soon. Lots of people are thrilled that you contributed it!
I love this post. My grandmother had the same afghan that is behind Grandma P. I know my other grandma had similar feelings after my grandpa passed away. I know she loved him dearly but she literally blossomed in her new life. Great recipe and thanks for sharing!
Thanks for dropping by! You know I work with seniors all the time (well, I did until today!) and I have heard so many senior women say that – especially if they were my grandmother’s age – and even my mom’s age…..including my mom! Having a long term marriage a few years ago was so much harder on women than men.
This is a wonderful post! I have so enjoyed meeting you thru our Pieathalon! And thank you for introducing me to Nesselrode Pie! I will never forget it. So much fun 🙂
I love butterscotch pie. I booked marked this to come back to. I am going to copy your recipe on a recipe card. Thanks for sharing this lovely story.
I’m so glad you liked it!!
I can almost taste that amazing pie! How awesome that BOTH of you can share special stories of times with your GGM’s! Pinning this recipe. Thanks so much for sharing at our Weekend Potluck party!! Hope you enjoy a wonderful weekend.
Thank you Marsha! This is a great pie! I hope you will make it because it will surely remind you of days gone by!
I finally got out this recipe which I’d filed under “make this at some point” for Thanksgiving- and it is divine. But the filling never set enough to actually cut and serve it as a pie- it was more of a pudding in a pie crust. Do you think it just needed more time on the stove to thicken, or is that how it came out for you too?
I’m really glad you were finally able to make this pie! It’s more like pudding – if you want it uniform and “not a little runny” – like the photos in magazine, you will have to set it in the freezer for a while and take it out before it gets hard frozen. But you always need to keep it in the fridge – colder is always a little “tighter” than runny. Thanks for dropping by!! Kelli