Cinnamon Butterscotch Pie
This sweet cinnamon butterscotch pie recipe is creamy and decadent. It’s no-bake, with a spiced cookie crust and a creamy butterscotch cinnamon filling.
This pie is such a treat! The filling is creamy and decadent, with rich butterscotch notes and a hint of cinnamon. It’s poured into a no-bake Biscoff cookie base. (Like the one used in my no-bake pumpkin cheesecake bars.)
Biscoff cookies are spiced with cinnamon too, so this matches the cinnamon in the butterscotch-cinnamon pie filling perfectly. For another delicious speculoos recipe, check out these Biscoff cinnamon rolls!
A cinnamon butterscotch pie rose to fame through the video game Undertale. But whether you’re here for Toriel’s butterscotch cinnamon pie in real life, or just because you love butterscotch, I think you’ll love this pie!
What is butterscotch?
Butterscotch is made with cooked brown sugar. The molasses flavors of the brown sugar are deepened when it’s first cooked on the stove. This concentrates the butterscotch flavor and it’s what makes it a butterscotch pie as opposed to a brown sugar pie.
Boil brown sugar with a little water and salt on the stove until the color and flavor deepen. After this, the rest of the ingredients are added.
Using brown sugar is the main ingredient difference between caramel sauce and butterscotch. Caramel is made with white sugar, and butterscotch is made with brown sugar.
Ingredients
Find the ingredient amounts for this butterscotch cinnamon pie recipe in the printable recipe card at the bottom of this post. Here is a rundown of what you will need –
- Biscoff cookies- for the base. Substitute with plain vanilla biscuits, graham crackers, or gingersnap cookies for a spicy gingersnap crust.
- Butter – salted or unsalted butter
- Light brown sugar or dark brown sugar
- Heavy cream (for the filling and for the topping too)
- Whole milk
- Vanilla extract
- Cinnamon
- Egg yolks – This recipe uses a lot of egg yolks and no egg whites. But don’t throw the egg whites away! Use them in macarons or meringues.
- Corn starch
Equipment
9-inch pie pan
Electric mixer or a stand mixer – to whip the cream for the topping
Food processor (optional) – A food processor is helpful to blend the cookies into crumbs, though you could also add them into a large Ziploc bag and use a heavy rolling pin or similar to crush the cookies.
The base
The pie shell is made of crushed Biscoff cookie combined with melted butter. Biscoff cookies are delicious cookies from Belgium. This Belgian cookie is buttery, crisp, and light, with a cinnamon flavor. They are also known as speculoos cookies.
Blend them into a fine crumb in a food processor, or crush them in a Ziploc bag. Use melted butter to combine it into a clumpy dough. Press this into a 9inch pie dish and let it firm in the fridge.
The filling
The filling is not baked but it does need a stove to cook the egg yolks and thicken the filling. It’s a pudding-style filling, thickened with both eggs and cornstarch.
The brown sugar is cooked first, then cream is added in, followed later by the milk. You can add the milk at the same time as the heavy cream but this can sometimes cause the milk to curdle.
If your mixture does curdle, don’t worry. Once the mixture is added to the egg/cornstarch mix and thickened, it will come back together.
Add some of this hot cream mixture slowly to the egg yolks. This tempers the eggs and stops them from being scrambled. Return the mixture to the stove and cook until thick.
Method
In the bowl of a food processor add the cookies, and blend them on high speed until they achieve fine crumbs.
Pour in the melted butter and pulse to combine the cookies and butter into a clumpy crumb mixture. Add the crumbs to the prepared pie pan and use an offset spatula or the bottom of a glass to press it evenly in the pan and up the sides. Place the crust in the refrigerator while you make the filling.
Filling
Measure out your heavy cream and set this aside.
In a medium saucepan, whisk together the brown sugar, water, and salt. Place this over medium heat and without stirring, let it cook, and come to a boil.
Once bubbles start showing, cook for around 5 minutes until darker brown and it smells caramelized. If you are using a candy thermometer, look for the mixture to reach 240 degrees F or 116 degrees C.
While the sugar is cooking, in a bowl add the egg yolks, cornstarch, cinnamon, vanilla, and a tablespoon of milk. Whisk into a slurry.
Measure out the remaining milk and set this aside.
When the sugar has cooked enough, lower the heat slightly to medium-low heat and slowly stream the heavy cream into the sugar mixture, whisking continuously. The mixture will bubble and stream as the cream hits the hot sugar. The sugar may clump, but just keep whisking until it becomes a smooth liquid.
Slowly pour in the milk and bring the stove mixture to a simmer. Once at a simmer, take about 1/2 a cup of the hot liquid and whisk it into the egg mixture, streaming the mixture in slowly. Carefully pour the egg mixture into the hot milk mixture in the saucepan and keep whisking as you do so.
Cook the pudding over low heat, whisking continuously. Once it has started bubbling and thickening, keep it bubbling for 1 1/2 minutes before taking off the heat. It’s important to let it cook long enough or the pudding won’t have the right consistency when set. Stir through the butter.
Assembling
Remove the pie tin from the refrigerator and slowly pour the butterscotch mixture into it. If you want an extra smooth pudding, you can pour the mixture through a sieve first.
Cover the top of the pudding with plastic wrap, making sure the plastic touches the filling.
Place pie in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight before serving.
When ready to serve, whip the cream, vanilla, and powdered sugar together until soft peaks form.
Dollop this whipped cream over top of the pie. Dust with a little extra cinnamon.
Storing
Store leftover pie in the fridge in an airtight container for up to 3 days. This pie doesn’t freeze well.
More pie recipes
- Old-fashioned lemon pie
- Blueberry pie with frozen berries
- Pecan pie without corn syrup
- Caramel apple pie
Cinnamon Butterscotch Pie
This sweet cinnamon butterscotch pie recipe is creamy and decadent. It's no-bake, with a Biscoff crust and a creamy butterscotch cinnamon filling.
Ingredients
Base
- 200g Biscoff cookies (around 26 cookies)*
- 85g (6 tablespoons) butter, melted
Cinnamon butterscotch filling
- 150g (3/4 packed cup) brown sugar
- 3 Tablespoons water
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 120g (1/2 cup) heavy cream
- 480g (2 cups) whole milk
- 5 tablespoons cornstarch
- 4 large egg yolks
- 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1 Tablespoon butter
Cream topping
- 180g (3/4 cup) heavy cream
- 1 Tablespoon powdered sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
- 1/8-1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon for dusting
Instructions
Crust
- In the bowl of a food processor add the cookies, and blend them on high speed until they achieve fine crumbs.
- Pour in the melted butter and pulse to combine the cookies and butter into a clumpy crumb mixture. Add the crumbs to the prepared pie pan and use an offset spatula or the bottom of a glass to press it evenly in the pan and up the sides. Place the crust in the refrigerator while you make the filling.
Filling
- Measure out your heavy cream and set this aside.
- In a medium saucepan, whisk together the brown sugar, water, and salt. Place this over medium heat and without stirring, let it come to a boil.
- Once bubbles start showing, cook without stirring for around 5 minutes until darker brown and it smells caramelized.
- While the sugar is cooking, in a medium bowl, whisk together the egg yolks, cornstarch, cinnamon, vanilla, and a tablespoon of milk.
- Measure out the remaining milk and set this aside.
- When the sugar has cooked enough, lower the heat slightly to medium-low heat and slowly stream the heavy cream into the sugar mixture, whisking continuously. The sugar may clump, but just keep whisking until it becomes a smooth liquid.
- Slowly pour and whisk the milk into the hot mixture and bring to a simmer. Once at a simmer, take out about ½ a cup of the hot liquid and whisk this into the egg mixture, streaming the hot liquid in slowly. This is tempering the egg yolks.
- Carefully pour the egg mixture into the saucepan and keep whisking as you do so.
- Cook the pudding over low heat, whisking continuously. Once it has started bubbling and thickening, keep it bubbling for 1 ½ minute, whisking, before taking off the heat. It's important to let it cook long enough or the pudding won't have the right consistency when set.
- Stir through the butter.
- Remove the pie crust from the refrigerator and slowly pour the butterscotch mixture into it. If you want an extra smooth filling, you can pour the mixture through a sieve first.
- Cover the top of the filling with plastic wrap, making sure the plastic touches the filling.
- Place the pie in the refrigerator for at least 6 hours or overnight before serving.
Whipped cream
- When ready to serve, make the whipped cream. In a medium bowl combine the cream, powdered sugar, and vanilla. Whip until soft peaks form.
- Dollop on top of the pie. Dust with cinnamon.
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Nutrition Information:
Yield: 10 Serving Size: 1Amount Per Serving: Calories: 562Total Fat: 20gSaturated Fat: 10gTrans Fat: 1gUnsaturated Fat: 9gCholesterol: 138mgSodium: 310mgCarbohydrates: 92gFiber: 0gSugar: 79gProtein: 6g
This is an informational estimate only. I am not a certified Dietitian or Nutritionist
