Utterly butterscotch recipes!

December 21, 2009 10:53 AM

Please hit me with your best butterscotch cake/dessert recipes.

I'm planning a company dinner and when it came to deciding on a dessert, I found I had a hankering for something butterscotch. What are your best butterscotch cake or dessert recipes? I'm thinking something relatively simple that can be served with ice cream, because one of my company is four-year-old boy who loves his ice cream.

posted by orange swan to food & drink (8 answers total)

You're in luck, as Smitten Kitchen just posted this dynamite sauce recipe.
posted by liketitanic at 10:56 AM on December 21, 2009 [1 favorite]

Here's my own recipe for homemade butterscotch sauce, with notes on production and flavor. It's so good that my mother requests it for every birthday and Christmas. This year, I'm making it with bourbon. YUM.
posted by Elsa at 11:02 AM on December 21, 2009

It is an embarrassment of riches for you today, because the NYT just printed Thomas Keller's (French Laundry, Per Se) caramel sauce. It looks fantastic.
posted by Admiral Haddock at 11:04 AM on December 21, 2009

Oh, and serving notes: I have served the butterscotch sauce over vanilla gelato (ice cream would be just as delicious) with ginger snaps --- it's a great combination: the sulky, silky dark taste of the butterscotch against the creamy rich vanilla, with an occasional snap of crisp spice from the cookies. A real winner. It would be equally good spooned over a scoop of ice cream atop a piece of gingerbread cake.
posted by Elsa at 11:05 AM on December 21, 2009

I tried Smitten Kitchen's butterscotch recipe and it was a bit salty for me so you may want to start with less salt than recommended and then go from there.
posted by sciencegeek at 11:53 AM on December 21, 2009

Made Smitten Kitchen's butterscotch sauce last night and served with with sauteed bananas - browned in butter and topped w/lemon zest and juice - and vanilla ice cream. Great combination - everyone loved it.
posted by leslies at 12:05 PM on December 21, 2009

This doesn't satisfy your served with ice cream requirement, but I can vouch for its deliciousness. It's also simple, and I imagine any 4-year old would like it (even sans ice cream): butterscotch pudding.
posted by katie at 2:43 PM on December 21, 2009

I really wanted something that could be served with ice cream rather than a sauce that could be served on ice cream, and I ended up with this one for butterscotch cream pie. It's just a basic recipe that turned out pretty well. The recipe suggests the pie either be made with a meringue, or topped with whipped cream and chocolate shavings, but I served it with vanilla ice cream:

Butterscotch Cream Pie

Baked 9" pie shell
1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1/4 tsp. salt
2 cups milk
3 egg yolks
1/4 cup light-brown sugar, packed
3 tbsps butter or margarine
1 tsp vanilla extract

In a double boiler, combine 1/2 cup brown sugar, flour, salt. Gradually stir in milk. Cook, stirring, until thick. Cook covered, stirring occasionally, 10 min. longer.

Beat egg yolks with 1/4 cup brown suagr; stir in a little of the sauce; add to rest of sauce in double boiler. Cook, stirring, 2 min. or until mixture mounds when dropped from spoon. Add butter, vanilla; cool. Heat oven to 350 degrees. Turn filling into shell. Bake 12 to 15 minutes.
posted by orange swan at 5:22 PM on January 3, 2010