It’s nice to have a few good and simple desserts in any collection, and if you have a homemade pie shell in the freezer, or you start with a store-bought crust, this pie can be ready for the oven in minutes. You can do amazing things with a jar of caramel or butterscotch sauce (they are interchangeable), as this rich, candylike pie shows, or you can make an equally tasty chocolate version, starting with a jar of fudge sauce.
Makes one 9-inch pie
Basic All-American Pie Dough for a 9-inch pie shell (page 20)
1½ cups (one 12-ounce jar) caramel sauce or butterscotch sauce
⅔ cup heavy (whipping) cream
⅓ cup brown sugar
3 eggs
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 cup chopped walnuts or shredded sweetened coconut
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Roll out the dough and fit it into a 9-inch pie pan. Set aside.
If your sauce is quite thick and difficult to scrape from the jar, microwave it for a moment or two to warm it gently and soften it. In a large bowl, combine the caramel sauce, cream, brown sugar, eggs, vanilla, and walnuts and whisk until evenly mixed. Pour into the prepared pie shell.
Bake for 40 to 45 minutes, until the top has browned slightly and the filling has puffed and set around the edges while the center remains somewhat soft and trembly. (A pie made with chocolate fudge sauce can take several minutes longer to bake than one made with caramel sauce.)
Serve warm or at room temperature.