Brown Butter Buttermilk Pie: A classic Southern pie, with extra flavors from brown butter and vanilla bean powder. Perfect for your holiday table! 

Brown Butter Buttermilk Pie - A classic buttermilk pie with the flavor of browned butter added in. Get this delicious dessert recipe from CookingWithBooks.com

About two years ago, I tasted my first bite of what would become my most favorite pie in the whole world: buttermilk pie. Simply put, a custard pie that tastes of vanilla and sugar, with a hint of buttermilk tang. When I took that first bite, I knew I would eat the entire pie by myself and I did.

Margarite, a friend from Texas, had brought it to our holiday party and after all the food, no one wanted pie. So the buttermilk pie went into our fridge and the next day I tasted it. “Oh my goodness, this is amazing!”, I thought to myself and kept digging my fork into the pie dish, eating it straight from the refrigerator. I covered the pie and decided right then and there that I wouldn’t share it with anyone else (yeah, I’m pie selfish).

Once I had eaten 3/4 of the pie, the feeling of shame overwhelmed me. How could I eat an entire pie? Was I crazy?

Yes, I was crazy. Crazy in love. So I did what a normal crazy person would do and I ate the rest… to try to forget about it as soon as I could.

Brown Butter Buttermilk Pie - A classic buttermilk pie with the flavor of browned butter added in. Get this delicious dessert recipe from CookingWithBooks.com

But I never forgot about that pie, and to this day have tested out various recipes. This has become my favorite one but I’ve decided to make it even better by whisking brown butter into the filling. Brown butter is basically butter that you’ve cooked to a golden brown stage, where the buttery flavors are magically converted to nutty and caramel flavor notes, taking this pie to heaven!

Joy the Baker has a great tutorial on how to brown butter.

Make sure to bake this buttermilk pie a day before serving so it cools all the way through and has time to set.

I don’t need anything else but a slice of this pie, but you can serve this with a dollop of lightly whipped cream if you need it. You won’t.

 

Brown Butter Buttermilk Pie

Simple flavors of buttermilk, vanilla, and brown butter make this pie unique and delicious!
Print Recipe
Brown Butter Buttermilk Pie - A classic buttermilk pie with the flavor of browned butter added in. Get this delicious dessert recipe from CookingWithBooks.com
Prep Time:20 minutes
Cook Time:40 minutes
Total Time:1 hour

Ingredients

For pie crust:

  • ½ stick unsalted butter
  • ¼ cup shortening
  • 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 1 teaspoon white distilled vinegar
  • ¼ cup ice water

For filling:

  • ½ stick unsalted butter
  • 3 large eggs
  • 1 cup granulated sugar
  • 3 tablespoons all-purpose flour
  • 1 cup buttermilk
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ teaspoon vanilla bean powder

Instructions

  • To make the crust: cut butter into cubes and freeze, along with the shortening. In the meantime, pulse the flour and salt together. Add frozen butter and shortening until slightly incorporated. Drizzle in vinegar and ice water and dump onto a floored surface. Knead for a minute until it all comes together and wrap in a disc. Rest for at least an hour.
  • Once the dough is rested, preheat oven to 350F and roll dough onto floored surface. Place inside pie dish, crimping edges. Make filling.
  • To make filling, melt the butter until brown and nutty, about 5-8 minutes. Let cool and whisk into eggs, sugar, flour, buttermilk, and salt. Pour filling into unbaked pie crust and sprinkle with vanilla bean powder. Bake for about 40-50 minutes, until middle is set. Refrigerate and serve cold.
Servings: 1 , 9 inch pie
Author: Marnely Murray

Brown Butter Buttermilk Pie - A classic buttermilk pie with the flavor of browned butter added in. Get this delicious dessert recipe from CookingWithBooks.com

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8 Comments

  1. 5 stars
    Try it with rhubarb😘

  2. My buttermilk pie experiences have been sort of the opposite of yours. I’ve never had any that wowed me. But I love buttermilk (to the point where if it’s really good stuff I’ll drink it straight from the bottle) and I think your addition of browned butter is genius. Going to give this one a try. Thanks Marnely!

  3. I tried 3 times to make buttermilk pie last month and the custard split every single time! This sounds amazing and I’m jealous.

  4. Elizabeth says:

    Where do you find vanilla powder?

  5. I’ve never had buttermilk pie, but it has always interested me. This sounds awesome – and knowing its a favorite makes me want to try it sooner!