Today we celebrate the happy marriage of butter and brown sugar: September 19 is National Butterscotch Pudding Day!
I was surprised to learn that butterscotch really is just a combination of the two ingredients mentioned above. A recipe in the “Housewife’s Corner” section of an 1848 newspaper for “Doncaster butterscotch” calls for one pound of butter, one pound of sugar and a quarter of a pound of treacle, boiled together. Mmm…treacle! (Treacle is simply uncrystallized syrup, but I had to look this up. I was afraid it was something far more disgusting). It was advertised as “The Queen’s Sweetmeat” (huh?) and billed as the best emollient for the chest in the winter season. As for the name itself, its exact origins are hazy. “Butterscotch” may refer to the method of cutting or scoring the confection into pieces before it hardens, a process known as “scotching.” It’s also possible that “Scotch” is derived from the word “scorch,” or is a reference to its creation in Scotland.
Butterscotch isn’t always a confection, and butterscotch pudding is a great example: it is flavored with brown sugar and butter for the taste of butterscotch, but isn’t actually made from a confection.
To celebrate, we bought some butterscotch pudding cups. We sure have had a lot of pudding holidays this year! Didn’t feel like going all out and making it from scratch, either.
Related articles
- Recipe: Butterscotch Banana Bread Pudding From The Churchill (laist.com)
- September 19 – National Butterscotch Pudding Day (ireport.cnn.com)
- Butterscotch pudding (discookingcorner.wordpress.com)
Eat My Words 
Always one of my favorite puddings. Actually, I just really, really love Butterscotch.
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It was better than I expected it to be!
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You guys need to plan a food-cation to NYC and I will come down and feed you. There’s a place that makes amazing butterscotch pudding and splashed scotch in it after its cooked.
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That, my friend, would be all kinds of fun! We’d love to make it out to your neck of the woods one of these days. I’ll let you know if we do.
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