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Luby’s Butternut Brownie Pie

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Served at a popular Texas cafeteria called Luby’s, Luby’s Butternut Brownie Pie is one of our family’s favorite pie.  To be honest, I haven’t been to Luby’s in ages nor do I remember seeing this pie, but my mother recalls it quite vividly and says this version is similar.

butternutbrowniepie5

And here’s a slightly better photo. I had to wait until daylight when the light was better. The one above it was taken at night.

butternut brownie pie

Oddly enough, there is no chocolate in this pie, yet it still has “brownie” in the title. It is kind of a brownish color, though, so maybe the name Butternut Brownie Pie comes from that.

Here’s what it looks like assembled in a pie dish. In this shot it is baked, but not topped with whipped cream.

butternutbrowniepie2

And here it is with a whipped cream topping.

butternut brownie pie

 

Here’s an older shot from back when I didn’t put a crust under it.

lubys before.jpglubys butternut brownie pie

And again — an old photo of the no-crust version taken out of the oven.  The orange stuff is crushed Butterfinger candy. It’s marking the small quadrant where I mixed a bit of Butterfinger into the pie filling to see how it would taste. It’s probably going to be too sweet, but I will let you know (Update:  Okay, but not great.  Don’t bother with the Butterfinger).

luby's after.jpg

Update: I’ve made this pie many times since posting, and since then I’ve started building the pie on a baked pie crust.  It slices neatly with a crust underneath and looks better.  However,  no crust is necessary. The original recipe is baked in a greased pie dish with no crust.  Also, I do bake it at 350 rather than 300.  The original version in the Luby’s cookbook calls for 300 degrees, but at some point I changed the temperature to 350. Here are a few pictures of the latest pie.

The filling is in the crust and ready to go.

Butternut Brownie Pie

Just out of the oven. The pie puffs up quite a bit, but will settle as it cools.

Butternut Brownie Pie

Here it is with getting topped with whipped cream. Hooray!

Butternut Brownie Pie

Ready to eat! I sprinkled some crushed graham crackers over this one just for fun.

5.0 from 2 reviews
Luby's Butternut Brownie Pie
 
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Luby's Butternut Brownie Pie is a unique pie made with egg whites, pecans, sugar and graham crackers.
Author:
Recipe type: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Serves: 8
Ingredients
  • Butter or shortening for rubbing pie plate (about 1 tablespoon) OR 1 fully baked pie crust
  • 5 large or 4 "extra large" egg whites
  • 1/8 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1/8 teaspoon cream of tartar (or just leave it out)
  • 1 cup granulated sugar (200 grams)
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 14 graham cracker squares, broken into half inch pieces or crushed
  • 1 cup chopped, toasted pecans
  • Optional: 1/4 cup of butterscotch chips (worth throwing in if you have some)
Topping:
  • 1 cup whipping cream
  • 3-4 tablespoons granulated sugar or 1/4 cup powdered
  • 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. (Note: Other recipes use 300, but I use 350).
  2. Rub a 9 inch glass pie plate (I use a deep dish) generously with butter. Alternatively, have ready a pre-baked pie crust.
  3. In a mixing bowl, beat egg whites and baking powder until soft peaks form. Add cream of tartar, beating constantly. Add 1 cup of sugar, 1 tablespoon at a time, beating constantly until stiff peaks form. Beat in vanilla. Using a rubber scraper, fold in graham crackers and chopped, toasted pecans. Pour mixture into pie plate (or baked pie shell) and bake for 30 minutes.
  4. Let cool completely on a wire rack. The pie will sink a bit as it cools.
  5. Prepare topping. In a chilled bowl, using chilled beaters, beat cream until it begins to thicken. Add sugar and vanilla and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Do not overbeat. Top pie with whipped cream. Garnish with extra pecans if desired.
Notes
As mentioned, the crust is optional. Since i enjoy making it, I usually use the quick Crisco recipe and bake it covered with foil and weighed down with pie weights at 425 for 20 minutes. I then remove the foil and bake at 375 for about 8 minutes. After that I let it cool completely before filling and re-baking.

The graham crackers should be broken or coarsely crushed with a rolling pan. If they are crushed too fine, the texture is kind of mealy. In the original recipe they are broken, but I usually take a rolling pin to them and have a big mess of broken and crushed. Feel free to use more graham crackers. For the pecans, make sure they're toasted. I love buying the pre-roasted, pre-chopped pecans from Trader Joe's. In addition to the graham crackers and pecans, about 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup of butterscotch chips in a nice addition, but they do increase sweetness.

Here are some older Butternut Brownie Pie photos which I’m keeping for posterity.

Luby's Butternut Brownie Pie

Related posts:

Smooth Pecan Pie
Buttermilk-Pecan Pie
No Name Pecan Pie

Comments

  1. Kathi, since you like the crispy, crunchy crust it’s probably best to put it on later. I usually put it on a few hours before serving and have never had an issue with sogginess, but if you are making it a day ahead of time and want to be crunchy, then put it on closer to serving time. Also, when I make the pie I usually serve it on day 1 and then freeze the rest that same day. But I’m guessing you are making it for a group and won’t have any leftover to freeze.

  2. Is it best to put whip cream on right before serving? I have made this before and if I remember correctly the top of pie is a bit crispy or crunchier and I like that, so I don’t want to make it soggy….?

  3. Hi Anna! I have some leftover graham crackers and amazingly, I remembered this pie! Other sources online recommend baking it at 300 degrees for 30 minutes, though. Did you change it upon testing the recipe and should i go 350?

  6. I hope you like it! My mom used to order it all the time at Luby’s so we were really happy when they published the recipe.

  7. Awsome! I’ve been looking for this for a long time it was my go to desert as a kid and I haven’t had it since I moved to louisiana 30 yrs ago. I didn’t even know the name of it lol. Thanks so much

  9. This was my very favorite pie growing up as a kid and going to Luby’s! I can’t believe I found your recipe! My pie is in the oven now!

    Thank you!
    Dedra

  10. This was my absolute favorite dessert at Luby’s. Its cooling right now… I cant wait to put the whip cream on it and dig in. I will be back to let u know how it came out….

  11. Hi Terri

    It’s been a while since I made this, but I knew I’d forget whether it was squares or rectangles so I wrote “squares”. So if you make it, use 14 squares. If you feel it’s not enough, you can throw in some more.

  12. i’m confused. is it really only 14 of the squares of graham crackers or 14 of the rectangles? 14 squares doesn’t sound like enough

  13. Hi Sarah,

    Thanks so much for your comment!

    If you get a chance, please tell your aunt I said thanks for making it. I was very happy with the recipe too and posted it because it seemed unique.

  14. This is the best pie I have ever tasted in forever… my aunt made it for thanksgiving and i got to try a piece and it is awesome~!!

  15. I took a look at the Culinate site Carol posted. Wow! It’s pretty neat. Thanks so much to those of you who voted. I really appreciate it.

  16. Whenever I think of Luby’s, I think of that horrible shooting there. My ex’s dad loved Luby’s and we used to go there a lot in AZ. I never had this pie though.

  19. Anna – if that Culinate contest is real you should post it on your site. I just saw that your blog is #24. The contest just runs through next week. Might be fun to see where you end up.

  23. This could be quite diet-friendly, using low-fat grahams, replacing 1/3 to 1/2 sugar with Splenda, and topping with Cool Whip instead of creme. (Lactose intolerant-friendly too 🙂

  24. Ingrid, thanks for trying it so quickly. The pie has gone global.

    Here’s my pie report.

    My mother and her boyfriend stopped by for a quick visit so I gave them a slice of pie. George loved it and my mother commented on how she’d tasted this pie at some point in her life but didn’t know what it was or where she had it (Luby’s maybe??). She liked it enough that it brought back a taste memory, so that was good.

    I saved the Butterfinger quadrant for myself. It wasn’t bad, but I think I’d try using chocolate grahams or playing with other buttery flavors before adding candy.

  25. Hi Anna,

    I saw the recipe on your blog this morning before I went to work.
    Gathered the ingredients so that when I got back all I had to do was make it, and bake it.
    And, as I said, we love it.
    I had it for dessert just two hours ago and allready long for a second piece
    (my poor diet)

    Ingrid

  26. Hi Amy,

    My friend in The Netherlands just made this pie (she’s FAST!) and said she liked it too. Good question about the name. It sounds like either a brownie pie or a squash pie.

    George is genuinely nice and I guess that comes across on TV. My mom and dad both commented (separate phone calls from separate towns) on how funny he was and what a good job he did. My dad is a barbecue expert and was very, very impressed at George’s success at the Humble Barbecue Cook-Off.

  27. So why is it called butternut pie? I was expecting a sweet potato pie like recipe, but no. Then I thought, “Lots of butter and nuts?” But no to that too. Interesting.

    I saw you on Secret Life Of. . .this week. I think george Duran is funny.

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