Luby's Butternut Brownie Pie

I love regional food.  I love food with a history.  I love road trips.  In the six months I've had this blog I've had fun making a few regional recipes.  Sort of a virtual road trip.  I've been to Chicago for Deep Dish Pizza, Iowa for a Loose Meat Sandwich, Pennsylvania for Pennsylvania Dutch Hamburg Barbecue Sandwiches, and Florida for Key Lime Pie.  So I decided today to head to Texas for one of the most amazing, delicious pies I've ever had.  Luby's Butternut Brownie Pie.  This pie is definitely in my top 3 favourite pies.  Or top 2.  Just give me this pie and a fork and no, the photos do not do it justice, it has to be eaten to be believed.

I was on the CopyKat website just randomly looking at recipes (love that site!).  I came across a pie recipe titled, Luby's Butternut Brownie Pie.  My first thought was "EW!"  When I hear the word butternut I automatically think of squash.  Now I love squash.  But not with brownies.  This did NOT sound good so naturally I had to check it out.  Well I was fairly surprised when I read the recipe.  Nary a squash (or brownie) in sight.  But oh, did it sound good when I saw the ingredients!  Baked meringue, sugar, whipped cream, pecans and graham cracker pieces.  This pie had to be made.

I did have to google Luby's though as I had never heard of it.  Luby's is a restaurant chain in Texas that's been around since 1945.  They serve this pie which is enough of a reason for me to eat there if I ever find myself in Texas.  I couldn't really find any history of the actual pie so I'm not sure if they've been serving butternut brownie pie since 1945 or not.  I wouldn't be surprised if they have, it seems very much like an old-fashioned pie.

If you have a sweet tooth like I do, you will love this pie! While the meringue is baking the pecans and graham cracker pieces sink to the bottom and from sort of a crust.  So you have the baked meringue, graham pieces, and pecan pieces topped with  fresh whipped cream and more pecans sprinkled on top.  OMG.  Every bite of this pie was sheer joy.  I'm still not sure why it's called butternut brownie pie but it's so good I don't care. 

I obviously have no idea if this Copykat recipe resembles the real pie, but Anna from Cookie Madness, who also made this pie, wrote and told me her mother tried the pie and said it was just like the one she remembered eating at Luby's.  That's good enough for me. 

This is a very unique pie that needs to be made.

Enjoy!

Luby's Butternut Brownie Pie
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4 extra large eggs whites, at room temperature (I used 4 large egg whites and it was fine or you could even use 5 large if you don't have extra-large)
1/8 tsp. baking powder
1/8 tsp. cream of tartar
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
14 graham cracker squares, broken into 1/2 inch pieces
1 cup pecan pieces
1 cup whipping cream
1/2 tsp. vanilla
chopped pecans

Heat oven to 300 degrees. Lightly grease 9-inch pie plate.

In large mixing bowl, beat egg whites and baking powder until soft peaks form. Add cream of tartar, beating constantly. Add 1 cup of the sugar, a tablespoon at a time, beating constantly until stiff peaks form. Using rubber scraper, fold in graham crackers and pecan pieces. Spoon into pie plate.

Bake 30 minutes or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool completely on wire cooling rack.

In chilled small bowl using chilled beaters, beat cream just until it begins to thicken. Add remaining 1/4 cup sugar and vanilla and continue beating until stiff peaks form. Do not over beat. Top pie with whipped cream. Sprinkle with pecans and refrigerate until served.

Serves 8

Source:  Copykat