Butterscotch shows up on fine-dining menus in DFW

By TINA DANZE

Special to the Star-Telegram

Remember the butterscotch pudding of your childhood? It has graduated from the school cafeteria to white-tablecloth restaurants, where it’s a dessert menu standout. Hop around town, and you’ll find butterscotch pudding and custard transformed by elegant upgrades and novel presentations.

At Aventino in west Fort Worth, chef Derrick Paez is rolling out an apple-butterscotch bread pudding and a butterscotch toddy drink for the upscale Italian restaurant’s fall-winter menu.

"We’re coming to the time of year where people are craving these kinds of things," Paez said.

Butterscotch has even been spotted in a martini glass: At Dalí Wine Bar & Cellar in Dallas, the classic pudding stands tall in the swanky stemware. Layered with a crunchy graham cracker-almond crumble, topped with cinnamon whipped cream, drizzled with a dessert-sherry syrup and garnished with strawlike chocolate wands, this is not your mama’s butterscotch pudding.

At Dallas’ City Café, a flavorful chocolate-graham cracker crust cradles a dense butterscotch pudding filling; the ultrarich pie generously serves 12. And ritzy Fearing’s gets frisky with old-fashioned butterscotch: In a chic-meets-Southern twist, a luxurious butterscotch custard laps hot apple fritters flanked by toffee ice cream.

If your sweet tooth, too, craves butterscotch, here are a couple of grown-up recipes from restaurants around town.

Stephanie Allmon contributed to this story.

Apple butterscotch bread pudding

Makes 4 servings

1/4 pound (1 stick) unsalted butter

1/2 cup plus 3/4 cup fine

granulated sugar

1 cup heavy cream

2 ounces scotch (preferably Dewar’s)

Pinch salt

4 Granny Smith apples

(1 apple per person)

1/2 cup milk

1/2 tablespoon vanilla

1 teaspoon salt

4 eggs

4 egg yolks

1 pound brioche-style bread, cut into 1-inch cubes (recommended: Nan Terre, available at Central Market)

1. To make the brown butter, in a frying pan, brown butter and allow to cool.

2. To make the caramel, cook 1/2 cup sugar on low heat in a medium saucepan; do not disturb or stir until the sugar turns amber in color. (Important: You must remove the sugar from heat for 5 minutes as a safety precaution because it can get dangerous if it gets too hot.)

3. Boil 1/2 cup heavy cream in a separate saucepan. Carefully add browned butter, scotch and pinch of salt, stir and slowly cook for another 15 minutes.

4. Meanwhile, peel, core and slice apples to 1/4 -inch slices. Cook them gently in the butterscotch mixture, remove from liquid, drain (but do not discard butterscotch sauce) and arrange on a plate in circular fashion, overlapping and leaving space for the pudding in the center.

5. To make the bread pudding, warm remaining 1/2 cup heavy cream, milk, vanilla, salt and half the 3/4 cup sugar in a saucepan. Don’t allow to boil.

6. Whisk the remaining sugar into the eggs and yolks. Temper the cream mixture into the eggs little by little, strain liquid and allow to cool. (Note: You may omit straining, but it is recommended for a smoother texture.)

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