Pecan Pie
When you think dessert and thanksgiving you automatically think PIE! My top pies are pumpkin, pecan and apple. My grandma always handles the mashed potatoes and the pumpkin pie at Thanksgiving and so I don’t often make pumpkin pie unless it is for my husband’s side or friendsgiving.
Today, I’m sharing my favorite Pecan Pie recipe from Serious Eats.
I like this recipe the best because it is not very sweet and lets the nuts do the flavor work.
When making this recipe I find it helpful to buy one bag of chopped pecans and one bag of pecan halves. Make sure to sort through your pecan halves to find the prettiest ones to top your pie.
You do have to watch the crust carefully and be ready to cover it with foil or a fancy pie crust over if you have one. I’ve had the edges get a little too crispy on me towards the end.
This is a great pie to make the day before your festivities as it will sit out at room temperature just fine for a couple days.
I had some struggles with a soggy bottom on this pie. The average person is not going to notice but if you watch The Great British Baking Show you know the shame of the soggy bottom. A few things can cause this…
if you have a split somewhere in the crust
if you have too thin of a crust
if the bottom of the crust didn’t cook fast enough allowing some liquid to seep through
if the filling had too much moisture
For this particular bake I think my problem was that the bottom didn’t cook fast enough. For future bakes I will put a sheet pan in the oven to pre-heat and then place my pie pan on the hot pan. This will allow the fats to melt and bake up faster and will hopefully keep a nice crisp bottom.
Again, your average Thanksgiving guest won’t notice but we strive for perfection over here!
Pecan Pie
Ingredients
Pie Crust
- 350 grams all purpose flour
- 12 grans white sugar
- 1/2 tsp kosher salt
- 10 tbsp butter cut into 1/4-inch pats
- 6 tablespoons ice cold water
Pie Filling
- 3 eggs
- 2 tbsp honey
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 4 tbsp butter
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups chopped pecans
- 1 cup whole pecans
Instructions
Pie Crust
- Combine the flour with sugar and salt in the bowl of a food processor. Pulse to mix. Add the butter pieces to the food processor. Pulse until no dry flour remains and the dough starts to collect. Continue pulsing until the dough is barely broken up. Around 30 pulses total.
- Sprinkle with the water and then fold and press with a rubber spatula until the dough comes into a ball. Form into a 4-inch disk and wrap in plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 2 hours or up to overnight.
Pie Filling
- Preheat oven to 375 F with oven rack in the middle. Lightly beat the eggs. Melt the butter and set aside to cool.
- Roll the chilled pie dough to a 12-inch circle. Transfer to a 9-inch pie plate and trim the edges of the pie dough so it overhangs by 1/2 inch. Use a fork to tuck and crimp the edges.
- In a large bowl, whisk the eggs, honey, corn syrup, brown sugar, melted butter, salt and vanilla. Whisk until the mixture is combined and slightly frothy.
- Line the pie crust with chopped pecans by pressing them down to embed in the dough. Pour the filling over the pecans and then gently and delicately place the whole pecans in concentric circles on the top. Don’t press down or they will sink.
- Bake for 40 minutes, rotating halfway through. Shield the top of the pie with aluminum foil to prevent the nuts from burning. Bake for an additional 20 minutes until the filling is puffed and slightly jiggly but mostly set. Cool to room temperature before serving.
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