Texas Pecan Pie

Would you believe me if I told you that I am a native Texan and I’ve never had pecan pie in my life? Unfortunately it’s true! Or at least it was until last night, the night I made and had my first ever pecan pie. And boy was it an adventure.

As always when I am looking to make a recipe for the first time I opened up Bo Friberg’s “The Professional Pastry Chef,” a pastry school text book of sorts turned my best friend. His Pecan-Whiskey Tart no doubt sounded delicious, but I wanted something a little simpler and more traditional. I decided to substitute the whiskey with cream and the shallow tart shell with deep a pie shell.  Also, since I am not a huge fan of molasses, I substituted a portion of it with maple syrup.

It wasn’t soon after I started preparing the filling that I discovered I was without corn syrup, apparently a pecan pie staple. Quick to avoid any drama or issue I thought I’d just make a thick simple syrup to replace it. That’s when the drama arose. I definitely cooked the syrup past soft ball stage to solid-brick-of-this-definitely-wont-mix stage. Instead of reading a few more recipes online I decided to just throw a little flour and cornstarch into the filling mixture just for good measure. I was hungry and getting impatient. This pie still managed to have a very gooey filling–which was more than fine by me. Below I will include the recipe with corn syrup but with a note to using flour and cornstarch as I did.

Aside from my slight mishap, the brown sygar, maple syrup, cream and molasses come together in a delicious, gooey, I’ll-have-another-slice-please treat that hug the pecans so well. I may not have had pecan pie before attempting this, but I can assure you it will not be my last–far from it. In fact, I may just have found a new favorite pie. Well, rhubarb-berry and apple-pear still hold a very special place in my heart, so we’ll call this Texas Pecan Pie a very close third.

Here’s the recipe I used. I’m going to play with it more, so expect another pecan pie post eventually. In the mean time this is still a delicious recipe that has had me running back for seconds, thirds, fourths and fifths.

Ingredients:

1/2 of my pie crust recipe or 1 pie shell

6 eggs
12 ounces light brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup (I omitted this and used 1 tablespoon flour and 1 tablespoon corn flour)
2 ounces molasses (about 3 tablespoons)
3 ounces maple syrup (about 1/4 cup)
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 cup heavy cream
3 ounces plus 1 tablespoon unsalted butter, melted
1 lb pecans, roughly chopped

Step One: Preheat the oven to 350 F. Prepare the pie dough and line the pie shell with the rolled out pie dough.

Step Two: Whisk the eggs together to break them up.

Step Three: Mix in the brown sugar, corn syrup (or flour and corn flour), the molasses, maple syrup, salt, vanilla and cream. Mix until well combined.

Step Four: Stir in the 3 oucnes melted butter and pecans.

Step Five: Brush the reserved 1 tablespoon melted butter over the dough. Pour in the pecan mixture over the shell.

Step Six: Bake the pie in the preheated oven for about 45 to 50 minutes, until the pie is set.

Step Seven: Allow the pie to cool completely before serving.

So, this may have been an ad lib experiment for me, but the product was delicious. Maybe not perfect, but definitely delicious. I will be trying this pie over and over again. So, if you have a trusted pecan pie recipe, I’d love to hear it!

Enjoy!