This American classic is a play on the tastebuds of sugar and salt, of crunchy and sticky, of flaky and smooth. The pecans baked in a brown sugar filling take on a lovely caramel aroma which goes perfectly with the buttery pate brisee (shortcrust pastry) crust. Unfortunately pecan pie is seldom seen in this part of the world - some bakeries do make them, but the filling is always a terrible gelatinous consistency with a strange sourish tinge - not very nice.
So it was sooner rather than later that I decided to bake my mom, who is constantly craving nutty treats, a pecan pie. As far as pies and tarts go, I find pecan pie delivers extremely impressive, delicious results for a minimum amount of effort.
First, the filling. Unlike most recipes on the internet I did not want to use corn-syrup, partly because I have always heard scare-stories about the chemical evils of corn syrup, but also because corn syrup here comes in giant tins and I am not sure how long that will take me to use up. Instead, I used a lovely mixture of pure brown sugar and eggs, with a spoonful of flour to stabilize it.
The shortcrust pastry is actually not as daunting to make as it sounds. Which is good, because frozen shortcrust pastry is not a good substitute here. Many an expert patissier will warn of of keeping butter from getting too soft and working 'fast and lightly'. But I find this shortcrust pastry recipe to be actually rather forgiving as long as you don't knead the dough like you would bread. You don't have to blind-bake the pie shell either, which can be convenient if you are in a hurry.
Now, for the recipe.
Now, for the recipe.
Pecan Pie (no corn syrup)
Basic Pate Brisee
- 1 2/3 cups plain flour (230g)
- 1/2 cup chilled butter (115 g)
- 3 - 4 tbsps water (30 - 50ml)
Pecan Filling
- 2 eggs
- 1/4 cup white sugar (50g)
- 2/3 cup brown sugar, packed (145g)
- 1/2 cup butter, melted (115g)
- 1 tbsp flour (8g)
- 1 cup pecans, halved or chopped (120g)
- 1 tsp vanilla extract (5ml)
For pate brisee
1. Cut chilled butter into cubes in large bowl.
2. Sift flour over butter.
3. Gently rub flour and butter in a light pinching movement with fingertips.
4. When mixture resembles rough breadcrumbs, add water bit by bit, rubbing until a ball of dough is just formed.
5. Chill the dough ball in the fridge for at least 30 mins.
For pecan pie
6. Heat oven to 180 degrees C, grease a 9-inch tart pan.
7. Roll pate brisee to about 1/4 inch thickness and press lightly into pan.
8. For the filling, whisk eggs lightly in large bowl with white and brown sugar.
9. Whisk in melted butter, flour and vanilla with sugar mixture until smooth.
10. Spread pecans onto pie crust and pour filling over nuts.
11. Bake about 35 mins until golden and set.
