Last year when thanksgiving rolled around, I used the excuse to perfect another recipe. And the crowd went wild. Ha! The response to this pecan pie recipe still makes me smile… Over the next few weeks, at friends’ request, I made four more pies and became somewhat of a unicorn. I haven’t made another one since last year, but as the Christmas season drew close this famous pie is made it’s way back into my imagination.
True to my nature, I realised that although I perfected my recipe in my mind and took photos last year, I failed to type it out and publish it. This led to making the first pie of this season a little incorrectly (not enough flour, and a little gooey). When it came to typing the recipe out, I remembered that I had texted a quick copy to a friend who had asked for it last November. Where was that memory two hours ago when I started baking?!
So, apologies to the friends who will be eating the nearly perfect pie tomorrow night for Thanksgiving. You’ll just have to invite me over again next year for the updated version. The recipe below is bang-on.
Best pecan pie recipe
Ingredients
- 2 cups plain flour
- 1 tablespoon icing sugar
- 185 grams unsalted butter chopped
- 1 tsp lemon juice
Pecan Pie base
- Rub flour, icing sugar, and butter together until butter is mixed in and the mixture looks like bread crumbs. Then add lemon juice and water if needed to make a dough. Cover in glad wrap and chill for half an hour in the fridge.
- Roll dough between two sheets of baking paper into a circle large enough to fit into a pie dish (I use the large 23cm Pyrex one) and fan one sheet of baking paper so the paper easily fits into the shape of the pie dish. Refrigerate for 15mins
- Blind bake in a hot oven for 15-20 mins or until golden (200C). Then turn down the oven to 180C.
Pecan Pie filling…
- 200g pecan nuts crumbled (or more if you prefer… The last pie I made I used 300g for an extra nutty kick)
- 125g butter melted
- 3/4 cup rice malt syrup
- 3/4 cup brown sugar, firmly packed
- 3 eggs, beaten
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1/3 cup (55g) plain flour sifted (maybe 5g more)
- 1/3 cup (55g) self-raising flour sifted (maybe 5g more)
- Mix butter, brown sugar and rice malt syrup together over low heat or microwave until all combined. Then stir in vanilla, eggs and sifted flour.
- Sprinkle pecans on the baked pie base.
- Pour syrup mix on top of pecans (the nuts will float to the top) and bake for half an hour at 180C or until set/golden. (If the pie is still a little soft in the middle, turn the oven down to 150C and continue cooking in 5-minute intervals, checking until the filling is firm.
- Serve warm or room temperature with whipped cream or ice cream.
If preferred, you can make smaller mini pies using muffin trays. The silicone ones work well. I find the rice malt syrup makes the pie less sickly sweet and instead lands right on the delicious centre. If this becomes a regular feature in your thanksgiving and Christmas repertoire, you can adjust the ingredients to perfection. A little less flour will give a more gooey centre, while a little more flour will give a more cakey texture. Try 2tsp either way if you’re up for the adventure. For my American friends (and sister), corn syrup is a good substitute for rice malt syrup.
