Family is like pecan pie – something sweet holding all the nuts together.
This pecan pie comes courtesy a request from my adorable youngest brother (the same one who wanted granola bars!) who craved a bit of his college days back. So of course, a pecan pie was in order for our cousins’ dinner at home.
Now most pecan pie recipes entail a big amount of corn syrup or maple syrup – both of which I don’t particularly lean toward. Maple syrup is only acceptable on top of breakfast foods according to me. And I prefer to use real sugar instead of an engineered version!
Now this recipe isn’t exactly a traditional pecan pie, but a cross between a pie and pecan bars. The filling rises like a frangipane tart, and the tiny addition of flour acts more like a thickener. The custard like filling is between firm and runny and the gentle hints of cinnamon is fragrant enough, but not over-powering.
This pecan pie has too many in-betweens, but it works.
It works very well.
This recipe yields a small one square pie of 6 inches. The sweet pie dough is buttery and flaky and speckled with some cinnamon as well.
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The Recipe
Serves Yields: 12 | Prep Time: 40 mins | Cook Time: 40 mins
Ingredients
- Pie crust:
- ¾ cup flour
- ½ cup cold butter, cubed
- 1 tbsp powdered sugar
- Pinch of salt
- Pinch of cinnamon powder
- Filling:
- ½ cup chopped pecans
- ½ cup whole pecans
- 1/8 cup milk
- 1 egg
- ¼ cup melted butter
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla
- ½ tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 ½ tbsp flour
Instructions
- Pie crust:
- Sift the dry ingredients together (flour, sugar, salt and cinnamon).
- Rub the cold butter into the flour to create crumbs.
- Pour 1 tbsp cold water and stir with a fork to form a dough.
- You can cover this dough tightly in a cling wrap until ready to roll out. Store in the fridge.
- Roll out the sweet dough to the size of your pie tin.
- Blind bake for 6-8 minutes in a preheated oven of 180C.
- Remove from oven and allow to cool while you prepare the filling.
- Pie:
- Preheat the oven to 180C.
- In a bowl, whisk the egg and milk until light and frothy.
- Slowly add the butter, vanilla, and sugar, continuously whisking.
- Fold in the flour, cinnamon, salt and chopped pecans with a wooden spoon.
- Pour the batter into the pie shell.
- Arrange the whole pecans on top.
- Bake for 30 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let the pie cool before serving.
- You can store the pie in an airtight container at room temperature.
- TIP: Serve with vanilla ice cream.
