One day in my cafe I had a customer that came in looking to purchase some pecan pie which was really weird as I was just making one for the first time! He was happy to wait and come back later for some.
I made this delicious pecan pie in an oblong flan tin with a nice thin buttery pastry case which makes it easy to cut into slices.
I had never made one before and I was slightly worried it wouldn’t turn out very well but it did and the customer really enjoyed it.
It is a pastry base filled with pecan nuts, maple syrup, butter, eggs and sugar and really is delicious.
Start by making the pastry. You can do this by hand or in a food processor. You need to rub the butter into the flour and sugar until you have fine breadcrumbs.
Then add the egg and combine using the pulse function (if using the food processor) so you do not overwork the dough. Keep pulsing until a ball of pastry starts to form. If making by hand mix in the egg and use your hands to form the dough.
The pastry then needs to be wrapped and placed in the fridge to keep cool for at least 30 minutes.
Take the pastry out of the fridge and lightly flour the work surface. Then roll out the pastry and line the 36 x 12cm (14” x 4¾”) tart tin.
Place the lined tin in the fridge to keep cool while you make the filling.
Pre-heat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade (160 fan).
In a medium sized pan put the syrup, sugar and butter. On a low heat melt the ingredients until the sugar has dissolved.
Take off the heat and add the pecans, egg, vanilla extract and flour.
Mix together until smooth.
Pour the mixture into the pastry tart.
Place the 10 whole pecan nuts evenly on the top.
Bake for 25 minutes then leave to cool completely in the tin before slicing.
Sarah's Pecan Pie
Sarah's servings: 10
Sarah's skill: Medium
Baking time: 25 minutes
Ingredients:
Pastry
200g Plain Flour
45g Icing Sugar
100g Cold Cubed Unsalted Butter
1 Large Egg
Filling
100g Maple syrup
25g Unsalted Butter (room temperature)
55g Light brown sugar
150g Roughly chopped Pecan nuts
1 Large Egg
1/2 tsp Vanilla extract
1 Tbsp Plain flour
10x Whole Pecan nuts (for decoration)
Method:
Pastry Put the flour, sugar and butter into a food processor and pulse until you have fine breadcrumbs. Alternatively rub the butter into the flour and sugar by hand until you have fine breadcrumbs.
Add the egg and combine in the food processor or by hand until the pastry forms a ball.
Wrap in cling film or similar and transfer to fridge to keep cool.
Take the pastry out of the fridge and lightly flour the work surface. Then roll out the pastry and line the 36 x 12cm (14” x 4¾”) flan tin.
Place the lined tin in the fridge to keep cool while you make the filling.
Preheat the oven to 180 degrees centigrade (160 fan) or Gas Mark 4.
Filling In a medium sized pan put the syrup, sugar and butter. On a low heat melt the ingredients until the sugar has dissolved.
Take off the heat and add the pecans, egg, vanilla extract and flour and mix until smooth.
Take the lined tin out of the fridge and pour the pecan mixture into the tin and level.
Arrange the whole pecan nuts on the top.
Bake for 25 minutes.
Leave them to cool completely in the tin before slicing.
Sarah's Extra Slice........
I do not blind bake my tart cases as the pastry always bakes well without needing to.
You will probably have some pastry left over and this can be kept in the fridge for up to 3 days or frozen for use at a later time.
If you don’t have maple syrup you can use golden syrup instead.