Pecan Pie
Southern Cajun-influenced pecan pie: a pre-baked shortcrust shell filled with toasted pecans suspended in a custardy filling of brown sugar, eggs, butter, vanilla and a splash of bourbon. The filling sets to a barely-sweet caramel; the pecans on top toast deeply. Best slightly warm with bourbon-spiked whipped cream.
Overview
The defining dessert of the American South, and a Thanksgiving table fixture from Louisiana up through the Carolinas. You blind-bake a simple all-butter shortcrust shell to a deep gold, then toast pecans briefly in a dry pan to bring out their oils before scattering them across the base of the cooled crust. The filling is whisked smooth from eggs, brown sugar, golden syrup (or corn syrup), butter, vanilla, a slug of bourbon and a pinch of salt, then poured over the pecans where it bubbles up between the nuts. Bake at moderate heat until the centre has just set with a slight wobble - rushing it gives a runny centre, overbaking gives a dry, granular one. Eaten warm with a scoop of vanilla ice cream or a generous dollop of softly whipped cream, with the kitchen still smelling of toasted pecans an hour later.
Ingredients
Pastry
- 250 g plain flour
- 125 g cold unsalted butter (cubed)
- 30 g caster sugar
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 egg yolk (large)
- 3-4 tablespoons cold water
Filling
- 250 g pecan halves
- 200 g light brown sugar
- 100 g caster sugar
- 200 ml golden syrup (or light corn syrup)
- 80 g unsalted butter (melted)
- 4 eggs (large)
- 2 tablespoons bourbon (optional but classic)
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- ½ teaspoon salt
Method
Stage 1 - Pastry
- Rub the butter into the flour, sugar and salt until breadcrumb texture.
- Stir in the yolk; add cold water a tablespoon at a time until the dough comes together.
- Wrap; chill 1 hour.
Stage 2 - Blind bake
- Heat the oven to 200°C (180°C fan).
- Roll the pastry to 3 mm; line a 23 cm pie dish; trim with overhang; chill 15 minutes.
- Line with parchment; fill with baking beans.
- Bake 18 minutes; remove parchment and beans; bake 6 minutes more until the base is dry and pale gold.
- Reduce the oven to 170°C (150°C fan).
Stage 3 - Toast pecans
- Lay the pecans on a tray; toast in the oven (or a dry pan) 5-6 minutes until fragrant. Cool.
Stage 4 - Filling
- Whisk the brown and caster sugars with the golden syrup, melted butter, eggs, bourbon, vanilla and salt until smooth.
Stage 5 - Assemble
- Scatter the toasted pecans evenly across the pastry shell.
- Pour the filling slowly over - it'll seep around the pecans, and the pecans will mostly float to the top.
Stage 6 - Bake
- Bake 45-55 minutes until the filling has set around the edges and just-wobbles in the centre.
- If the crust browns too fast, cover the edges with foil at 30 minutes.
Stage 7 - Cool and serve
- Cool fully - at least 3 hours, ideally overnight. Cutting warm gives a runny filling.
- Slice and serve at room temperature, or briefly warmed; bourbon-whipped cream alongside.
Notes
- Don't overbake: The filling continues to set as it cools. Pull when the centre still wobbles slightly; rock-firm pie filling is overdone.
- Toast the pecans first: Untoasted pecans taste flat and slightly bitter under the sweet filling. The brief toast brings out their oils.
- Bourbon variations: A bourbon-rich version uses 4 tablespoons; the version above is moderate. Substitute extra vanilla for an alcohol-free pie.
Storage
- Keeps 3 days at room temperature, covered.
- Freezes 2 months.
More like this
Bread Pudding with Bourbon Sauce
The New Orleans bread pudding, the warm dessert that lands on the table at the end of every Cajun Sunday lunch with a slug of bourbon sauce poured over it. You tear a French baguette or stale brioche into chunks and soak them in a custard of whole eggs, double cream, milk, brown sugar, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg until they're saturated. Raisins (often rum-soaked the night before) and toasted pecans fold in for sweetness and crunch. The pudding bakes in a buttered dish at moderate heat until the top has crisped to deep bronze and the middle is just set but still soft and quivering. While it bakes you build the bourbon sauce: butter, sugar, an egg yolk and a generous slug of bourbon whisked over low heat into a glossy, silky pour. Spooned hot over the pudding at the table, the sauce running down the sides and pooling on the plate. A small scoop of vanilla ice cream alongside if you're feeling ambitious.
Bienenstich
A milk-and-butter enriched yeast dough proves to soft and pillowy. A honey-almond topping (butter, honey, sugar, cream, flaked almonds) cooks on the stovetop until thickly bubbling, then spreads on the proved dough and bakes together: the dough rises, the topping caramelises golden and chewy. Once cooled, the cake splits horizontally and fills with thick vanilla pastry cream (Konditorcreme) lightened with whipped cream.
Cannoli Siciliani
Ricotta is drained in muslin for at least 4 hours (overnight ideal) to lose the wet whey. A pastry dough of plain flour, sugar, cocoa, cinnamon, Marsala, vinegar, butter and egg yolk is mixed, kneaded smooth, rested for 30 minutes, then rolled out very thin (pasta-thin). Discs (12 cm) cut; wrapped around oiled metal cannoli forms; egg-wash sealed; deep-fried at 180°C for 90 seconds until amber and crackling. Cooled, the shells lift off the moulds. The drained ricotta sweetens with icing sugar, vanilla and orange zest; chocolate chips and chopped candied peel fold through. Piped into the shells at the moment of serving; ends dipped in chopped pistachio or chocolate; dusted with icing sugar.
Dobos Torte
Six thin sponge discs are baked separately at high heat for 6-8 minutes each. Five are layered with a French-style chocolate buttercream made from a hot sugar syrup whipped into yolks then enriched with butter and melted dark chocolate. The sixth disc gets glazed with hard caramel while still warm, marked into twelve wedges before it sets, and crowns the cake. Sides masked with more buttercream and dusted with toasted chopped hazelnuts.