Updated on November 20th, 2023
Pie has been known to man since ancient times. Pecans are native to the Southern United States and pecan pies have long been served as a holiday dish.
While the recipe we are learning today is the classic pecan pie recipe, people like to add their own variations like chocolate, bourbon and molasses.
Since pies are my speciality, I have tried the variations and I feel that each one of them has a unique flavour which will appeal to a certain population.
A lot of people have asked me about how could I tell if the pie was done or not. It took me some experience to realize that the pie takes quite a bit of time to fully set which means it isn’t really done until it is taken out of the oven and given enough time to set.
I would suggest you give it at least two hours before you decide to have the pie. When you take it out of the oven, the pie would jiggle a bit, but the structure would be somewhat firm.
If you insert a knife in the pie it should come out clean.
PrintPecan Pie Recipe
Ingredients
For crust
- 2 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 1 ¼ sticks unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
- 2 Large egg yolks
- 4 tbsp. ice water
- Kosher salt
For filling
- 2 cups pecan halves, divided
- 3 large eggs
- ¾ cup light corn syrup
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 2 tbsp. unsalted butter melted
- 1 tsp. vanilla extract
- ½ tsp. kosher salt
Instructions
For the crust –
- Take a large bowl and sift the flour along with a pinch of salt.
- Take the chilled cubes of butter and pinch them in the flour. Don’t use your palm, just put your fingertips to use.
- Keep pinching the butter in the flour till all the lumps have been broken and blended with the flour. Shake the bowl to bring up and large lumps of butter, if any, pinch them down.
- In a different bowl mix the egg yolks with ice water till the mixture is evenly combined. Add ¾ of the mixture and reserve ¼ as the pastry shouldn’t be wet.
- Using a fork mix everything till dough begins to come together. If you find the dough dry at some parts then add the egg yolk and ice mixture. Hold the dough in your palm and squeeze, if it is ready then it will hold together in a ball.
- When the dough is ready, transfer it to a clean surface and knead lightly to bring it together in the shape of a disc.
- Wrap this dough disc in a cling foil wrap and keep it in the refrigerator for 30 minutes. The pastry dough can be pre-made and chilled in the refrigerator for up to 4 days.
- After 30 minutes or when you are ready to make the pecan pie, preheat the oven at 350 degrees.
- Unwrap the pastry dough and lay it on a clean surface dusted with flour. Use more flour to dust the dough and roll it out. The dough will crack in the corners but that’s nothing to worry about.
- Roll a 1/8 inch dough and place it in a 9 inch pie dish. Cut-off excess dough (this will remove all the cracked dough) and then crimp the edges to give it a decorative look. If you have a pie-dish with crimped edges you can skip the crimping step.
- Place a parchment sheet in the center of the pie crust and add some weight to keep it down. You can use dried beans or pie weights.
- Bake the crust for 15 minutes, till the crust turns golden.
For the filling –
- Take a large bowl and add 1½ cup of pecans and along with it, add the corn syrup, sugar, eggs, melted butter, vanilla and salt. Give all the ingredients a good whisk.
- Remove the parchment sheet along with the dried beans/pie weights from the baked pie crust and pour the pecan filling in it.
- Add the remaining ½ cup pecans to the filling, layer them in circles or as you want it.
- Bake the pie for another 20 minutes. Once done, remove it and cover it with foil and return the pie to bake in the oven for another 40 minutes.
- Once done let the pie cool down completely.
Notes
- Slice the delicious pecan pie and serve it at room temperature or chilled with ice-cream or whipped cream.
