The Delicious Pecan Pie Recipe 15 Min
We’re making the perfect Pecan Pie Recipe. So let’s get started. First off the crust, you have two options here. A store-bought frozen pie shell, which often comes outta the container shattered and useless, sad. Or you can make your easy pie crust. This is chilled for an appropriate amount of time, and we’re just gonna roll it out on a lightly flowered surface.
Ingredients:
For the Homemade Pie Crust:
- 1 homemade or store-bought frozen pie shell (9-inch)
For the Pecan Pie Filling:
- 1 1/2 cups pecans, chopped and toasted
- 1 cup dark corn syrup (or substitute with Lyle’s Golden Syrup, honey, or maple syrup)
- 3/4 cup granulated sugar
- 4 tablespoons (57 grams) unsalted butter, melted
- 3 large eggs
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- Flaked salt for finishing (optional)
If you are using a pre-made pie shell or you froze in advance, just skip ahead. If you get any cracking, just go ahead and pinch things together. And I will tell you that the crust is half of the pie. The pie itself is very sweet syrupy, and crunchy. It’s delicious. But the shell is your respite. It’s very crisp, flaky, hardly sweet at all, and it balances everything out, along with a big dollop of whipped cream or a scoop of ice cream.
Preparing the Homemade Pie Crust
This is a nine-inch pie, so I’m gonna roll this out to about 12 inches. Once your dough is all rolled out, it’s time to grab a nine-inch pie tin, preferably a metal one. This will give you a much crisper crust. If you’re using a ceramic pie dish, they’re great. But this one’s better, it’s just gonna give you a browner golden crust.
As you can see there are holes on the bottom, which means that the air will circulate a bit more and things will just be crisp. It’s time to transfer your dough, and this is where a pastry mat comes in handy. If things are getting sticky, you just take it off the counter, pop it in the fridge, and then let it set up. All right, you do not wanna press your dough down. It could crack and break.
Crimping and Freezing the Crust
And also you don’t want to stretch it. So instead, push it from the edge inward. Okay, grab some scissors. We’re gonna trim this up now. Just there’s an inch of overhang. All right, the last step here is just to fold the edge underneath and then crimp things up. If your dough’s cracking up, just smooth it out later. Don’t worry about it. Try and get an even-ish overhang, so it’s not gonna be like dipping down drastically in one section.
And once you’re there, it’s time to give it a crimp. I like to use my thumb and two fingers. It’s for a super basic crimp, but some of them get so fancy. It’s up to you. I’m giving my points, just a little extra pinch for a bit of extra style, but we’ll see if they hold. Okay, that looks pretty nice. It’s ready to go into the freezer for at least 45 minutes, but I like to do an hour or two.
Customizing the Crust and Filling Preparation
And if I’m making one, I often just make two. That way you can bake one pie now and then have an empty shell leftover for a lemon meringue, a chocolate, a coconut cream, a banana pie, anything you want. Right, into the freezer. Making your pie crust is a little bit of extra work, but the flavor and texture are so much better in my humble opinion.
And the process is fun. Plus, you can put your spin on things. If you wanted to, you could have added a little bit of cocoa powder, cinnamon, or your favorite spices to add a little bit of extra depth of flavor. When your crust is frozen and you’re ready to start the filling, set your oven to 425 so it’s nice and hot. It’s time to get to chopping, specifically 1 1/2 cups of pecans.
Filling Assembly and Mixing Ingredients
You can buy them pre-chopped, but I didn’t. while I chop, this is a pecan pie, but would it be delicious with walnuts? Sure, if you like walnuts. I like pecans. But you could also. So you could use walnuts or if you wanted to add in some chopped chocolate, that could be delicious. Macadamia nuts. Anything crunchy is gonna be. This pecan pie is basically like a custard pie, except instead of milk, you’re using an inverted sugar, like corn syrup, maple syrup, or honey.
Inside of that, you want some delicious, crunchy things. So gather ye delicious, crunchy things and add them in, about 1 1/2 to 2 cups. Okay, by the way, I always like to toast my pecans whenever I use them for baking. So if you haven’t toasted yours, pop ’em into the oven, 350 for like 10 minutes. Just give ’em a mix every few minutes.
Easy Pecan Pie Recipe
All my prep work is done. We will set this aside and grab a big bowl to get to work. All right, I am gonna grab a scale now because corn syrup is so annoying to measure out. Today I’m gonna use dark corn syrup, but you have your choice. You could use Lyle’s Golden Syrup, you could use honey, you could use maple syrup. Any kind of inverted sugar is gonna be great in this. You’ll want one cup of your inverted sugar, that’s 240 miles or 350 grams.
I will say that if you use maple syrup, for example, which is thinner than this, it’ll bake up just fine. But your nuts might be just kinda like on the bottom more than the top, but that’s fine. Okay, that’s good. Zero your scale out. You also want 3/4 of a cup of granulated sugar. It’s 150 grams. Four tablespoons or 57 grams of melted butter. To help hold things together, three large eggs.
Pecan Pie Recipe
Two teaspoons of vanilla for some flavor. Today I’m using vanilla, which is amazing, but you could also use brandy, rum, and bourbon. These are all spirits that you can also use to make vanilla, just by the way. So play with the flavors as you like. This is a classic pecan pie, but you could add your favorite spices, cinnamon, allspice, nutmeg, mace, and cardamom.
These are all delicious warming things that’ll only complement your pecan pie. So use your favorites. I would say a max of 1 1/2 teaspoons total. This sweet pie needs contrast. So we’re gonna add 3/4 of a teaspoon of salt that’s gonna go in and give you some balance. Whenever you have something sweet, you need the salt, so you can taste the actual dessert. Otherwise, it’s a flat note of sugar and the taste does not delight your palate. Grab a whisk and we’re gonna mix this up.
History of Pecan Pie Recipes
This is a quintessentially American Pecan pie. Pecan trees are native to this country, and it was the Native Americans who introduced them to American colonists, be they from England or France. There’s a lot of debate on who baked the first pecan pie and where. New Orleans, Alabama, the Northeast. I’m not gonna get in on it, but either way, it’s a delicious classic Pecan Pie Recipe that we all love.
Okay, stir this up until it is well combined. The one ingredient that can give you some trouble is the corn syrup. It’s just so thick that you have to mind the bottom of your bowl and make sure it’s all combined well. That looks lovely. look at that, so rich and thick. Grab your frozen pecan pie crust and place it on a baking sheet.
Filling the Pecan pie Crust and Final Touches
This is just in case there are any spills. And now for the fun part, we’re gonna fill the bottom with our pecans or whatever you’re adding. By the way, if you wanted to, you could have mixed your nuts or whatever else you’re using with that sugary filling and then poured it in. This is just a little bit easier on cleanup because there aren’t little mixed nut bits in my bowl.
Now, we’re gonna add in this fragrant delicious filling. So pour that in all over your pecans. Ooh, that’s nice. Look at all those pecans floating right on up. This looks nice, it could look better. So I’m just gonna arrange some pecans over the top in little concentric circles because it sparks joy for me, but it’s optional for you. See, that’s looking better already.
Best Pecan Pie Recipe
It’s a nice little extra touch just to show people that you care. The final pecan goes on. And as an optional step, I’m gonna add a little bit of flaked salt just for kind of a punch. My beautiful pecan pie is ready to go into the oven, at 425 for 15 minutes, then reduced to 350, and cook for an additional 35 to 40 minutes, or until it’s a little bit puffed, but has a slight wobble in the center.
If the crust is getting too dark, loosely tent with foil at any time. If you go. Allow your pecan pie to cool completely, and then pecan pie’s ready to enjoy. This is gonna be good. You just can’t beat those flavors. And the combination of that gooey filling with all the crunchy pecan pie and that nice crisp butter crust with a dollop of whipped cream is impossible to beat.
