A Pecan Pie Recipe That Will Make You The Most Popular Baker On the Block

What is Pecan Pie?

Pecan pie is a delightful dessert made of pecans suspended in a smooth filling of butter, eggs, and corn syrup, held up by a flaky pie crust.

Pecan pie is quintessentially American and a part of the holy trinity of the US holiday desserts, along with pumpkin pie and apple pie.

Variations to the classic pecan pie include maple syrup, bourbon, whiskey, chocolate, or a shortbread crust, and these variations can be as delicious as the original. Vanilla and salt are commonly used as flavoring in most recipes for the pecan pie. These pies are frequently served with vanilla ice-cream, whipped cream, and hard sauce (a liquor-based sauce).

Where Did Pecan Pie Come From?

Pecan pie is considered to have originated in southern United States. However, there are a few competing stories about the origins of this iconic dish. For instance, the Karo syrup makers claim to have given birth to the pecan pie in the 1930s to encourage use of their corn syrup. However, there is evidence that molasses and cane syrups were used in classic pecan pie versions which suggests that the pecan pie predates corn syrup.

Pecans are native to the southern parts of the US and were a prominent part of the diet of the native Americans in this area 8,000 years ago. Pecans grew along the region watered by the Mississippi river, extending a little to the east of Alabama. After the Civil War (1861-1865), new pecan varieties were brought in by commercial developers to grow in the state of Georgia. In the 1800s, grafted pecan trees emerged in Louisiana too.

The nut's name is taken from the French 'pacane', which in turn emerged from the Algonquian word for 'nut'. So it is often assumed that French settlers in New Orleans and Louisiana invented the pecan pie after they were introduced to pecans by local American tribes.

The earliest pecan pie recipes started to appear in the 1870s and 1880s in cookbooks from Texas. According to one narrative, the first recipe for the pecan pie as we know it today appeared in an issue of Harper's Bazaar in 1886. Another theory pushes the emergence of the first pecan pie recipe by a few years. According to the second narrative, the recipe was sent by a woman from Texas and was published in a church charity cookbook in St. Louis in 1898.

Pecan pie recipes started to spread beyond Texas at the beginning of the 20th century. Their popularity surged in the mid-1920s when the Karo syrup manufacturers started to print a pecan pie recipe on their cans, James McWilliams reveals in his book 'The Pecan- A History of America's Native Nut'. As Karo syrup was widely distributed, more and more consumers learnt about the pecan pie.

How to Make A Pecan Pie- Ingredients

Let's now look at how to bake an old-fashioned pecan pie. It takes about 3 hours, 10 minutes to prepare. This includes time taken to bring together the ingredients, cook, and cool the pie. Here's what's needed . . .

• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup of corn syrup
• 1 cup of brown sugar
• 3 tablespoons of butter
• 1/4 cup of maple syrup
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 1 1/2 cups of coarsely chopped pecans
• A pinch of salt
• 1 frozen or unbaked deep-dish pie crust measuring 9 inches

How to Make A Pecan Pie- Steps

1. Preheat the oven to 350 F and use parchment paper to line a baking sheet.
2. Place the coarsely chopped pecans on the baking sheet. Toast them for five minutes, making sure the nuts become fragrant but don't burn.
3. Set the toasted pecans aside. Lower the temperature of the oven to 300 F.
4. Mix the eggs, corn syrup, brown sugar, butter, maple syrup, salt, and vanilla in a bowl. Whisk the ingredients until they turn smooth.
5. Stir in the toasted pecans.
6. Pour the pie filling into the pie crust. Bake for 60 to 70 minutes. The pie gets done when its center is by and large set. Use a food thermometer to confirm that the pie temperature is 205-210 F.
7. Remove the pie from the oven and let it cool for two hours. Once the pie reaches room temperature, transfer it to a refrigerator.

How to Get the Perfect Crust

To get the perfect pecan pie crust make sure that the dough is not overworked. Give the dough a rest once it comes together.

After the dough is mixed and rolled out, cool it in the fridge for two hours at the minimum. This ensures that the fat cools and solidifies and the gluten is allowed to relax. This gives the pecan pie a soft, flaky crust.

Before rolling out the dough, flour the work surface and rolling pin. This allows the dough to be rolled out easily, without creating a sticky mess. Roll the dough between two plastic wrap sheets so that it doesn't stick.

Pie fillings contain a lot of moisture. During baking, those juices are released into the dough. You need to blind-bake for the pie crust to stand up to the moisture released.

Blind-baking refers to the process of pre-baking the crust in a pie pan with the help of pie weights, sugar, or dried beans.

Pie weights are weighted oven-safe objects that you bake on a pie crust bottom. They prevent crust shrinkage, air pockets, and underbaking. Steel ball-bearings can be used as pie weights. Uncooked rice or beans can be used as pie-weight substitutes.

Blind baking helps create a base that can withstand wet filling.

How to Make Your Pecan Pie More Interesting

Here are some tips that are sure to make your pecan pie even more delicious-

1. Toast your pecans for a smoky, slightly bitter flavor that will complement the sweetness of your pie beautifully. Mix half a cup of diced pecans into the batter for the filling. Then, top with a cup of whole pecans. The nuts of the top toast as the pie is baked. The diced nuts are pre-toasted by heating in an oven for six to eight minutes at 350 F until they assume a deep, mahogany color. The pecans should be dark enough to produce a 'nutty' smell. However, be careful not to burn the nuts. Instead of dicing them, put them in a zip-lock bag and pound them gently with a cast-iron skillet.

2. Substitute a few tablespoons of whiskey or rum for an equal quantity of milk or cream in the pecan pie filling. Alcohol, much like sugar and salt, enhances the flavor of food. Whiskey or rum added to your pecan pie will enhance the buttery flavor of the pie crust and the toastiness of the pecans.

3. Chocolate can be paired with nuts in a pecan pie to good effect. You could use cocoa powder in the pie crust. The bitter chocolatey taste of the crust contrasts wonderfully with the sweet filling. You can add chocolate to the pie filling as well. Chocolate chips, or chopped chocolate, may be stirred into the pie batter or added to the unbaked pie crust. This again produces a delectable contrast of sweet and bitter flavors.

4. Sprinkle some salt on top of the pie filling prior to, or after the pie is baked. This helps temper the sweetness of the sugar.

Cooking Tips and Tricks

Make sure you bake the pie on top of a baking sheet with a rim. This will make it easier to move the pie into the oven and out of it and also catch spills.

Pay attention to Food Temperature. The pecan pie must attain a minimum temperature of 200 F, although it is advisable to cook it to a temperature of 210 F. Given the high amount of sugar in the filling, a slightly higher temperature will allow the filling to set properly. Other pies such as pumpkin pie set even at 175 F as their sugar content is lower.

Use dark or light corn syrup based on your preference. The former has added molasses and the former offers a flavor resembling vanilla.

You can prevent the crust of pecan pie from burning by covering the edges with pie crust protector or foil. This protective covering can be removed for the final 15 minutes of baking.

Feel free to use extra pecan nuts. You may also add an extra egg or a tablespoon of cornstarch or flour to make the filling more solid. However, this may alter the taste of the pie and needs to be used sparingly.

The pecan pie is an egg-rich dessert and should not be allowed to remain at room temperature for more than two hours, and should quickly be placed in a refrigerator.

A store-bought pecan pie can be put in a box, or plastic-wrapped and placed in a refrigerator. Freshly baked pecan pies need to be cooled for around two hours before being refrigerated. Don't wrap the pie too tightly in aluminum foil or plastic wrap as that would ruin the texture and shape of your pie. The wrapped pie can be stored in a refrigerator or refrigerated Holding Cabinets for up to four days.

The pecan pie can be taken out of the refrigerator and served cool. Alternatively, it may be reheated at 325 F in an oven for 15 minutes.

Pecan pies can also be frozen, wrapped in plastic wrap or aluminum foil and stored for up to two months.