# Ignorant about pecan pies



## lotuscakestudio (Jun 28, 2001)

I grew up in Hawaii where we don't eat pecan pie. In fact, I don't think I even heard of it until I was at least 17 or 18. But by then I hadn't been eating eggs for a couple years so pecan pie was out of the question anyway. Then when I was 20, my friend baked me an eggless pecan pie. It was the most amazing thing in the world. I ate a whole pie in one day and yes, I was sick. But it was soooo good.

I should have gotten the recipe from her, b/c later when I started working in pastry, I had to make pecan pies all the time and started craving them. But the egg content was too high and I didn't even know where to start to replace them. Now, seven years later after my first pecan pie, I finally found my egg replacer to make it happen (or at least I think it will make it happen) and I need a good recipe to try. The ones I made before were at Whole Foods so the recipe called for Sucanat and things like that. I don't want that; it's eggs I can't eat. I am ALL about sugar. I want a a real deal recipe from "Down South" or "Grandma's kitchen" without the frou frou. I keep finding recipes with other things thrown in for a modern version. I'm sure the added chocolate chips are just great, but I just want a *pecan* pie. I am also wondering about the pecan to gooey stuff ratio. Supposedly, an "authentic" pecan pie is almost all pecans with just enough of that gooey stuff to hold it together. That sounds pretty yummy and that sounds like what I had when my friend made it. I did notice that when I used to make them at Whole Foods, it was more goo than pecans. I know there has to be a pecan pie buff on this board, so please share your wisdom!


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## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

I'm not really a pecan pie fan, but I do have Martha's pie book and there is a recipe in it. I'm sure there is also a pecan pie in Rose Levy Beranbaum's Pie & Pastry Bible. 

Just let me know what recipe you'd like and I'll copy it for you.


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## isa (Apr 4, 2000)

How about Emeril's recipe? I found these recipes on the Food Network website.

*Pecan Pie*

1 prepared 9-inch pie shell, uncooked
1 3/4 cups pecan pieces
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup Steen's 100 percent Pure Cane Syrup
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1/2 stick butter, softened
1 tablespoon flour

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Spread the pecans evenly on the bottom of the pie shell. In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, brown sugar, cane syrup, vanilla, salt, butter, and flour, together. Mix well. Pour the mixture over the pecans. Bake for about 1 hour, or until the filling sets. Remove the pie from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before slicing.

Recipe courtesy of Emeril Lagasse

*Pecan Pie*

1 prepared 9-inch pie shell, uncooked
1 3/4 cups pecan pieces
4 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup light brown sugar
1/4 cup Steen's 100 percent Pure Cane Syrup
1/4 cup light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
Pinch of salt
1/2 stick butter, softened
1 tablespoon flour

Preheat the oven to 375 °F. Spread the pecans evenly on the bottom of the pie shell. In a mixing bowl, whisk the eggs, sugar, brown sugar, cane syrup, vanilla, salt, butter, and flour, together. Mix well. Pour the mixture over the pecans. Bake for about 1 hour, or until the filling sets. Remove the pie from the oven and allow to cool for 10 minutes before slicing.

Recipe Courtesy of Emeril Lagasse

*Southern Pecan Pie*

Sweet Dough, for a 1 crust pie

Filling:
1 cup dark corn syrup 
3/4 cup sugar 
6 tablespoons butter 
3 large eggs 
Pinch salt 
2 tablespoons Bourbon 
2 cups pecan halves or pieces, or a combination, about 8 ounces 
One 9 inch Pyrex pie pan

To make the filling, combine corn syrup and sugar in saucepan and stir to mix. Place over low heat and bring to a boil, without stirring. Remove from heat, add butter and allow butter to melt. In a mixing bowl, whisk eggs until liquid and whisk in salt and Bourbon. Whisk in syrup and butter mixture, being careful not to over mix. Allow to cool while rolling and forming the bottom crust.

Set a rack at the lowest level of the oven and preheat to 350 degrees.

Arrange pecans in crust. Skim foam from top of filling (or the top will have an unattractively mottled surface) and pour over pecans. With the back of a fork, press the pecans down into the filling so that they are covered.

Bake the pie for about 45 minutes, until the crust is baked through and the filling is set and well puffed in the center. Cool the pie on a rack and serve warm or at room temperature.

*SWEET DOUGH FOR PIES*

One-crust pie, about 10 ounces dough:
1 1/4 cups all-purpose bleached flour
1/4 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
4 tablespoons (1/2 stick) cold unsalted butter
1 large egg

Two-crust pie, about 1 1/4 pounds dough:
2 1/2 cups all-purpose bleached flour 
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) cold unsalted butter
2 large eggs

To mix the dough by hand, combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in a medium mixing bowl and stir well to mix. Cut butter into 1-tablespoon pieces and add to dry ingredients. Toss once or twice to coat pieces of butter. Then using your hands or a pastry blender, break the butter into tiny pieces and pinch and squeeze it into the dry ingredients. Occasionally reach down to the bottom of the bowl and mix all the ingredients evenly together. Continue rubbing the butter into the dry ingredients until the mixture resembles a coarse-ground cornmeal and no large pieces of butter remain visible. Beat the egg(s) in a small bowl and pour over the flour and butter mixture. Stir in with a fork until the dough begins to hold together, but still appears somewhat dry. Scatter a teaspoon of flour on the work surface and scrape the dough out onto it. Press and knead the dough quickly 3 or 4 times, until it is smooth and uniform.

To mix the dough in the food processor, combine flour, sugar, salt and baking powder in work bowl fitted with metal blade. Pulse 3 times at 1-second intervals to mix. Cut butter into 1 tablespoon pieces and add to work bowl. Process, pulsing repeatedly at 1-second intervals, until the mixture is fine and powdery, resembles a coarse-ground cornmeal and no large pieces of butter remain visible, about 15 pulses in all. Add the egg(s) to the work bowl and pulse ten times or so, until the dough forms a ball. Scatter a teaspoon of flour on the work surface and scrape the dough out onto it. Press and knead the dough quickly 3 or 4 times, until it is smooth and uniform. Press the dough into a disk (two equal disks for the larger amount of dough). Sandwich the disk(s) of dough between two pieces of plastic wrap and press it into a 6-inch circle. Refrigerate the dough until firm, or until you are ready to use it, at least 1 hour.

Storage: Keep the dough in the refrigerator up to two days, or freeze it double-wrapped in plastic. Because the dough is thin, it will defrost quickly at room temperature when you intend to use it.

Recipe courtesy of Nick Malgieri

*Pecan Pie *

FOR THE DOUGH:

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
7 tablespoons cold unsalted butter
1/4 cup ice water

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Sift the flour and salt into a mixing bowl. Using the large holes of a hand grater, grate the butter into the mixing bowl with the flour mixture. Lightly blend the butter and flour mixture with your fingertips until the texture is like coarse cornmeal. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Add the ice water and blend until thoroughly incorporated. Form the dough into a ball and place it on a floured cutting board. Roll out the dough, adding flour as necessary, to 1/8-inch thick. Place an 8 1/2-inch pie pan face down on the dough and cut the dough to fit the pan, leaving a border of about 1-inch. Line the pie pan with the dough, trim the edges, and refrigerate until ready to use.

FOR THE FILLING:

3 eggs
1 cup granulated white sugar
1 cup dark corn syrup
2 tablespoons melted unsalted butter
1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup darkly roasted pecans, ground
1 cup medium pecan pieces

In an electric mixer with the wire whisk attachment, add the eggs and beat on high speed until frothy, about 1 minute. Add the sugar, corn syrup, butter, vanilla, salt, and ground roasted pecans. Beat on medium speed until well blended. Stir in the pecan pieces. Pour the filling into the pie shell. Bake in a preheated 350 degree oven for 40 minutes. Reduce the heat to 325 degrees and bake until the filling is browned on top and the crust is light golden brown, 35 to 40 minutes. Remove from the oven and cool at room temperature for 1 hour before serving.

Recipe courtesy Frank Brigtsen, Brigtsen's Restaurant, New Orleans, LA


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## marmalady (Apr 19, 2001)

This one's a little different in its methodology, as it precooks the sugars and butters; I got the idea out of one of those junior league cookbooks years ago, and adapted the ingredients a little. It's the only PP I make now (other than a chocolate bourbon pecan pie!), and having run it by some true PP afficianandos and witnessed the eye rolls and ummmmmms, it must be pretty good!

Pecan Pie filling:

5 extra-large eggs
1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar
1/2 cup dark corn syrup (or Steens)
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/2 cup unsalted butter
2tsp. vanilla
1/2 tsp. salt
2 cups toasted pecan halves or large pieces

1 9" unbaked pie shell

Preheat oven to 375.

Heat sugar, corn syrup, butter til the sugar dissolves. Cool to room temp. Add eggs, vanilla and salt, and beat on med. til eggs are just frothy. Stir in pecans and pour into a 9" unbaked pie shell.

Bake 45-50 minutes, til filling is golden and puffy and jiggles only slightly in the center. Cool on a rack. 

I love this pie; it's not too sweet, as are some of the PP's I've tasted, and cooking the filling first gives it a melt in your mouth texture. Yum. Maybe i'll go make one!


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## lotuscakestudio (Jun 28, 2001)

Thank you Isa and Marmalady! I just hate doing random searches on Google for recipes. You know, the ones anyone in the world could have posted who may have never even tried to make it. I even tried searching our forums for pecan pie, but for some reason, it wouldn't let me (?). Anyhow.... 

Isa, I think these will keep me plenty busy, but if I am searching for something more, I will definitely take you up on your offer for Martha's or Rose's recipes. 

Thanks again to you both!


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## mudbug (Dec 30, 1999)

You may find the following eggless recipes interesting (let us know if you like them):

Caramel Pecan Pie
8 servings

Ê 1 Ê9 inch pie shell, pre-baked for 12 minutes at 350 degrees f 
Ê 1 Êcup firmly packed brown sugar 
Ê3/4 Êcup butter 
Ê1/2 Êcup honey 
Ê3 Êtablespoons sugar 
Ê1/2 Êcup heavy cream 
Ê1/4 Êteaspoon vanilla 
Ê3 Êcups pecans (toasted and chopped) 

1 Combine sugars, butter, and honey in a heavy-bottom sauce pan. 
2 Cook over medium heat, and stir only until melted. 
3 Heat until mixture reaches 240 degrees F on a candy thermometer. 
4 Remove from heat and stir in heavy cream and pecans (mixture will bubble slightly). 
5 Pour into pre-baked pie shell and bake for approximately 30-35 minutes. 
6 Cool. 

APPLE PECAN PIE

1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/3 cup butter melted
1 pie crust
6 cups (6 medium) sliced, peeled apples
1/4 cup sugar
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon nutmeg

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. In a 9-inch pie pan, combine pecans,
brown sugar, and butter; spread evenly over bottom of pan. Place
bottom of crust over pecan mixture in pan.

In a large bowll, combine apples, sugar, flour, cinnamon, and
nutmeg; mix lightly. Spoon into pie crust-lined pan. Top with
second crust and flute; cut slits in several places. Bake for 40
to 50 minutes or until crust is golden brown and apples are tender.
Cool pie upright in pan for 5 minutes. Place serving plate over
pie; invert. Carefully remove pan. Some nuts may remain in pan;
replace on pie with knife. Cool at least 1 hour before serving.
Garnish as desired.


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## shroomgirl (Aug 11, 2000)

In light of all the wonderful recipes I'm almost reticient to say the recipe on the back of corn syrup jar is great add additional pecans and throw in a TBL or so of Maker's Mark. Pecans are fresh in the fall you're a couple monthes too early, at this time they will either be frozen or not fresh. Southern Louisiana pecans are incredible but Mo has some really fine tiny ones.


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## mudbug (Dec 30, 1999)

Yes, it's hard to beat those recipes printed on the products. They are usually selected because they're the favorite out of thousands of recipes.

Here's the Karo Syrup *Classic Pecan Pie* recipe:

3 eggs, slightly beaten 
1 cup sugar 
1 cup KARO light or dark corn syrup (light is preferred)
2 tablespoons butter melted 
1 teaspoon vanilla 
1 1/2 cups chopped pecans 
1 (9-inch) unbaked or frozen deep-dish piecrust

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In a large bowl, stir together first five ingredients until well blended. Stir in pecans. Pour into piecrust. Bake in 350 degree oven for 50-55 minutes or until knife inserted halfway between center and edge comes out clean. Cool on wire rack.

Serves 8


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