Pecan Pie Recipe

Step 1

Make the pie crust. Mix flour and cold butter cubes in a ceramic mixing bowl using your hand(s) to work the butter into the flour. This may take several minutes of mixing. Once you have lots of little butter pieces, add 1 tbsp ice water into the dough and work it in. Add another tbsp, if necessary, until you can squeeze the dough in your hand and it holds together. There should be lots of crumbs still.

Step 2

Transfer dough and crumbs to a piece of unbleached parchment paper and use all sides of the paper to squish the dough into a ball so there are no longer any crumbs, just one piece of dough. Shape dough into an even round and cut it in half. Wrap each half in a piece of compostable cling wrap and flatten into a round disk. Move both disks to fridge for 1 hour or so before rolling out. You can also do this a day or 2 in advance.

Step 3

Lightly flour a counter surface. Place 1 pie disk on the counter and use a rolling pin to roll dough out to a large circle. Lift and rotate the dough between each roll to prevent sticking. The crust may crack while rolling out, just carefully press it back together. It won’t be perfect. When the dough is larger than your pie dish (12″ diameter), take the rolling pin and starting at the top of the dough, furthest away from you, roll the dough towards you, over the rolling pin. Lightly roll the dough over the pin until the entire dough is wrapped around the rolling pin. Carefully place rolling pin overtop your pie dish and unroll the dough onto the dish. Carefully press the dough down into the pie dish, without pushing hard. Flute the edges by folding the excess underneath, then pinching the edges with your thumb and fingers. Transfer the pie dish to the freezer for 30 minutes to 1 hour or more.

Step 4

Make the filling. Preheat oven to 425℉. In a small saucepan, melt and brown the butter over medium heat. After a few minutes of simmering, the milk solids will turn golden brown and will have a nutty smell. You will see little brown pieces on the bottom of the pan. Add the maple syrup to the pan and cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until the mixture thickens and reduces. About 3 minutes. Remove from heat and let cool for a few minutes, then stir the cream in slowly while you whisk. Set aside.

Step 5

In a medium bowl, combine the sugars, eggs, vanilla, and salt. Pour the cooled butter mixture into the bowl while stirring. Remove the pie crust from freezer and cover the base with 1 ½ cups chopped pecans, then pour the filling overtop. With the remaining pecans, decorate the top with pecan halves until the entire top is covered with pecan halves.

Step 6

Bake the pie for 15 minutes at 425℉, then reduce temperature to 350℉ and bake for additional 30-35 minutes. Pie will have puffed up in the center and look set. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely.

Make Ahead

Pie crust can be made days in advance. Whether you make the disks in advance and store in fridge or freeze the crust in the pie dish. Pie should be baked the night before you want to consume to ensure it has enough time to cool, especially if you’re serving on Thanksgiving Day, as you’ll have lots to do!