Pecan Pie

Last Thursday was Valentine's Day and my Valentine's sweet spot is Pecan Pie.  He doesn't like a lot of sweets, but for some reason his favorite dessert is one of the sweetest, most sugary ones there is.  So my Valentine's Day present for him was to bake this classic treat.

I finally bought a pie plate for this special occasion, but I ended up getting one of those deep dish ones, so I had to double the pastry and the filling recipes.  Normal pie plates (9 inch) should be fine with the single recipe.

Overall, the recipe is very simple and straightforward to make.  I pulsed the pastry ingredients in my food processor (thanks Jess and Chris!), which made it much easier to cut the butter into the flour. This is normally a much more difficult and lengthy process when you do it with two knives and your hands.  So I recommend a food processor if you have one!  The filling is even easier to mix together and all you have to do is pour it over the pie crust before you throw it in the oven.

So if your sweetheart is sweet on this sweet, then I definitely recommend whipping this recipe up!

Pastry Dough Ingredients

Coarse Dough

Dough Flattened into Disk

Pecan Pie Filling Ingredients

Pastry Dough Pressed into Pie Plate

Unbaked Pie 1

Unbaked Pie 2

Baked Pie 1

Baked Pie 2

Baked Pie 3

Pastry Dough

1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 stick cold unsalted butter

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 to 5 tablespoons ice water

Pecan Pie Filling

3/4 stick unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar

3/4 cups light corn syrup

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon grated orange zest

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs

2 cups pecan halves (1/2 pound

1.) Blend together flour, butter and salt in a bowl with your fingertips or pastry blender (or pulse in a food processor) just until mixture resembles a coarse meal with some roughly pea-size butter lumps.

2.) Drizzle 3 tablespoons of ice water and gently stir with a fork (or pulse in processor) until incorporated.

3.) Squeeze a small handful; if it doesn't hold together, add more ice water, 1/2 tablespoon at a time, stirring (or pulsing) until incorporated, then test again.  Do not overwork dough or pastry will become tough.

4.) Turn out dough onto a lightly floured surface. Using your hands, mold the dough together into a ball.  The warmth of your hands will help distribute the fat.  Press the ball of dough into a 5-inch disk.  Chill, wrapped in plastic wrap until firm, about one hour.

5.) Preheat oven 350 degrees F with a baking sheet on middle rack

6.) Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface with a lightly floured rolling pin into a 12-inch round and fit into a 9-inch pie plate.  Trim edge, leaving 1/2 inch overhang.  Fold overhang under and lightly press against rim of pie plate, then crimp decoratively. Lightly prick bottom all over with a fork.  Chill until firm, at least 30 minutes (or freeze 10 minutes).

7.) Meanwhile, melt butter in a small, heavy saucepan over medium heat.  Add brown sugar, whisking until smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in corn syrup, vanilla, orange zest and salt.  Lightly beat eggs in a medium bowl, then whisk in corn syrup mixture.

8.) Put pecans in pie shell and pour corn syrup mixture evenly over them.  Bake on hot baking sheet until filling is set 50 minutes to one hour.  Cool completely.