OLD-FASHIONED PECAN PIE
This is my husband’s favorite pie and I love to make it for him! As the title suggests, it’s an old-school, don’t-mess-with-perfection, classic recipe the way our grandmothers used to make it.
Old-Fashioned Pecan Pie
Serves 8
Ingredients
Flaky Pie Crust for 9-inch pie (see recipe below or use your own or use a store- bought one)
1 1/2 cups pecans, halves or pieces
3 large eggs
1/2 cup light brown sugar
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted but not hot
1/4 teaspoon salt
vanilla ice cream (optional)
Directions
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
Fit pie crust into a 9-inch pie plate and refrigerate until needed.
Toast pecans on a cookie sheet for about 5-6 minutes, just until fragrant. Watch closely and be careful not to burn. Set aside to cool while you work on next steps.
In a large bowl, whisk eggs, brown sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, melted butter and salt until well combined. Stir in toasted pecans.
Pour filing into the pie shell and bake on the middle rack of the oven for about 45-50 minutes, until center of pie is set and does not jiggle. If pie crust edges are browning too quickly during baking, use a pie crust shield or fit a ring of foil around crust rim.
When finished baking, cool pie on a wire rack.
Pie can be served at room temperature, warmed or chilled depending on your preference. I like to serve mine with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. (You can rewarm the pie at 325 degrees for about 15 minutes)
*Pecan Pie can be stored for only a day or two at room temperature, but it freezes beautifully for up to 2 months. To freeze, wrap baked pie tightly with plastic wrap, followed by foil, leaving no openings or gaps (or wrap in a large freezer-safe baggie). When ready to serve, thaw at room temperature.
Flaky Pie Crust for a 1-Crust Pie
Be sure to keep your butter and shortening very cold from the refrigerator. It’s the secret to a flaky crust!
Ingredients
1 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
1 Tablespoon sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 cup cold butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes
1/4 cup cold vegetable shortening, cut into roughly 1/2-inch cubes
3-4 Tablespoons ice water
Directions
In a large bowl, mix flour sugar and salt.
Add cold butter and shortening cubes to flour mixture and pinch cubes with your fingertips until mixture forms clumps about the size of tiny peas (clumps will be uneven.)
Quickly sprinkle ice water, 1 Tablespoon at a time, over all of the flour mixture, tossing lightly with a spoon until you can form the dough into a ball. (Don’t overwork dough.)
Flatten the ball into a disk, wrap in plastic wrap and let rest refrigerated for at least 30 minutes. (Dough can rest in the refrigerator for up to 5 days.)
When ready to use, remove pie disk from refrigerator and let sit at room temperature for 10 minutes just to soften a bit.
Dust surface and rolling pin lightly with flour and roll disk into an 12-inch circle of about 1/8th thickness. Close up any cracks by pinching them together and smoothing out gently with the rolling pin.
Gently fit dough into the bottom of a pie plate and crimp edges with your fingers. Cover up any holes or cracks at this time. (A little water can be used to help with cracks just by dipping your finger in wet and gently pinching the dough back together.)
Bake as directed in your recipe.
