Best Pecan Pie Recipe

This best pecan pie recipe is filled with nuts and has a caramel-like sweet and gooey filling. It is all baked in a flaky, buttery pie crust.

Course Dessert

Cuisine North American

Prep Time 20

Cook Time 55

Additional Time 30

Total Time 1 45

Servings servings

Calories 601kcal

Author Nina

Equipment

one 9 inch pie pan

Ingredients

Pie Crust

2 cups all purpose flour
1 teaspoon granulate sugar
¼ teaspoon salt
⅔ cup shortening or lard chilled and cubed
5 tablespoons milk cold
5 tablespoons water cold

Pecan Pie Filling

2.5 cups pecans coarsely chopped
3 large eggs
1 cup dark corn syrup
½ cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons unsulfured molasses
¼ cup unsalted butter melted
½ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

US Customary - Metric

Instructions

Whisk flour, sugar and salt together in a large bowl. Add the shortening/lard to the bowl.
Using a pastry cutter, or two forks, cut the shortening into the mixture until the flour coated fats are pea sized.
Add the milk and water to a measuring cup and stir. Drizzle this in, 1 tablespoon at a time, and mix with a spoon or your hands. Do not add too much of the milk/water. Stop adding this when the dough comes together easily. You may need to use less in the summer and more in the winter. Form the dough into a ball.
Cut the dough into 2 balls of dough. You only need 1 ball of dough for this recipe, so freeze the other ball of dough for another use.
Flatten the ball of dough into 1-inch thick discs and wrap it with plastic wrap. Refrigerate for 30 minutes or up to 3 days.
Preheat oven to 350°F and grease a 9-inch pie pan and set aside. After the dough has chilled, roll it out on a floured surface. Turn the dough a quarter turn after every few rolls until you have a circle that is about 12 inches in diameter. Carefully place it into the prepared pie dish, using your fingers to smooth it out. Trim off any extra overhang with a knife. Flute the edges with your fingers.
Pour the chipped pecans into the bottom of the pie dish.
Make the filling by combining the eggs, corn syrup, molasses, butter, salt and vanilla. Whisk it together until there are no lumps.
Pour the filling overt the pecans and bake for 50-55 minutes or until the top is lightly browned. Let the pie cool at room temperature. The filling will set as it cools.
Serve the pie warm or at room temperature with a scoop of whipped cream or ice cream.
Cover and store the pie at room temperature for 2 days.

Notes

Make sure the pie cools completely after baking, about 2 hours! The filling will be too runny when it comes out of the oven and it needs this time to firm up.
The pie crust makes enough for a double crust pie. You only need 1 crust for this pie so freeze the other for another use. You can also use a store bought pie crust.
Use a pie shield partly through baking if you crust is getting too browned. Make your own by cutting a 9-inch circle with aluminum foil and then cutting a large hole out if it's center.
You can use light or dark corn syrup. Corn syrup is the glue that holds the pecan pie together and is most traditional in a pecan pie. I have no other substitutions for this.
If you want to add whisky to the pecan pie, reduce the corn syrup by 2 tablespoons and add in 2 tablespoons of your favourite whisky. Whisk it into the filling ingredients.
To make a different nut pie, just replace the 2.5 cups of chopped pecans with 2.5 cups of another nut.

Nutrition