Staying with Thanksgiving.
Once the turkey has been consumed, it is customary to round off the festive feast with a traditional dessert. The pumpkin pie is the quintessential go-to Thanksgiving dessert, and I personally put it in the same category as rhubarb pie: most pretend to enjoy them if they must, but would prefer something a little more classy, attractive and tasty if given the opportunity.
The pecan pie, made with a filling of freshly ground pecan nuts mixed with quality Canadian maple syrup and topped with a kaleidoscope display of fresh pecans is my preferred dessert choice to round off a Thanksgiving dinner.
A pecan pie can be a little time consuming and fiddly, but don’t be put off. Aside from placing all those attractive little fresh pecan nuts on top of the filling, it is relatively simple to put together.
You won’t be disappointed.
Pie crust:
- 100 g sugar
- 200 g butter or margarine, cubed small
- 300 g all-purpose flour
- Pinch of salt
- 1 egg
- Capful of vanilla essence
- Zest of one lemon
- Flour for dusting
Method:
Put sugar, salt and flour into a mixing bowl, and using the paddle attachment, mix for a minute on low speed. Add butter or margarine and increase speed to medium. When the mixture starts to look like coarse bread crumbs, add the egg, vanilla and zest. It will come together in a few seconds. Remove, wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
Dust bench top and roll out the pastry to a thickness of about 3 mm. Ensure the pastry is well dusted top and bottom so it doesn’t stick.
Roll the pastry up on the rolling pin and unroll it over the baking form. Gently press into the baking form, ensuring that you have excess dough inside the pan so it doesn’t get cut short by the rim when pushing into the pan. Roll the rolling pin across the rim of the pan to cut off the excess dough. Place baking pan with dough in fridge until needed.
Filling and topping: (enough for two pies )
- 450 g ground pecan nuts
- 170 g real Canadian maple syrup
- 150 g brown sugar (not demerara)
- 4 eggs, lightly whisked by hand
- 170 g cream
- 100 g melted butter
- 400-500 whole pecan nuts
- Miro or nappage
Method:
Grind the pecan nuts in a food processor: best to pulse so it doesn’t turn into an oily mush. In a largish bowl add the ground pecan, maple syrup, brown sugar, eggs, cream and melted butter. Mix with a whisk until all is combined, remove baking pan from fridge and pour in the filling, leaving ½ to 1 cm of space from the top, as the mix will rise when baking.
This is the fun part now: place the pecan nuts on top of the pie mixture, starting from the outside as shown in the picture.
Place in a pre-heated oven at 170°C and bake for about 30 minutes. Remove and leave to cool. If you want it nice and shiny, warm two tablespoons of nappage and a tablespoon of water in a small bowl on a bain marie and mix until smooth, then gentle brush the top of the pie.
Pecan pie: voila.
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