Pecan Pie

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A beautiful American-style pecan pie made from roasted pecans in a caramel toffee filling, encased in sweet short pastry. This delicious recipe is perfect for entertaining guests.

A birds eye shot of a cooked pecan pie with a slice removed. The slice removed is served on a small white plate with a scoop of vanilla ice cream

Pecan Pie is a classic American thanksgiving dish. Indulgent, sweet, homely, nutty and buttery - the ultimate comfort food dessert. This recipe is super simple to make. It uses store-bought sweet short pastry, oven roasted pecans and a simple melt and mix toffee filling.

While this is a lovely dish to make for Thanksgiving, it truly can be made at any time of the year here in New Zealand. If you are hosting a Thanksgiving celebration though, why not try my Homemade Pumpkin Pie as well?

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Ingredient notes:
Step by step instructions:
Recipe FAQs:
Storage:
Top tips:
Related Recipes:
Pecan Pie

Ingredient notes:

The ingredients to make pecan pie on a marble bench top

Pecans: The namesake ingredient of the dish! I used chopped pecans to go in the filling, then added some whole pecans on top to decorate.
Maple flavoured syrup: I'm talking about the affordable imitation stuff here, as it’s the sugar syrup we need to help the pie set. It’s substituted for the corn syrup which is traditionally used in North American baking. If you have corn syrup you could use it too. The maple gives a lovely extra flavour that goes so well with the pecans. Don’t opt for fancy pure maple syrup as your pie might not set properly unless some flour is added but we haven’t tested that out! You could also use golden syrup as another substitute
Sweet short pastry: I buy this pastry pre-made from the supermarket in block form. You could also make your won if you like, I have a great recipe for Sweet Short Pastry here.

Note: Scroll to the recipe card for the ingredients, quantities and the full method.

Step by step instructions:

Preheat the oven to 170°C fan bake. Grease a 24 cm pie dish and add a circle of baking paper to the base. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured bench top, line the pie dish, prick all over with a fork. Chill in the fridge for 10 mins. Blind bake the pastry case for 15 minutes, or until golden and the base is just cooked. Set aside to cool.

Fingers gently pressing pastry into a pie dish to form the edge

Pastry pushed into a pie tin with a few fork holes to help the pastry cook evenly

Spread pecans on a tray and bake for 5 minutes or until you can smell them roasting. Remove from the oven. In a bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, brown sugar, vanilla, salt, melted butter and eggs until smooth and well combined.

Melted butter and brown sugar in a small pot with a whisk

Set aside 21 whole pecans for decoration. Roughly chop the rest and spread them evenly in the pastry case. Pour the filling mixture over the chopped pecans, then decorate with the remaining whole pecans.

A cooked pie crust with roasted pecan's inside on a glass cake stand

Cooked through brown sugar and butter being poured into the cooked pie crust with pecans inside to form the pecan pie filling

Lower the oven temperature to 160°C fan bake. Place the pie on the lower rack of the oven and bake for 50 minutes, or until the filling is soft but no longer jiggles in the centre.

A birds eye view shot of a cooked pecan pie on a round glass cake stand

If the pecans or pastry begin to brown too quickly, cover the pie with foil.

The close up of a pecan pie on a green checkered tablecloth.

Allow the pie to cool completely before slicing. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

A slice of cooked pecan pie served with a scoop of vanilla ice cream on a small white plate

Recipe FAQs:

What is blind baking?

Blind baking is the process of baking a pie crust before the filling goes in. An uncooked filling needs to go into baked pastry to stop it from going soggy. To blind bake, place a piece of baking paper on top of the uncooked pastry, then either add pie weights, baking beans or uncooked rice. The weight prevents the pastry from puffing up.

How thick should my pastry be?

Roll the pastry to about 5mm thick.

How do I know if my pie is done?

Gently shake the dish. The centre should have no jiggle, but it should still be soft to the touch.

Storage:

Fridge: Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week. The base may get a bit soggy after a few days, but the pie will still taste delicious.
Freezer: Store in an airtight container or freezer bag for up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the fridge.

Top tips:

It's important to use Maple Flavoured Syrup and not the more expensive Pure Maple Syrup in this recipe. The sugar content of the imitation maple syrup is critical to helping the pie set.
While this pie is delicious served warm, allow it to fully cool and set before slicing for a clean-cut pie. Skipping this step may make slicing tricky and crumbly. For perfect slices, chill the pie in the fridge, then reheat individual slices slightly before serving.

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Yield: Serves 16

Prep Time: 15 minutes

Cook Time: 1 hour 15 minutes

Additional Time: 10 minutes

Total Time: 15 minutes

A beautiful American-style pecan pie made from roasted pecans in a caramel toffee filling, encased in sweet short pastry.

Ingredients

Pie

400g sweet short pastry
2¼ cups pecans
1 cup maple flavoured syrup (see notes)
1 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
½ tsp salt
75 g butter, melted
3 eggs

To serve

Vanilla ice cream or whipped cream

Instructions

Preheat the oven to 170°C fan bake. Grease a 24 cm pie dish and add a circle of baking paper to the base.
Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured bench top, line the pie dish, prick all over with a fork. Chill in the fridge for 10 mins.
Blind bake the pastry case for 15 minutes, or until golden and the base is just cooked. Set aside to cool.
Spread pecans on a tray and bake for 5 minutes or until you can smell them roasting. Remove from the oven.
In a bowl, whisk together the maple syrup, brown sugar, vanilla, salt, melted butter and eggs until smooth and well combined.
Set aside 21 whole pecans for decoration. Roughly chop the rest and spread them evenly in the pastry case.
Pour the filling mixture over the chopped pecans, then decorate with the remaining whole pecans.
Lower the oven temperature to 160°C fan bake. Place the pie on the lower rack of the oven and bake for 50 minutes, or until the filling is soft but no longer jiggles in the centre. If the pecans or pastry begin to brown too quickly, cover the pie with foil.
Allow the pie to cool completely before slicing. Serve with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.

Notes

It's important to use Maple Flavoured Syrup and not the more expensive Pure Maple Syrup in this recipe. The sugar content of the imitation maple syrup is critical to helping the pie set.
While this pie is delicious served warm, allow it to fully cool and set before slicing for a clean-cut pie. Skipping this step may make slicing tricky and crumbly. For perfect slices, chill the pie in the fridge, then reheat individual slices slightly before serving.

Nutrition Information:

Yield: 16 Serving Size: 1
Amount Per Serving: Calories: 370Total Fat: 22gSaturated Fat: 7gTrans Fat: 0gUnsaturated Fat: 13gCholesterol: 64mgSodium: 241mgCarbohydrates: 41gFiber: 2gSugar: 26gProtein: 5g

Nutritional values are approximate. Please use your own calculations if you require a special diet.

Thank you for checking out this recipe. I hope you enjoy making and eating it! If you have any questions, queries or feedback, please feel free to leave a comment below.
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Vanya

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