Eric Lanlard's pecan pie from Tart It Up!Serves 8
Preparation time: 10 minutes
Cooking time: 55 minutes
Ingredients
- 40g unsalted butter, plus extra for greasing
- 1 x quantity sweet shortcrust pastry
- Plain flour, for dusting
- 200g chopped pecan nuts
- 100g pecan nut halves
- 60g plain dark chocolate, chopped
- 3 eggs
- 250g (8oz) light muscovado sugar
- 150ml maple syrup
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 tsp bourbon whiskey (optional)
Method
Preheat the oven to 180°C (fan 160°C)/350°F/gas mark 4. Grease a 23cm diameter shallow pie plate or tart tin. Roll out the pastry on a lightly floured surface and line the plate or dish.
Place the chopped pecans and pecan halves on separate baking trays and roast them in the oven for about 5 minutes, or until golden and fragrant.
Melt the chocolate and butter in a bowl set it over a pan of barely simmering water, making sure the surface of the water does not touch the bowl.
In a separate large bowl, beat the eggs with the sugar, maple syrup, vanilla extract and bourbon, if using, then beat in the melted chocolate and butter.
Place the chopped pecans in the lined pie dish, cover with the maple/chocolate mixture and arrange the pecan halves on top.
Bake in the oven for 50 minutes, or until golden and set. Serve warm, with a generous scoop of vanilla ice cream.
Tip
When roasting nuts in the oven keep an eye on them at all times and don’t leave them as they can burn very quickly.
Tart It Up!
Tart It Up was published by Mitchell Beazley on June 18, 2012 priced £18.99. Buy this book at a discount from Saga Bookshop.