With a flaky butter crust, crunchy nuts, and a rich, chewy filling, it's no wonder why pecan pie is a staple holiday pie on our menu every year.
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00:00 Pecan pie is the absolute best holiday pie there is.
00:04 Sure, you have pumpkin and sweet potato, okay,
00:06 but they don't hold a candle to the caramelly,
00:09 nutty, crunchy deliciousness that is pecan pie.
00:13 The texture combination is unbeatable.
00:16 You've got flaky, buttery crust,
00:18 crunchy nuts, and that soft, smooth filling.
00:20 They all combine to make the most perfect balanced bite.
00:23 Obviously, since you're making pecan pie,
00:26 you need a pie crust,
00:27 and we have the most flaky, buttery pie crust recipe,
00:31 so I'm gonna use a homemade pie dough.
00:33 Now, do you have to use a homemade pie dough?
00:35 No, not technically, but I love our recipe so much
00:38 that that's what I'm going to use.
00:40 You could also use store-bought dough.
00:42 You could use your own favorite dough.
00:43 If your grandma made you some and it's in your freezer
00:45 and you wanna use that, go for it.
00:47 When you're rolling out your pie crust,
00:48 you want to make sure that you keep track
00:50 of the edges of the pie crust
00:52 as you get the circle bigger and bigger,
00:54 especially if you use a butter pie crust
00:56 that has big butter chunks in it.
00:58 The reason for that being, as you start to roll it out,
01:00 if the edges start to crack,
01:02 it'll be really hard to lift it into the pie plate
01:04 and get a nice, pretty crimp around the edges,
01:06 and the crack might even split down
01:08 the whole middle of the dough,
01:09 and you definitely don't want that.
01:10 I'm gonna toss some flour on my work surface,
01:13 set the dough in the middle,
01:14 and gently start to roll from the middle out to each side.
01:18 Super even so we'll get a nice, even circle.
01:21 Not all pie crust is created equally.
01:23 This pie crust is an all-butter crust,
01:25 so you can see little dots of butter in the dough,
01:28 and that's what's gonna get you that nice, flaky texture
01:31 after it comes out of the oven.
01:33 As I'm rolling out pie dough,
01:34 I like to do what I like to call an edge check,
01:37 and that's just to make sure my edges aren't splitting
01:39 as I'm rolling the dough out.
01:40 So I'll cut my hands like this
01:42 and sort of go around the edges of the dough
01:44 to compress any cracks that might be forming
01:47 to keep my roll out nice and clean.
01:54 I've got my pie crust all rolled out.
01:56 It's a nice, pretty circle.
01:58 I'm using a nine-inch pie plate,
01:59 so I rolled the crust maybe about an inch bigger all around,
02:03 so about 11-inch circle,
02:05 'cause I'm gonna use that extra dough to crimp the pie
02:07 and make a really pretty crust.
02:09 I gotta get this pie dough in the actual pie plate.
02:12 Before I do that, I'm gonna hit it
02:13 with a little bit of nonstick cooking spray.
02:15 That'll just make getting the pie out easier later on.
02:18 I like to use my rolling pin to help me pick up the dough,
02:21 so I'll drape a little bit of dough over that
02:23 and use it to help me transport it to the pie plate.
02:26 Once you get the dough in the pie plate,
02:28 let the dough slump into the pie plate
02:31 so it starts to line the sides and the bottom
02:34 so you don't have any air pockets
02:35 between the glass and your actual dough.
02:38 As you can see, my dough's not fitting perfectly
02:40 into the plate, which is what I wanted.
02:43 I wanna be able to have this cute little dough skirt
02:45 on the edge, 'cause we're gonna trim that off
02:48 and then we're gonna use that little bit of excess,
02:50 tuck it under, and make a really nice, fluffy crust.
02:53 When it's time to crimp your pie dough,
02:55 take that little bit of extra dough skirt that you left
02:57 and tuck it underneath so that the dough is just flush
03:01 with the edge of the pie plate, just like that.
03:04 I'm gonna do that all the way around.
03:06 Tucking the dough skirt in is just step one
03:10 of getting a beautiful pie crust,
03:12 but step two to getting the perfect pie crust
03:14 is not taking yourself too seriously.
03:18 You could spend a lot of time, if you want to,
03:19 making the perfect, delicate, fancy design,
03:22 or you can keep it really simple.
03:25 Our senior food editor, Mackenzie, taught me an amazing trick
03:27 that I can do with a paring knife that I absolutely love,
03:30 and the end result looks like the most beautiful twist
03:33 that I took so long on, but it only takes five minutes.
03:36 I'm gonna show you guys how to do it.
03:37 You can use the back of a paring knife,
03:38 or you can also use a dough cutter/bench scraper
03:42 to do this, as long as it has a relatively dull edge.
03:44 You don't want anything too, too sharp.
03:46 So you'll take this and just make a notch at an angle,
03:51 just like that, and continue that
03:54 all the way around the pie crust.
03:56 Y'all, look at this.
03:59 I look like a real homemaker.
04:02 This is crazy.
04:03 Last but not least, we're gonna line it
04:05 with some parchment paper and then fill it
04:07 with baking beans so that it doesn't expand too much
04:10 in the oven and we have a nice, flat bottom
04:12 to put our pecan filling into.
04:14 You can use pie weights, but let's be honest,
04:17 nobody actually has pie weights,
04:19 so I like to use baking beans.
04:21 It's a mixture of dried beans and sometimes rice,
04:24 and they work the exact same way pie weights do,
04:27 and they're a lot cheaper than pie weights.
04:29 If you noticed, I also crumpled the parchment paper
04:36 before I put it into the pie.
04:38 That's just so I get a nice, even layer
04:40 into the bottom of the pie and so I don't have
04:42 sharp parchment edges stabbing my dough
04:45 and poking holes in it.
04:46 I don't want that.
04:47 This is going into a 400 degree oven for 20 to 25 minutes.
04:52 Definitely start checking it at around 20
04:54 and keep your eye on it for that last five.
04:56 What is that filling even made of?
05:05 It's custardy and soft like that
05:07 because it's exactly that.
05:09 It's a custard, it has sugar, it has eggs,
05:12 and it has a little bit of salt and vanilla,
05:14 so it's really, really simple but very effective.
05:17 Your real secret ingredient here is corn syrup.
05:20 I know corn syrup feels kind of evil,
05:22 but if you're already gonna make a pecan pie,
05:24 you might as well go for it.
05:26 I'm using light corn syrup 'cause I want it to have
05:28 that little bit of vanilla subtle flavor to it.
05:31 If you want something more robust and caramel-like,
05:34 use a dark corn syrup and you'll get that result.
05:37 Corn syrup is great for flavor,
05:38 but what really gives the pie that signature soft middle
05:42 is the eggs.
05:42 They add an amazing amount of body and richness
05:45 to the filling that you absolutely need
05:47 to get through that crunchy pecan.
05:49 I'm gonna show you how to make this filling.
05:51 Over low heat, we're gonna melt some butter.
05:53 Then we're gonna whisk in some brown sugar
05:55 until it starts to dissolve.
05:56 Make sure you keep the heat low
05:58 so that you don't brown your butter.
06:00 We've got this texture nice and smooth
06:02 with the butter and the sugar,
06:03 so we're ready to start adding in our eggs.
06:06 I'm gonna add the eggs one at a time
06:07 and make sure they're fully whisked in,
06:09 and then I'm going to go in with the corn syrup,
06:12 salt, and vanilla.
06:15 For this base, I used light brown sugar,
06:17 but just like with the corn syrup,
06:19 if you want something a little bit more rich and robust,
06:21 a little bit more molasses flavor,
06:23 you can use dark brown sugar.
06:24 It's time to see how beautiful our pie crust came out.
06:28 I'm just gonna take these beans out
06:29 and dump them into a bowl.
06:31 It's time to start assembling this pie,
06:33 and I'm just gonna talk about what's going in it real quick.
06:35 So what you've made here is basically just a custard,
06:40 so congratulations, pat yourself on the back.
06:42 You made a little custard situation,
06:44 and that's going to be what that middle layer of the pie is.
06:47 But we're gonna layer the pecans down first
06:50 and then pour this custard on top.
06:52 And you might be wondering, why are we doing that?
06:55 How are the pecans gonna get to the top?
06:56 Are they gonna float to the top?
06:58 That doesn't make any sense, Brooke.
06:59 It does.
07:00 As the pie bakes, the custard expands a little bit
07:03 and the pecans float to the top
07:05 and the custard also pushes them to the top.
07:07 So you have a nice little pecan layer on top.
07:10 You'll probably have a few interspersed through the middle,
07:12 but for the most part, you'll have that nice,
07:14 thick, caramelly layer of delicious custard.
07:17 As you can see, the top's already covered in pecans
07:20 'cause they floated up,
07:22 and this is actually a pretty thick layer of pecans,
07:24 which I'm excited about 'cause that means
07:26 we'll have little bits all throughout the pie.
07:28 And this already smells so insanely good,
07:30 and I know when I bake it,
07:31 it's gonna smell 10 times better.
07:33 Before this goes in the oven,
07:34 we're gonna top the pie with a sheet of aluminum foil
07:37 to make sure that the crust that we already parbaked
07:40 doesn't overcook and burn and get too crispy.
07:42 In the oven, we also have a baking sheet
07:45 that we're gonna rest the pie on.
07:47 This is gonna bake at 400 degrees for about 15 minutes,
07:50 and then we're gonna lower the oven just a little bit to 350
07:53 and bake it for another 30 to 35 minutes
07:56 or until the middle is just slightly jiggly like a custard.
08:02 Y'all, I can smell butter and toasty pecans
08:06 and caramel and sugar,
08:07 and I just, I cannot wait to dig into this pie.
08:10 I've got some vanilla ice cream too
08:12 'cause that's the only way you can eat pecan pie.
08:14 Let's get into it.
08:15 The filling is so custardy and soft,
08:21 and it's set perfectly.
08:23 You've got those nice, crunchy, toasty pecans,
08:25 and that crust, it's just thick enough at the bottom
08:28 so it doesn't overwhelm everything.
08:30 The perfect combination of textures.
08:33 This is what I like to see, warm pie, cold ice cream,
08:36 melty, drippy bits of ice cream in my pie.
08:39 This is the only way to eat pecan pie, people.
08:42 For more perfect pie recipes like this one,
08:44 keep it right here at delish.com.
08:47 (upbeat music)
08:49 (upbeat music)