How to Make Chef John's Pecan Pie Brownies
Indulge in the irresistible delight of Chef John's Pecan Pie Brownies! This dessert fusion brings the best of two worlds, combining rich, chocolatey brownies with the classic flavors of pecan pie. Follow this easy recipe to create a deliciously sweet treat, perfect for any occasion or as a delightful holiday surprise. Elevate your baking skills with this mouthwatering dessert that's sure to satisfy your sweet cravings.
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LifestyleTranscript
00:00 Hello this is Chef John from foodwishes.com with Pecan Pie Brownies.
00:08 That's right, have you ever been eating pecan pie and thought to yourself this is great,
00:13 but I wish the crust was a brownie? Well my friends that wish is now a reality.
00:19 And no one is more surprised than me. Right, I was sure this experiment was not going to work,
00:24 but it did. It worked really, really well.
00:27 And to get started the first thing we'll do is mix up the world's easiest brownie batter,
00:32 which begins with a touch of white sugar plus some high quality unsweetened cocoa.
00:37 And if the cocoa you're using kind of has a reddish color, that usually means it's a good one.
00:42 And then to that we will add a little bit of salt plus a lot of still warm melted butter.
00:47 And then we'll get in there with our electric mixer or a whisk and we will mix that until everything's incorporated,
00:53 which I'll have to warn you right now is not going to look that good.
00:57 Okay, it's going to look kind of grainy and separated and like you probably did something wrong,
01:02 but you didn't just relax. Since what we'll do once our mixture looks like this is go ahead and add some vanilla extract.
01:08 And of course we're using the pure and the real as well as one of the two eggs we're going to include.
01:14 And I would love to tell you that once we get that egg mixed in that this is going to start looking smooth and beautiful.
01:20 But it is not. In fact, this gets worse before it gets better.
01:25 So like I said, we'll mix that first egg in. And as I just mentioned, everything's going to look terrible and separated and broken.
01:32 But once we add the second egg in and we continue to blend this on high speed, somehow, someway, as if by magic,
01:39 everything gets beautifully thick and smooth and shiny. So at this point, you're going to be feeling a lot better about things.
01:46 And once we get it to this point, we will stop and add the last ingredient, which is a little bit of all purpose flour.
01:52 And we'll go ahead and mix that on low until that flour just disappears.
01:56 And no, we are not using a lot of flour here since we're going for a dense fudgy brownie and not a cakey brownie,
02:03 which I almost never want, especially as a base for this. Oh, and don't worry about the flour on the side of the bowl.
02:10 Since once that's been mixed in, we will switch to a spatula and we'll go ahead and clean that up and stir the rest of that flour in.
02:17 At which point this is ready to transfer into our baking dish, which ideally is 8 by 8 or 9 by 9 inches.
02:24 And so we can get it out, I've lined the bottom with two pieces of parchment paper, which we will grease with some oil.
02:30 And we'll go ahead and transfer our brownie batter in. And since it is kind of thick, when we first start spreading it out,
02:37 we'll want to be careful not to disturb our parchment paper lining.
02:40 And also, as usual, we'll make sure we're pressing that batter into the corners before we go ahead and even that out the best we can.
02:47 And while I do that, let me go ahead and explain the game plan here.
02:51 All right, what we're going to do is bake this a little bit now so that that batter firms up,
02:55 since we're going to need to top this with our pecan pie filling.
02:58 And if we did that on top of uncooked batter, it would just sink in and mix together.
03:03 And while the results might be absolutely delicious, it is probably not going to be something we can call a pecan pie brownie.
03:09 So what we'll do once our dish is battered is put a towel under our dish so the glass doesn't break.
03:15 Since before this goes in, we're going to give it the old tapa tapa to make sure that batter is all settled down.
03:21 At which point this is ready to transfer into the center of a 325 degree oven for 20 minutes or until it looks like this.
03:30 And no, it's not going to be cooked, but it is going to be kind of set and no longer a wet batter.
03:36 Okay, if we touch the top, it will be very soft, but you should not get any raw batter on your fingers.
03:42 So that seemed to be just about right.
03:44 And then what we'll do at this point is let that cool while we mix up our pecan pie filling,
03:49 which is going to start with some light brown sugar as well as a nice big pinch of salt.
03:54 And then we'll also want a little bit of vanilla extract, followed by some corn syrup,
03:59 which as you know, we're only allowed to use in pecan pie recipes.
04:03 And yes, it still counts.
04:05 And then after the corn syrup is added in, we will finish up with a couple large eggs,
04:10 followed by a whole bunch of melted butter.
04:12 And that's it. We'll take a whisk and give this a thorough mixing.
04:16 Oh, and any time recipes say to add ingredients in a certain order and mix them together in stages,
04:22 at some point I'll just dump everything in a bowl and mix it up to see if it works.
04:26 And if it does, I disregard the original recipe and I just do it that way,
04:30 which is exactly what's happening here.
04:33 And that's it. Once mixed, we can stir in our chopped pecans,
04:37 or I guess something else if you're not into those.
04:40 I mean, you are after all the Seymour Butts of Deez Nuts.
04:43 And some chopped walnuts or almonds would also work, although then you'd have to change the name.
04:49 But anyway, once mixed, we'll go ahead and grab our spatula and we will clean off the whisk.
04:54 And we will transfer that onto our partially cooked brownie.
04:57 And then my plan at this point was to put this back in the oven, this time at 350,
05:02 for what I guess was going to be about a half hour or so, or until that pecan pie mixture was nicely set.
05:08 But that's not exactly what happened, since after about 30, 35 minutes, everything was still liquefied.
05:14 So I had to keep baking and baking and baking.
05:18 And from the time I put it back in the oven at 350, after of course one more old tapa tapa,
05:24 but anyway, from the time it went back in here, and I decided to cook long enough and look like this,
05:30 believe it or not, over an hour had gone by.
05:33 And if you watch closely, even after all that time, if I shake the dish, you will still see a little bit of a wiggle.
05:40 But I just didn't think I could go any further.
05:43 And I was almost certain this was going to be a huge failure,
05:46 since I thought the brownie was going to be horribly overcooked and maybe burnt.
05:50 But anyway, I let that cool down.
05:52 And since I was running out of light, I decided to wrap it up and pop it in the fridge overnight,
05:57 since I do enjoy a cold brownie, and I thought it would be easier to cut.
06:01 And then the next day I removed that from the dish, and then carefully peeled off all that parchment paper.
06:07 Or at least I thought I did.
06:09 Right, you can see some right there I missed.
06:11 So you'll be responsible for making sure this is paper-free.
06:14 But anyway, I grabbed a knife, and I cut that in half, hoping for the best, but expecting the worst.
06:21 And much to my shock and amazement, everything actually looked and felt really good.
06:26 Oh, and why was one side higher than the other? I have no idea.
06:30 Right, cooking in general, and baking in particular, can be a mystery.
06:35 But anyway, like I said, it did look good, but looks can be deceiving.
06:39 So I decided to cut a piece and go in for a taste.
06:42 Oh, and if you do use an 8-inch pan, I think cutting this into 16 squares gives you a perfect portion.
06:48 And again, please, do not serve it with the paper.
06:52 So I pulled that off, and went in for the official test bite.
06:56 And I could not believe how incredibly good that was.
07:00 Okay, I knew the pecan pie filling topping was going to be good,
07:03 but to take a brownie that had already cooked 20 minutes, and then cook it for another hour,
07:08 at an even higher temperature, I was sure that was going to cause a problem with the brownie taste and texture.
07:14 But somehow, and I have no idea why, it didn't.
07:18 Right, maybe it's because this is a fudgy brownie, and not a cakey brownie.
07:22 Or maybe the pecan pie filling had insulated it somehow.
07:25 But whatever the reason, or reasons, it was exactly how I wanted it to be.
07:30 And I celebrated by transferring these onto a piece of marble, and taking some contractually obligated pictures.
07:36 And of course, went in for another bite or two.
07:39 And as you can probably see, the brownie does have like two tones of color,
07:43 which might be from the heat coming through the bottom of the dish,
07:46 and/or the sugar mixture on top, kind of seeped into the top half.
07:50 But that actually bothered me not at all.
07:53 And yes, I did intentionally make the brownie not quite as sweet as usual,
07:57 since as you might know, pecan pie filling is very sweet.
08:00 And thanks to that, I thought this had a beautiful balance.
08:03 So what I'm trying to say is, when it comes to pecan pie brownies, these are the best.
08:09 Oh yeah, just ask me, I'll tell ya.
08:11 So if you like brownies and pecan pie, I think you're gonna absolutely love this.
08:16 And I really do hope you give it a try soon.
08:19 So please follow the links below for the ingredient amounts,
08:23 a printable written recipe, and much more info as usual.
08:26 And as always, enjoy!
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