Pecan pie or puh-cahn pie if you’re a southern gentleman, is the sweetest of the sweets! My apologies for the reckless abandon of frugal shopping, but this pie is worth it. If you are spritely and young and can play the long game for sourcing ingredients with this pie, Floreren Farm up in Centrelea has ultra northern pecan (bareroot) trees in stock. You can also pick up a beehive, mind it for two seasons and hope a bear doesn’t eat your first year’s honey crop. If you lived in the time before cell phones and remember the screeching sound of dial up – pick up your pecans from Costco and honey from Blue Hive Bees in Branch LaHave.
Pecan Fill
- 136 grams (⅔ cup) butter
- 240 grams (1 ½ cup) brown sugar
- 200 grams (½ cup + 2 tbsp) local honey
- 4 grams (¾ tsp) salt
- 18 ml (1 ½ tbsp) apple cider vinegar
- 10 ml (2 tsp) vanilla
- 4 eggs (slightly beaten)
- 200 g (1 ½ cup) pecans
Melt your butter in a saucepot, toss in the brown sugar, honey and salt then stir until she is silky smooth. Remove from heat and stir in apple cider vinegar and vanilla. Allow to cool slightly before mixing in the eggs.
Pastry
- 136 grams (1 cup) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 1 grams (¼ tsp) salt
- 40 grams (2 ½ tbsp) butter
- 40 grams (2 ½ tbsp) shortening
- 45 ml (3 tbsp) ice-cold water
Toss all dry pie dough ingredients into your mixing bowl of choice, and blend until the fats are no larger than a pea, but be wary not to overmix. Add your ice-cold water and mix just until homogenous, avoiding over mixing at all costs. Roll out, then place the bottom crust in a 10” pie tin. Crimp those edges, put your pecans in the unbaked pie shell and pour the sticky sweet fill on top.
Ever so gingerly, transfer the unbaked pie into your oven that is preheated at 325°and check on the pie after 45 minutes. The way I tell if the pecan pie is baked is to see if the filling has fluffed up and is more wobbly than wet after a slight poke. Pecan pies are essentially custard pies that are easily overbaked. I always check after 45 and usually leave it in for another 10-15. Leave the pie to cool before eating and enjoy that roasted nutty smell. I sincerely hope I am pecan your interest with this pie!
