(Bourbon Maple) Pecan Pie

From the @whiskey_CA_mmelier Collaboration Dinner

This is the dessert for the Whiskey Pairing Dinner generously provided by The Piemaker. I’ve never been a huge pecan pie fan (nor was I a big Key Lime Pie fan) until The Piemaker came into my life. This pecan pie is as ‘from scratch’ as it comes, with hints of bourbon and maple folded into the filling, served with a luxurious maple cinnamon cream. This is a decadent dessert – decadent is an understatement. But if you’re looking to level up your Holiday meal game, this is the place to start. We definitely felt the need to eat one and a half slices….. Pairing. For dessert, @whiskey_CA_mmelier wanted a really luxurious and unique bourbon to complement the salty pecans, salty crust, and sweet filling. We narrowed it down to two, both from Calumet Farm. The 15 year was treating us all well but the general consensus ended up being the Small Batch.

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what you need

Dough

**this is the Serious Eats pie dough recipe and we will be using it again

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

2 tablespoons of sugar

1 teaspoon of salt

2 1/2 sticks salted butter, cut into pats

6 tablespoons (ish) ice cold water

Filling

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1/4 cup maple syrup

1 cup light corn syrup

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

4 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/2 cup salted butter

3 cups pecans; coarsely chop 2 cups and leave the third cup whole

To Serve. Pour half a cup of heavy whipping cream into a mix bowl and mix with a hand mixer on high until loose peaks form. Add 1 tablespoon of maple syrup and a dash of cinnamon powder, and mix for another ~30 seconds until well combined. This is your maple cinnamon cream for serving.

Pairing. Calumet Farm Small Batch Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whisky.

how to make it

Dough.

Place about two thirds of the flour, all of the sugar, and the salt into a food processor and pulse twice to mix. Then spread the butter pats evenly across the surface and pulse until the dough just begins to come together. Sprinkle the remaining flour on the surface and pulse again until just incorporated.

Transfer to a bowl and sprinkle with the water 1-2 tablespoons at a time. Using a rubber spatula, work the water into the dough so it begins to hold together. Do not overwork your dough.

Once incorporated, divide into two disks, wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate for ~2 hours. Remove from fridge, roll out, and place in pie pan. *Note: you want this crust slightly salty as the pecan pie filling is quite sweet, so if you don’t use salted butter, be sure to add a little extra salt.

Pie.

Heat oven to 400. Par bake the pie crust for 15 minutes in heated oven using pie weights (or dried beans in my case) to weigh it down. Remove from oven and lower temperature to 350.

Whisk together sugar, maple syrup, corn syrup, cinnamon, salt, and vanilla. Add eggs and whisk thoroughly until combined. Brown butter in saucepan over medium-high heat (until it turns brown… stirring so as not to burn). Gradually pour butter into the egg mixture (slowly… so as not to scramble your egg!). Mix in the two cups of chopped pecans.

Spoon pecan mixture into pie crust. Now you’re going to use that last cup of whole pecans to get super fancy, placing them around the top of the pie so the end product looks as pictured.

Bake for 20 minutes in the oven, then remove from oven and cover with tinfoil so the crusts do not burn. Another 30 minutes in the oven and the middle should be set. Let cool and serve at room temperature with the fresh maple cinnamon cream!