My friend and a writer extraordinaire, Sara Ann, recently requested the recipe for this family favorite. It is the lightest, most delicate pecan pie I have ever eaten in my entire life. If you try it, I predict your family and friends will see it the same way.
Have you noticed my love affair with browned butter? (i.e Soft Cinnamon Cookies with Browned Butter Icing). It contributes a nutty, buttery, toffee-like flavor to any dessert without taking over the show. It’s the magic ingredient in this pie!
The process of browning butter is simple. Knowing when the butter is brown enough without burning it is the tricky part. Don’t be afraid. I’ll hold your hand.
Speaking of tricks, check out my method for pre-baking a pie crust without using beans or rice, a weighted chain or foil. Learned it from Cook’s Illustrated. It’s so cool!
There is one more tricky thing about this “candy bar on a plate.” Eating it without inducing an attack of overwhelming guilt. NO PROBLEM. I have the solution. Grab a jar of salad for lunch the next day and you’ll be back on track in no time. Works for me anyway. (Can you tell I’m a little paranoid about high calorie foods?)
Browned Butter Pecan Pie
Ingredients:
1 9-inch partially baked pie shell (my recipes for pie crust)
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup sugar (decrease to 3/4 cup for a little less sweetness)
3 large eggs, beaten
1/2 teaspoon fresh lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
Dash of salt
1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped
Prebaking pie crust:
(These directions apply to a homemade crust. If you are using a store-bought crust — follow the directions on the package. They aren’t my favorite so can’t give any advice.)
Take a long sheet (about 40 inches) of parchment paper and twist it. Coil the twisted paper to fit inside your unbaked frozen pie shell. No need to stab the crust repeatedly with a fork unless you need therapy for a bad day. Bake in a preheated oven at 375 degrees F for 25-30 minutes. Remove parchment paper but don’t throw it away. It’s reusable.
Use a knife or toothpick to carefully puncture any bubbles (making the smallest incision possible) to let the hot air out and gently press the dough back down against dish. If your pie crust shrinks down into the pan, more than likely you stretched it while rolling out or you neglected to freeze the crust ahead of time. There might be other reasons I’m not aware of but I have personal experience with these.
Note: If you need a fully baked crust for a different recipe, put crust back in the oven after removing parchment paper for another 10-12 minutes.
Meanwhile, Browning the Butter:
Heat butter in a small saucepan or skillet over low heat. It will take several minutes. (Please don’t substitute margarine for this delicate operation.) When the solids start to brown, it happens quickly. Be alert. It will smell undescribably fragrant and be a light caramel color when ready. Remove from heat and allow to cool.
Filling:
In separate bowl, combine corn syrup, sugar, eggs, lemon juice and vanilla in order listed. Thoroughly blend in cooled, browned butter.
Stir in coarsely chopped nuts. Pecan lovers may want to increase the amount. (If desired, save out a few whole pecans to decorate the top of the pie as shown below.)
Pour into warm, partially baked pie shell and bake at 325 degrees F for 55-65 minutes. When done, filling may be somewhat softer in the middle but it should not be jiggly.
Allow to cool before slicing so filling will set properly.
Decorating with Chocolate (optional):
Place 1/4 cup semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips in a small zippered plastic bag. Microwave on HIGH for 1 minute, 15 seconds or until melted. Snip off the tiniest corner of the bag. Squeeze chocolate out of the hole over the pie in the design of your choice. If you want to squirt the leftover chocolate in your mouth, go ahead. It’s our secret.
P.S. I like to experiment on a paper plate before I start drizzling over the pie to make sure the size of the hole in my “decorating bag” is right.
Happy Thanksgiving. Romaine
{ 15 comments… read them below or add one }
Ummm WOW? That looks awesome!!!
What a stunning and decadent treat! Romaine, how do you stay sooooo skinny?!
I was just looking for a good pecan pie recipe! This looks so good! Can’t wait to try it this week!
Looks great and tastes great! I have had the chance to eat this before. Printed it off the “right way” and will be on my list for Thanksgiving foods to prepare!
Have you already given the pie CRUST recipe in a former post? If not, I need that recipe too.
I love brown butter too. Mr. Mimi’s says pecan is his favorite pie, but I ‘m beginning to think he says that about every pie he wants to eat.
Mimi
Yummy, will have to try it.
BTW, you can see my granddaughter baking your oatmeal cookies at
http://www.myramoran.blogspot.com
I will definitely be printing this off for the next time I get the urge to back (after all I’ve done this past week…it may be awhile! lol)
Wow—does that look delicious. Thank you for posting the tip from CI on the pie crust!! I saw that on CI, but had not tried it! Your photos are terrific.
This is going on my list. I need to bake this one. Have you tried the Browned Butter Brown Sugar cookies from Deb at Smitten Kitchen? To die for.
This really looks delicious. I’m always looking at recipes with browned butter but I haven’t tried any yet. Love the chocolate on top…that seems mandatory rather than optional!
I made this for Thanksgiving this year and although I was sure I was going to mess up the browning the butter part it turned out very nicely. The pie was a huge hit with my husband. It may have to become a TG staple in our house.
Just made this pie, and had surprisingly good results browning the butter. (Question, explain why you would use unsalted vs. salted butter) You may have mention this hint about browning sugar on another part of your blog, so overlook this if I am repeating. For years I was a failure at browning sugar like my southern mother-in-law did it. Thought the southern black iron skillet was essential. Just in recent years I realized that the black or dark color of a skillet makes it much harder to determine when the butter is the right color. Today I used a heavy small stainless steel sauce pan, and it worked like a charm.
Now the pie itself?? Well, I set the butter aside to cool, and you guessed it, I forgot to include it in the filling. Knowing it would NOT be pecan pie without the butter, I poured the batter out of the pie shell and put in the butter and returned it to the oven. Big mess! Sure, but can’t wait to taste it when it is finished cooking. Even the raw batter tasted good. I know – I know – raw eggs, etc. :+)
Do you foil wrap your crust then? I have tried everything – shields, wrapping, frozen, unfrozen, homemade – the crust gets crunchy – what am I doing wrong?
Jenny, I do not generally use foil, but I occasionally use a metal piecrust shield. They are cheap and it’s way easier.
Are you baking the pie closer to the bottom of the oven?
Is your oven true to temperature? You can check with an inexpensive oven thermometer.