I had an old tin of Carnation sweetened condensed milk and a half-eaten bag of pecans in the pantry that needed using, so I researched recipes for pecan pie, hoping there was ONE that used condensed milk et voilà! This is based on Carnation's recipe from their website and is really easy if you use ready-rolled shortcrust pastry. I prefer to make my own because I like to add a little icing sugar to have it closer to pâte sucrée with a lovely crisp bite. I cheat with the food processor anyway, so it's not difficult. I've loved pecan pie since a family friend would bring one over every Sunday from a little bakery in my hometown (Napier, NZ) called 'The Pie and the Patty Pan'. Anything referencing Beatrix Potter is a winner in my book, and their pecan pie was legendary.
Pastry:
250g plain flour
50g icing sugar
150g cold butter (I prefer salted)
2 egg yolks
4 Tbsp (approx) cold water
Whiz the flour and icing sugar in a food processor briefly to aerate, then add the butter (cubed) and process until it resembles breadcrumbs. Then add the egg yolks and 1-2 Tbsp of the water, adding more until it becomes a ball of dough. Remove from the bowl of the processor and wrap the dough in clingfilm, then refrigerate it for at least 30 minutes before using.
If you don't have ceramic baking beads for blind-baking (I only do because someone was having a clear-out on moving day), you can use any dried bean or even rice (uncooked, obviously).
Filling:
2 large eggs, beaten 100g dark brown soft sugar 1 Tbsp golden syrup (this can be substituted with maple, date syrup or treacle I reckon)
170g Sweetened condensed milk
75g butter
100g pecan nuts
1 tsp vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 200°C, 180°C fan oven, Gas Mark 6
Line the tin with the pastry (roll it out on a lightly floured surface first, if you've made your own!), pressing gently into base, sides and rim. Allow the excess pastry to hang over the sides. Prick the base with a fork and chill for 10 minutes.
Place a sheet of baking parchment onto the pastry and weigh down with baking beans or dried lentils. Bake for 10 minutes then remove the beans and paper and bake for a further 10 minutes. When cool, take a sharp knife and cut away the excess pastry from the edge.
Reduce the oven temperature to 170ºC, Fan 160°C, Gas Mark 4.
In a large bowl, whisk together all the filling ingredients except the pecan nuts. Pour into the pastry case and sprinkle over the pecans. Bake for about 50 minutes until the filling is just set. Leave to cool for about 20 minutes.
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