No Corn Syrup Bourbon Pecan Pie with Foolproof Pie Dough
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I don’t know why I love so much that this pie requires neither corn syrup or Lyle’s golden syrup, but I do. Flavored with bourbon and maple syrup, this pecan pie is the ideal finale (along with this one and this one) to a fall feast. A dollop of salted whipped cream, for me, is essential.
As with all the pies, galettes, and tarts, I make, this one calls for a simple, foolproof pie dough made in the food processor. I do not blind bake it, but I do stick in the freezer for at least 30 minutes before baking.
This dough recipe is adapted from a David Lebovitz recipe, and it employs a tea towel-technique for shaping I learned from a French woman years ago. Details below:
How to Make Foolproof Pie Dough
Measure your ingredients.
First pulse the flour, sugar and salt together.
Add the butter and pulse 10 times (about).
The butter should be the size of peas (about).
Add ice water.
Pulse again about 10 to 15 times or until the dough is still crumbly, but holds together when pinched.
Divide dough between two clean tea towels. I love these tea towels by Now Designs.
Gather towel into a beggar’s purse, and squeeze to form a round.
Transfer one to the freezer for a future use.
On a lightly floured surface, roll out the remaining round into a circle about 12- to 13-inches in diameter.
Fold dough into quarters to easily transfer to a pie plate or tart pan. Freeze for at least 30 minutes.
For the pecan pie: toast the pecans till lightly golden and fragrant.
Bourbon Pecan Pie (No Corn Syrup) with Salted Whipped Cream
- Prep Time: 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 50 minutes
- Total Time: 1 hour 20 minutes
- Yield: 1 pie
Description
Adapted from this David Lebovitz recipe.
Notes:
If you want to make a double batch of pie dough, follow this recipe (also included below this recipe). I’ve written the pie dough as a single recipe should you only want to make a single pie.
I don’t blind-bake the crust because I never find it to be worth the effort. I have a couple of Emile Henry pie plates (similar to this one) with clay bottoms, and the crust always turns out nice and crispy.
UPDATE: This pie has become a Thanksgiving staple.
Ingredients
For the pie dough:
- 1 1/4 cups (160g) all-purpose flour
- 1 tablespoon sugar
- 1/4 teaspoon table or kosher salt
- 8 tablespoons (4 oz | 114g) cold, cubed butter, salted or unsalted
- 1/4 C. + 1 T. (71 g) ice water
For the pecan pie:
- 1 cup (215g) packed dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup (125ml) maple syrup
- 3 large eggs
- 4 tablespoons melted butter
- 3 tablespoons bourbon
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 2 cups (225g) pecans, lightly toasted (I do this in a skillet over medium-high heat, watching closely), very coarsely chopped (I actually like chopping the pecans pretty finely)
For serving:
- 1 cup heavy cream
- confectioner’s sugar to taste
- flaky sea salt, such as maldon, if you have it, kosher or other salt if you don’t
- vanilla
Instructions
- Make the pastry: In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar and salt together. Cut the butter into small pieces, then add to the food processor. Pulse at 1-second intervals until butter is the size of peas—should be about 10 quick pulses. Add the ice water and pulse again about 10 times until the mixture is crumbly but holds together when pinched. Lay a clean tea towel on a work surface. Dump the crumbly dough mixture into the center of the towel. Grab the four corners of the towel together and twist to create a beggar’s purse, pressing the dough into a round. Use your hands to pack and flatten the round.
- On a lightly floured work surface, roll out the dough into a 12- or 13-inch round. Use as much flour as needed to prevent the dough from sticking, and every few rolls, flip the dough over.
- Roll the dough on a lightly floured surface until it’s 12- to 13-inches in diameter. Transfer it to a 9-inch pie plate or pan. Trim dough that hangs over by a lot — leave at least an inch over hanging; you may not need to trim everywhere. Tuck the overhanging edges under, between the rim of the pie plate and the dough, and crimp the edge of the dough. Chill the dough in the freezer until firm, at least 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350ºF.
- To make the filling, in a large bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, maple syrup, eggs, melted butter, bourbon, vanilla, and salt. Stir in the pecans.
- Pour the filling into the tart shell and bake until the center of the pie is seems just about set. It should still jiggle a little. Begin checking it at the 40 minute mark, but it may take 45 to 50 minutes (I find 50 minutes to be about right) to reach that point of doneness. Remove it from the oven and let cool on a wire rack. Serve at room temperature.
- To make the salted whipped cream: Whip heavy cream in the bowl of a stand mixer until soft peaks begin to form. (You can do this by hand, too, with a bowl and whisk.) Add confectioner’s sugar — start with 1/4 cup and add more to taste. Add a big pinch of sea salt and the vanilla and beat to combine and until the peaks begin getting firmer. Taste — the mixture should be slightly sweet and the salt should be noticeable, though the whipped cream should not taste salty. You don’t want the whipped cream to taste too sweet because pecan pie is very sweet.
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Keywords: bourbon, pecan, pie, no, corn, syrup,
Foolproof Pie Dough
- Prep Time: 10 minutes
- Total Time: 10 minutes
- Yield: 2 10-inch (about) pie rounds
Description
Adapted from a favorite David Lebovitz recipe. I use it for this apple galette, this butternut squash pie, and the below Bourbon pecan pie, also a David Lebovitz recipe.
This recipe yields two rounds and it definitely can be halved, though I suggest making the full recipe because it’s so nice to have on hand.
Ingredients
- 2½ (320g) cups all-purpose flour
- 2 T. sugar
- ½ tsp. table (or kosher) salt
- 2 sticks (16 tablespoons | 8 oz | 227g ) unsalted butter
- ½ C. + 2 T. ice water
Instructions
- In the bowl of a food processor, pulse the flour, sugar and salt together. Cut the butter into small pieces, then add to the food processor. Pulse at 1-second intervals until butter is the size of peas—should be about 10 quick (1-second) pulses. Add the ice water and pulse again about 10 times until the mixture is crumbly but holds together when pinched. See video above for guidance. Lay two clean tea towels on a work surface. Dump half of the crumbly dough mixture into the center of each. Grab the four corners of the towel together and twist to create a beggar’s purse, pressing the dough into a disk. Unwrap the towel and use your hands to pack and pat the disk together. Wrap one (or both) of the rounds in plastic wrap, tuck in a ziplock bag, and store in the fridge for 3 days or freezer for 3 months.
- If baking one immediately, lightly flour a work surface, roll out into a circle an inch or two larger than your pie plate, transfer to pie plate, trim over hanging dough, then crimp dough as desired (see video for guidance). Chill in freezer while you prepare the filling.
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Food Processor
- Cuisine: American/French
Keywords: foolproof, pastry, butter, food processor, easy
This post may contain affiliate links. Please read my disclosure policy.
24 Comments on “No Corn Syrup Bourbon Pecan Pie with Foolproof Pie Dough”
First of all, I thank you so much for your peasant bread recipe. We love it….I make it all the time. I tried it as rolls the other day and they were just as great.
My question is, can you taste the bourbon in the pecan pie? Iwe wanted to try this for the longest time, but I’m afraid of the flavor. Is it subtle?
So happy to hear this Toni! The bourbon taste is definitely noticeable. I would either cut it back to 2 tablespoons or omit it altogether and up the vanilla.
Happy Thanksgiving!!
You are terrific. . That towel is genius. Your reality cooking has been a pleasure . Looking forward to more revelations in the next year. The best to you and your family this season.
Awww, thanks so much 🙂 🙂 🙂 This means the world. The best to you as well. xo
How do you blind bake when laziness is not an option, as for chocolate, lemon or banana cream pies? A few years ago I mentioned having tried every method out there, with no reliable success. My friend replied, “my mom doesn’t understand all that fuss, she doesn’t do anything and they turn out beautiful.” I insisted she ask for more detail as in doing nothing doesn’t work. She actually came back saying again she doesn’t do anything. I insisted again that some detail was missing, she must ask again. This time it was just that she lets it sit for a few hours on the counter before baking. Ha! Finally success, it really does work like magic. Except I’ve always thought it might be the egg in it that dries a bit to help hold the shape, especially the nice fluted edges. Can’t wait to try this recipe without the egg, see if it still works.
That’s so interesting! Do you mean that the dough is then very much at room temperature before it is blind baked? And does she use pie weights? So curious!
So good. I made this yesterday to celebrate with my family and just ate a piece for breakfast. Well, second breakfast. Lunch? I don’t know. I pretty much just graze until dinner on Sundays. This was my first time making pie crust and I had to do it by hand since I don’t have a food processor. I think I could have gotten the pieces of butter a bit smaller, but it turned out nonetheless. I added a layer of melted very dark chocolate on the bottom of the shell. Thanks for a great recipe!
★★★★★
So happy to hear all of this, Kit! Yes to pie for breakfast, lunch and dessert! I need to make another video that shows how to make it without the food processor. Yes to dark chocolate, too … yum!
Any tips for making this without a food processor? Just make sure I cut the butter up really tiny?
yes! Just cut the butter into small pieces — I use a fork to mash it into the dry ingredients.
Thank you! I’m really glad I found your blog. I’ve already made a couple of other things and enjoy your style of writing/pictures.
Oh yay, so happy to hear this 🙂 🙂 🙂
Thanks for the pecan pie recipe. It turned out good for my first try. I did coarse chop the pecans so next time I’ll fine chop in processor.
Nice, yeah, I like to chop my pecans on the finer side mostly to make eating easier.
This pie was amazing! It was much loved at Thanksgiving. I will definitely make it again. Thank you so much for the recipe!
So happy to hear this Merillat!! Thanks for writing in. Hope you had a wonderful Thanksgiving!
My two questions are: I made the Doug, but doesn’t seem enough for a 9.5 inch pie dish? Is this common? Also, when you say chop, you mean into a powder the pecans? What about just cutting in halves?
Hi Olga! The dough definitely should be enough for one 9- or 1o-inch pie plate with some nice trimmings, too. Regarding chopping, a rough chop is great. Not a powder! Let me know if there is anything else!
I made this recipe this week. The filling was great. However, the crust was a big fail. It was too moist and I was unable to roll it out. I believe the ratio of butter vs flour is off. I tried making the crust twice and both times the crust came out too moist. I had to opt for a store bought crust in the end.
Hi Shannon! Are you using a scale to measure the flour? It sounds as though you might just need to use a little bit more flour. Are you using a food processor? Or mixing by hand?
Hi Ali-
I want to make this for Thanksgiving. How far in advance can I make it?
Thanks,
Marilyn Belman (Moses) Gardner
Hi Marilyn! I would make it no farther than 1 day in advance. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
delicious! I added 1 cup of dark chocolate chunks. this turned out to be the “tester” before I make it again for thanksgiving since it has mostly disappeared. thanks for another great recipe (and love that it doesn’t have corn syrup). also wondering if I need to store the leftovers in the fridge overnight. thanks!
Wonderful to hear this Michelle! I store pies at room temperature wrapped in foil or tucked into a ziplock bag. I find I never have leftover pie for more than 3 days or so, and it keeps fine at room temp. If you think the pie will be around for longer than 3 days, I would refrigerate.