somehow it’s november. and november means pie.
… and pecan pie it is! with a dose of chocolate. and bourbon. (for those of you who voted for chocolate meringue on my facebook page, no worries. the month’s not over yet! everyone should win when it comes to pie.)
i first experienced this pie when i was working in the oxmoor house test kitchen years ago. i say experience, because some foods are so over-the-top amazing that you can’t just say you ate it. i’ve always remembered this pie. so, i couldn’t not develop a gluten-free version and share it with you. dare i say i even improved on a winner… the original did not include chocolate or bourbon. it seemed only fitting that it did.
i have a confession though… given the high volume of recipes being tested in my kitchen right now, this was my one and only shot. (plus, let’s be honest… with a pie this big i may just run out of people to feed it to if i had to make more than one.) the crust came together beautifully, it baked effortlessly in the oven with no leaks or oven mess, it cooked into a gorgeous, impressive tower of a pie, i took the first shots of it with my camera… and then i cut into it.
no, it didn’t leak everywhere. it was nicely firmed up and set… but the crust was in the center of the pie. completely cooked, in the center. it is an inside-out pecan pie.
i have a couple of thoughts about this.
there’s a lot of filling in this pie. and it’s not completely uncommon to have leaks if you have any cracks in your dough. when transferring my dough to the spring-form pan, it did tear in a couple of places. it has no gluten… so a tender crust is typical. i patched it, but maybe not as aggressively as i should have. my guess is because of the weight of the huge volume of egg mixture, it seeped under the crust through a tear, baking on the outside of the bottom crust.
the original recipe called for a cream cheese crust. i’m wondering if the fat and protein of the cream cheese would add additional binding and strength. maybe? or maybe if i’d blind baked the crust a bit prior to filling it?
so i do have several questions about this pie, but there is one thing that i know…
it still tastes really good.
and there is another thing i know, and that is the crust does work. i’ve used it several times for pot pies, poptarts, galettes and pies. and don’t let the photo fool you… i promise the ribbon isn’t holding it all together. i just liked the way it looks. i’ll admit, i have a thing for grosgrain.
the crust is really what we’re talking about today…
ruhlman’s ratio for a pate brisee (which is a basic buttery pastry crust) is one of his easiest…
3 parts flour : 2 parts butter : 1 part ice water.
this is the exact ratio i use too. and this is what it looks like…
350 grams (about 2 1/2 cups) flour : 1 cup butter : 1/2 cup ice water.
Gluten Free Ratio Rally: Deep-Dish Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie
Ingredients
Pâte Brisée:
- 350 grams about 2 1/2 cups kumquat's all-purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- 1/3-1/2 cup ice water
Pie:
- 1 16-ounce bottle light corn syrup
- 1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
- 1/3 cup butter melted
- 5 large eggs lightly beaten
- 4 large egg yolks lightly beaten
- 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
- 3 tablespoons bourbon i used maker's mark
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup miniature chocolate morsels
- 3 1/2 cups pecan halves or pieces
Instructions
- Mix flour and salt in the container of a food processor. Add butter; pulse until mixture resembles coarse meal. Gradually blend in enough ice water to form moist clumps. Gather dough into a ball. Roll dough on lightly-floured parchment paper into a 13-inch round. Carefully transfer to a greased 9-inch spring-form pan. Chill for 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 375`. Cover outside of pan with aluminum foil to prevent any leaks. Combine corn syrup, brown sugar and butter in a large bowl. Stir in eggs, egg yolks, vanilla, bourbon and salt with a wire whisk. Stir in chocolate morsels and pecans.
- Pour mixture into pan lined with uncooked pastry. Bake at 375` for 15 minutes. Reduce oven to 300` and bake for an additional 2 hours and 25 minutes. (Shield pie with aluminum foil to prevent excess browning, if necessary.) Cool completely. Cover and chill, for best slicing. Remove sides of spring-form pan before serving.
(and by the way, if you’re interested, read a little about corn syrup versus high-fructose corn syrup at the bottom of the page of this previous post… be sure to use the corn syrup with 0% hfcs.)
irvin of eat the love made double butterscotch apple pie
