My all-time favorite pie (and nut) is pecan (as in pecaaahn’). Outside of the US though, they can be hard to find, so I also *love* almonds and pistachios, and of course macadamias, but after that my love for nuts drops pretty quickly. I have recently decided that I like walnuts, too. This is four decades after growing up with 100 walnut trees that we were forced to harvest and sell the nuts to neighbors every year. Ok, yeah that was kind of fun. But the walnuts always kind of hurt my mouth. Walnuts in ground up in Georgian food — pkhali, satsivi, churchkhela… I also love. And then I discovered *toasted* walnuts. Indeed, toasting makes all nuts good.
My latest thing is to make pecan butter, so I can have pecan toast and cookies and everything else slathered in pecan goodness any time I want.
Recipe-wise, Mom’s is a good traditional one, for sure and I love that it has molasses in it. I’ve also tried making the notoriously difficult Bravetart Pecan Pie using walnuts instead (I was in Qatar…), and I’ve also done a pecan pear pie, which was fabulous, and many pecan cheesecakes.
| Old Time Molasses Pecan Pie 1 ½ c. packed brown sugar 2 ½ T all-purpose flour ¼ c butter, melted 5 eggs 1 1/3 c light corn syrup ¼ c molasses 1 ½ t vanilla 2 ½ c pecan pieces 1 9” unbaked pie crust |
Beat sugar, flour, butter and eggs together.
Add corn syrup, molasses and vanilla; mix until smooth.
Arrange pecan pieces in pie shell (tip: be sure there are no breaks or cracks in the unbaked pie shell) and pour liquid mixture over pecans.
Bake for 50-60 minutes at 350o or until filling is completely set in the center. Cool on a rack for about an hour before serving.
Garnish with about 24 unbroken pecan halves.
Pecan is my very favorite pie to eat…