Pecan pie without the pecans

Ladies and gentlemen, I’ve taken up the gauntlet. Here’s exactly how I took it up:

And what’s the challenge, exactly? Whose recipe will get more likes and shares? Mine or Kaja’s? Kaja’s sending her little soldier into battle in the shape of a pecan pie (whatever that means ;). I haven’t yet decided what to make to keep this a fair fight. From what I can see on Google Trends, it won’t be an easy choice, because pecan pie isn’t exactly a household favourite here. Sorry, Kaja :p

Still, just to be sporting, I’m asking everyone who reads this recipe to give it a like, share it and all that. It does look pretty good in the picture (as you’ve probably guessed, I wasn’t invited to taste it).

Over to Kaja, who wrote this post:

“I wanted to make a traditional pecan pie. Pecans must be cheap in America, but what they charge for them here is daylight robbery. So I used their European counterpart, walnuts. The shortcrust pastry is my own recipe. I’ve used it for years for both sweet and savoury tarts (for the savoury ones I leave out the sugar and add a pinch of salt).

I looked through loads of recipes for the filling. As usual, I put together a recipe in my head that I thought would turn out best. I couldn’t get hold of golden syrup (no time to hunt through the shops, and with the challenge on, I had to make the pie in a hurry), so I went for maple syrup, which I love. It doesn’t acidify the body as much as sugar syrup does (so at least there’ll be one ‘healthy’ thing in this pie).”

At a glance: 

Preparation time: about 1 hour 30 minutes all in (making, baking and cooling). A lot depends on how organised you are. My kitchen was such a tip and there wasn’t a single bit of clear worktop, so halfway through I realised I’d just have to stop and tidy up…

How many does it serve? It’s a tart. It could feed a crowd, or just one person (I know someone who once polished off an entire broccoli and blue cheese tart on their own).

How many calories? Tonnes. You absolutely have to eat it at the gym (you can absolutely skip the gym — note from Prymitywna Kuchnia).

Ingredients for the pecan pie:

       For the shortcrust pastry:

• 1 and ½ cups flour
• 140 g butter
• 2 tablespoons icing sugar
• 1 egg yolk
• cold water

       For the filling:

• 2 and ½ cups walnuts
• a cup of maple syrup
• half a teaspoon of vanilla paste
• 60 g butter
• ¾ cup cane sugar
• 2 eggs

The recipe (hmm…):

I’ve used this tart crust recipe for years. It’s one for lazy women like me. I chuck the flour, icing sugar, butter cut into little pieces and egg yolk into the food processor and blitz the lot. I slowly pour cold water in through the top, a little at a time, until the dough forms a ball (remember to take the plastic stopper out first. Naturally I poured and poured and poured, and the dough didn’t change one bit, until I realised the stopper was still in…). Done! I put the dough on a sheet of baking paper, cover it with another sheet and roll it out (perfect for keeping it from sticking to everything). I line a tart tin with the rolled-out pastry and pop it in the freezer for 10/15 minutes. Meanwhile, I heat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

Put the nuts in the hot oven to toast them a little (it brings out their aroma). Keep an eye on them so they don’t brown too much. Take the nuts out and put the tart shell in. I cover mine with baking paper and pour dried beans on top to keep the sides from slipping down. Bake for 12 minutes, remove the beans (I always wonder what becomes of those beans afterwards — note from Prymitywna Kuchnia) and the paper, then bake for another 7–8 minutes, just long enough for the pastry to take on a little colour without getting too brown. Take it out and let it cool a little.

In a saucepan, heat the butter, maple syrup, half the sugar and vanilla paste until the butter and sugar have melted. Leave the mixture to cool. Meanwhile, beat the eggs with the remaining sugar using an electric mixer, then whizz them into (is that even a term?) the sugar mixture, once it’s cool, so you don’t end up with scrambled eggs.

Scatter the nuts over the tart shell, pour the filling over them and bake for 30 minutes in an oven preheated to 180 degrees. Take the pie out and let it cool (do let it cool, because the middle will still be runny and needs a bit of peace and quiet to set).

This pie is crying out for vanilla ice cream or whipped cream. Enjoy!

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