No.159 Pecan, Chocolate & Whiskey Pie

Over the pond, pecan pie is an American classic and has similarities with our cherished treacle tart. On this one, however, I’ll give the American’s their due. With this creation it has had its intense sweetness balanced by smoky whiskey and bitter dark chocolate. I prefer keeping this more like a treacle tart with a reasonable amount of filling but if you want to make this more American simply increase the filling ingredients by half.

The taste of the alcohol can be very present in this pie. If you would still like the smokey notes without the strong alcohol flavour you can carefully burn off the alcohol.

Serves: 6

Difficulty: Take Your Time

Time: 20 Minutes to make the pastry and 1 Hour to cook the pie.

Pastry

200g of Flour

85g of Butter (fridge cold)

Enough Cold Water to bind together

1 teaspoon of Cocoa Powder

Pinch of Salt

Filling

150g of Pecans

50g of Dark Chocolate (roughly chopped)

2 Eggs

125g Soft Brown Sugar

100ml of Maple Syrup

2 tablespoons of a Smokey (Peaty) Whiskey

½ teaspoon of Salt

½ teaspoon of Ground Cinnamon 

¼ teaspoon of Ground Nutmeg

 ¼ teaspoon of Ground Cloves

1. Make the pastry by mixing together the flour, 1 teaspoon of salt and the cocoa powder.

2. Chop the butter into small cubes and add to a food processor. Blitz together until a small and even crumb has formed. Now add a tablespoon of cold water and blitz again, repeating until a dough has formed.

3. Cover and return to the fridge for 30 minutes.

4. Roughly chop 75g of the pecans. Toast in a pan for 2-3 minutes.

5. Toast the remaining whole pecans in a pan for 2-3 minutes.

6. Optionally, and safely, flame your whiskey to remove some of the alcohol.  

7. On a floured work surface roll out the dough until you have enough to cover your flan or tart tin. Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius.

8. With a rolling pin transfer the dough on to the tin and press down to fill. Allow the excess dough to overhang. Cover with greaseproof paper and fill with pie weight (or any dried bean or rice).

9. Bake the dough in the oven for 15 minutes. Remove and carefully remove the greaseproof paper and the pie weights. Return to bake for another 5 minutes before removing to cool. Trim the excess pastry.

10. Once the crust has cooled whisk together the eggs, sugar, whiskey, salt, spices and maple syrup.

11. Take three tablespoons of the mixture and stir through the wholes nuts.

12. With the remaining egg and sugar mixture add the chocolate and chopped nuts. Add this into the the pie crust.

13. Now add the whole pecan mixture on top.

14. Bake for 30-35 minutes at 180 degrees Celsius until the pie has set.

15. Leave to cool completely before serving to allow the chocolate to set.