I really only do a lot of baking around the holidays. Recently I took on the task of making very finicky Pecan Pies. Now if any of you have made these pies before you know they require some finesse to them. I have an old temperamental oven, it still works well but sometimes I think the temp may be off just a bit. The first time I made these pies was at Thanksgiving. Well that is where I had my learning experience, the first one came out too dark. So, I had to make another one, this time I cooked it at a little lower temperature for about 10 min less the suggested cooking time, and covered the nuts half way through. It turned out so much better, so good in fact I decided I wanted to perfect my technique and make them for Christmas as well! My twist on the pies is I used Agave nectar. My mother who is a diabetic wanted to be able to eat something sweet for the holidays, and agave is a perfect alternative to corn syrup, and it has minimal affect of blood sugar levels. I wasn’t sure about making the substitution at first but they turned out wonderfully, and my mother did not have to feel guilty about eating dessert, or me for making it!
I got the idea from watching food network’s holiday special from Aaron Sanchez. In his recipe he used grated orange zest, I omitted this, as I hate orange or citrus in most foods, and he made his own crust, I just used Pillsbury ready crust and it was awesome!
Pecan Pie
Ingredients:
3/4 stick of unsalted butter
1 1/4 cups of light brown sugar packed
2 tsp of vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon of salt
3/4 cup of agave nectar
3 large eggs
2 cups of pecan halves
Directions:
Preheat oven to 350, ( I baked mine at 325)
Melt butter in sauce pan and then add in brown sugar stirring until smooth. Remove from the heat and add in agave nectar and remaining ingredients. In a separate bowl whisk eggs together. Then pour some of the warm mixture into the eggs while whisking to temper the eggs and keep them from scrambling. Then pour the egg mixture into the rest of the batter, stirring to combine. Place pecans in the bottom of pie shell and pour mixture over the pecan. I pour mine through a fine mesh strainer, just in case there were any scrambled bits of egg that didn’t properly temper. Place in oven and bake for 45-50 min or until just set. You may need to cover the top of the pie half way through to keep the nuts from burning. You will need to cool at least one hour or more before cutting this pie. This pie will yield 8 pieces.
I hope that this Christmas season has blessed you and your family well! Merry Christmas and Happy New year from Mr. and Mrs. Coupon! I sincerely hope you enjoy this recipe!
