Solving the goop-to-nuts ratio in pecan pie
Chopping nuts and spiking with bourbon create a satisfying dessert
The first thing I do when I spy an intriguing pecan pie recipe is evaluate one allimportant ratio. I don’t mean the ratio of flour to butter in the crust, or of sugar to spice. No. I mean the ratio of pecans to that goopy filling.
I used to resign myself to the sad belief that all pecan pies had such a low pecan-to-goop ratio that I’d always be forced to eat them the way I started doing as a kid: combining bites of crust with pecan halves I picked off the top, leaving the rest of the syrupy-sweet filling behind. Or I thought I’d always prefer twists, such as a chocolate-pecan pie. That was until I made Virginia Willis’ wonderful pie from “Bon Appetit, Y’all,” and loved how she instructed bakers to coarsely chop or grind the pecans, which occupied most of the filling, rather than lay them on top.
I stopped my search for the perfect pie. Then this year I picked it up again, because I like to make sure my guests who are avoiding animal products can enjoy a slice, too. Could I find a vegan pie that would be otherwise classic — and still emphasize the pecans? Rather than just try to veganize Virginia’s recipe, I spied something worth trying in Doron Petersan’s “Sticky Fingers Vegan Sweets”: a bourbon pecan pie that is, as the name indicates, spiked.
The crust, I knew, would come together easily, thanks to the use of vegan shortening (although I increased it by half to make for a more substantial base).
The filling uses flour as a thickener in lieu of eggs, and you cook it on the stove before scraping it into the pie shell. It tasted great as I stirred it in the pan —not too sweet, thanks to the maple syrup, and with a depth of flavor from the bourbon. But there was one problem: not nearly enough pecans for my taste. The allimportant ratio was off.
It was an easy fix. I added another 2 cups, some arranged on top and the rest added to the filling. One bite, and I knew: This was too good to be called goop.