Boozy Pecan Pie

Pecan Pie belongs on your Thanksgiving menu. This boozy pecan pie recipe, from Tom Douglas, is spiked with a good slosh of bourbon or rum. This holiday dessert does not disappoint! 

Boozy Pecan Pie

When my parents used to make the rounds for the long holiday weekend, they’d make sure to be in Indianapolis on Thanksgiving Day. Unlike my siblings, I’d have the works on the menu: turkey, stuffing, mashed potatoes and gravy, my great grandmother’s overnight fruit salad, along with a couple pies for dessert.

Since the hubby feigns a nut allergy (his “polite” way of getting out of eating a food he does not like), I would never serve a pecan pie without reinforcements to help me eat it. This bourbon spiked pecan pie baked up perfectly.

Boozy Pecan Pie Techniques

If you’re a pie novice, feel free to purchase a pre-made crust. There is a lot of preparation when making a traditional Thanksgiving meal, and rolling out a pie crust can be a bit daunting! Do you know what blind baking is? This technique pre-bakes the pastry before the filling is added. This ensures the bottom crust is cooked thoroughly. I’ve placed a link in the recipe for instructions. Basically, you line the pie crust with a sheet of parchment or nonstick foil, fill with pie weights (or dried beans) and bake about 10 minutes. Next, remove the beans and paper and bake about 5 more minutes. In this case, you don’t want to thoroughly bake the crust, but just give it a head start and firm it up so the gooey filling has a sturdy shell. When the pie is filled, you may need to cover the edges with foil if they start getting too brown. This custardy, boozy pecan pie is definitely worth the effort!

To help you make the pie, you might want:

• French rolling pin
• Emile Henry Pie Dish, 9″, Red
• Pyrex 9-inch Pie Plate

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Boozy Pecan Pie for Thanksgiving

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A delectable holiday pecan pie. Recipe adapted from Tom Douglas’ The Dahlia Bakery Cookbook.

• Author: Liz Berg
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 55 mins
• Total Time: 1 hour 25 minutes
• Yield: 8-10 servings

Ingredients

• 1 3/4 cups pecan halves, toasted and cooled (at 350° for 5-7 minutes)
• One 9 inch pie crust, blind baked*, then cooled
• 4 eggs
• 5 tablespoons butter, melted and slightly cooled
• 2/3 cup brown sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon molasses
• 1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons bourbon or dark rum, optional
• 1/4 teaspoon salt

Instructions

1. Preheat the oven to 350°. Arrange the pecans in the pie shell, top side up. Set aside.
2. Whisk the eggs in a medium bowl. Add the melted butter, brown sugar, corn syrup, molasses, vanilla, bourbon or rum (if using), and salt, whisking until smooth. Pour the filling into the pastry shell.
3. Bake until the pie is cooked through and set, 50 to 55 minutes. You can carefully pierce the top of the pie with a knife to see if the filling is set. Let the pie cool on a rack for about 1 hour before slicing and serving.

Notes

*If you’re unfamiliar with blind baking, check out these instructions. You will only want to partially bake the crust.

Don’t worry about your pecans as you pour in the custard. They should remain
top-side up and rise to the top of the pie. Such a neat trick!

Uh, oh.
If you think these photos look familiar, you have a good memory! I shared this recipe last fall, but somehow it got deleted from my blog! Techy stuff is not my strong suit, so instead of the daunting task of figuring out what happened to it, I just started from scratch. I hope you don’t mind this rerun.