Courtesy of the Bartlett House
Looking for the perfect pie for Thanksgiving, an autumnal dinner party, or just because? This sticky maple pecan pie does the trick.
We don’t know about you, but our hands-down favorite part of Thanksgiving is dessert. To help you up your pie game, we spoke to Michael Poiarkoff, the executive chef at Bartlett House in Ghent. The popular café takes its holiday baking seriously. We coaxed him into sharing his favorite recipes and learned his secrets to pastry success.
Sticky Maple Pecan Pie
Recipe by Michael Poiarkoff
Yields 8–10 servings
Ingredients:
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2 sticks butter, chilled and divided in half
2 ½ cups flour, sifted
4 Tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt
1 egg
â…“ cup ice water
6 Tbsp butter, melted
1 cup and 1 Tbsp brown sugar
½ cup maple syrup
¼ cup molasses
½ vanilla bean, scraped zest of ½ orange
½ tsp salt
3 eggs
1 tsp cornstarch
2 cup pecans, mix of chopped and whole halves
Instructions:
Crust
- Cube a stick of butter. Grate the other stick on a box grater. Chill both again.
- In a large bowl, mix sugar, flour, and salt in a bowl.
- In a small bowl, whisk egg with ice water.
- Work cubed butter into dry mixture with your fingers (I always prefer to get my hands dirty) until it’s a cornmeal-like consistency. Add the grated butter and gently mix until incorporated, but not broken down—you’ll still want to see flour and butter.
- Add egg-water mixture and stir with fingertips to form large, chunky crumbles. Press chunky crumbles into a large ball.
- Flatten ball flat into thick disk. Wrap and chill for 45–90 minutes.
- Remove disk and roll to ¹/₈ inch.
- Grease a 9-inch pie pan and lay in crust. Pinch as desired and chill for 30 minutes.
- Place parchment paper over pie crust and add enough large dried beans (like butter beans) to fill the top, about 2 pounds. Bake at 400° F for 12 minutes.
- Remove parchment and beans and let cool.
Filling
- Preheat oven to 325° F.
- In a small pot, melt butter.
- In a medium sized bowl, mix brown sugar, maple syrup, molasses, vanilla, orange zest, salt, eggs, and cornstarch.
- Spread pecans in an even layer inside crust. Pour wet mixture over the pecans until covered.
- Place the pie on a sheet pan and bake for 70 minutes, or until the edges have set and slightly puffed. The center should be set, but slightly wobbly.
- Set aside and let cool completely before slicing.
