Thanksgiving

Apple Pecan Pie

October 27, 2021
5
3 Ratings
Photo by Julia Gartland. Food stylist: Anna Billingskog. Prop stylist: Molly Fitzsimons.
  • Prep time 1 hour 30 minutes
  • Cook time 1 hour 10 minutes
  • makes One 9-inch pie
Author Notes

In a world where we make so many decisions daily—why decide when it comes to classic pie flavors? If you can appreciate both the homey comfort of apple pie, and also the syrup-cloaked nuttiness of a classic pecan pie, you’ve come to the right place. Imagine the delicious caramelly-custardy flavor of a traditional pecan pie, but studded with diced apples, too. It’s the best of both worlds, and it’s ready for its whipped cream-shrouded spotlight.
Erin Jeanne McDowell

Test Kitchen Notes

This dish is part of Residentsgiving—aka the Thanksgiving menu of our wildest dreams—created by Food52's resident experts-slash-superheroes. Devour the rest of the spread herehere, and while you're at it, learn how to Remix & Remaster your Thanksgiving.

This recipe was featured on our cook-along podcast Play Me a Recipe. Listen as Erin bakes her way through this recipe.
—The Editors

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Ingredients
  • 1 recipe All Buttah Pie Dough (https://food52.com/recipes...), prepared and chilled
  • 4 tablespoons (56 grams) unsalted butter
  • 1 cup (212 grams) dark brown sugar, divided
  • 2 tablespoons (15 grams) all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups (240 grams) peeled and diced apples, such as Cosmic Crisp, Honeycrisp, or Fuji (about 2 large apples)
  • 3 (170 grams) large eggs, at room temperature
  • 1/4 cup (78 grams) maple syrup
  • 1 1/2 teaspoons (7 grams) vanilla extract
  • 3/4 teaspoon (3 grams) fine sea salt
  • 1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) ground cinnamon
  • 1 1/2 cups (200 grams) pecan halves, roughly chopped
Directions
  1. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to ¼-in/6 mm thick, rotating it as you work to prevent it from sticking to the work surface. Use the rolling pin to transfer the dough to the pan, gently rolling it up, wrapping it around the pin, then unfurling it into a 9-in/23 cm pie plate.
  2. Use scissors to trim away the excess pie dough, leaving about ½ in/1 cm of excess all the way around the outside edge of the pie plate. Tuck this excess dough under itself, pressing gently to make it flush with the outside edge of the pie plate. Crimp the edge as desired.
  3. Dock the base and sides of the dough with the tines of a fork, then refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Towards the end of chill time, preheat the oven to 425°F/220°C.
  4. Cut a square of parchment paper slightly larger than the diameter of a pie plate, and press it into the base of the pie plate. Fill with pie weights to the top inner rim of the pan. Bake until the edges begin to lightly brown, 15 to 17 minutes.
  5. Remove the parchment paper and pie weights, and return to the oven until the lower portion of crust appears dry and set (it shouldn’t brown), 2 to 3 minutes more. Cool completely before filling. Reduce the oven temperature to 375°F/190°C.
  6. In a medium pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Place ½ cup (106 g) brown sugar in a small bowl, and use your fingers to rub the flour into it until well combined. Add the apples to the pot, and sprinkle the sugar mixture over it and stir well to combine.
  7. Cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves and the apples start to become tender; continue to cook until the “sauce” that forms from the sugar and apple’s juices thickens slightly, fully coating the apples, 4 to 5 minutes.
  8. Pour this mixture onto a baking sheet or shallow casserole dish and spread into an even layer. Cool for 10 to 15 minutes.
  9. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs well. Add the remaining ½ cup (106 g) brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon and whisk well to combine.
  10. Add the apple mixture and pecans to the bowl and stir well to combine. Gently pour the mixture into the cooled pie crust.
  11. Transfer the pie to the oven and bake until the custard appears just set in the center when the pan is slightly moved back and forth, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely before slicing and serving.

See what other Food52ers are saying.

I always have three kinds of hot sauce in my purse. I have a soft spot for making people their favorite dessert, especially if it's wrapped in a pastry crust. My newest cookbook, Savory Baking, came out in Fall of 2022 - is full of recipes to translate a love of baking into recipes for breakfast, dinner, and everything in between!

6 Reviews

AMochizuki November 12, 2022
Heard this Recipe on the podcast, "Play Me a Recipe" and was really excited to bake along with Erin! It was super delicious, I love the flavors, I don't think I cooked down my apple mixture quite enough and it came out a little wetter than I imagined, but just something for me to improve on for next time, it still tasted amazing!
Sebastian S. October 23, 2022
I didn't have pecans, so I used chopped walnuts. Super delicious!
Smaug November 23, 2021
I'm not what you'd call an effusive person and I'm generally leery of mashups, but this is a really terrific pie; my winter project has been apple pie variations, and this is the best yet. The flavor and texture are both first rate. The recipe is perhaps a bit elaborate, but I think it would go pretty fast with a bit of practice; at any rate, nothing particularly difficult about it. I do have a couple of questions about numbers. The recipe says 2 medium apples will produce about 240g. of pieces- I got 110 from half a medium (to me, anyway) Honeycrisp apple (I made 1/3 recipe for a 6" pie). And 1/4" is awfully thick for a pie crust- I used my own recipe (not that different, but I did add a small touch of cinnamon and sugar) and rolled it out to a more standard 1/8" or so.
AlwaysLookin November 7, 2021
... for a substitute, give Lyle's Golden Syrup a try for Maple Syrup ... but I'm gonna try this, it looks REALLY GOOD!
Smaug November 22, 2021
I dunno- I like the flavor of maple with this. If I was going to sub I'd probably go with honey, maybe switch lemon oil (in small quantity) for the vanilla.
Smaug December 3, 2021
Tried the honey/lemon oil (+some nutmeg) substitution- I won't go so far as to say it was better, but it was pretty darn good.