Pecan pie is something I have strong memories of making at the first bakery I worked as a pastry chef. Thanksgiving was insane there, because we made pies. In all the years since then, I haven’t made pean pie again because it’s so sweet – even “healthy” versions are pretty sweet for me. But this year, I got some requests for a “healthified” version, so I thought, why not play around!
This recipe is still sweet to me because I don’t personally put sweetener in much of anything I eat these days. I just feel better without sugars in my life. BUT IT’S THE HOLIDAYS so let’s have some fun! I would say, if you are used to really sweet, traditional pecan pie, this won’t taste too sweet to you, and if you’re like me and don’t need much sugar, maybe take out 1 Tbl of the sweetener. Your choice.
Let’s talk about the crust quickly – as per my usual approach to cooking, I rather not use sugars, so I used dates. Dates still have a lot of natural sugar, so this is still a sweetened crust, just no added sugar. This is a simple crust and you could use it for pumpkin pie too – or any type of pie for that matter!
- CRUST:
- 1 ½ cups pecan pieces
- 1 cup chopped dates
- 1 pinch salt
- ¼ tsp cinnamon
- 2 Tbl ground flax
- 3 Tbl water
- Ghee, for greasing pie pan
- FILLING:
- 5 Tbl ghee, melted
- 2 eggs
- 1 ½ tsp vanilla extract
- ¾ cup maple syrup
- ¼ cup coconut nectar (or just sub maple syrup)
- 3 Tbl coconut sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1 Tbl coconut milk
- 2 ¼ cups pecan halves
- 2 tsp coconut flour
- Crust:
- Preheat oven to 325.
- In a small bowl, combine the flax and water, stir and set aside.
- Pulse the pecans and chopped dates in a food processor until resemble course meal.
- Add the salt, cinnamon and flax mixture, pulse again, to evenly combine.
- Use a rubber spatula to scrape down the sides of the processor bowl to make sure the mixture is getting evenly mixed. Pulse again.
- Grease a 9 inch pie pan with some ghee just to coat the surface.
- Press the mixture into the greased pie dish, using your fingers and palm to press and shape the crust. I have a video on Instagram that shows me doing this step!
- Bake off the crust just for 5 minutes to help it set.
- Filling:
- In a medium mixing bowl, whisk to combine the eggs, vanilla, sweeteners, salt, coconut milk. Add the ghee, whisk, then add the pecans and coconut flour, whisk to evenly combine.
- Pour filling into crust. Use your fingers to gently arrange the pecans so they are mostly all flat.
- Bake until filling is mostly set and not jiggly, but still has a slight give in the center. Like a gentle ‘bounce’ when you press lightly with you finger. About 30 minutes.
- If your crust starts to get brown on the edges while filling is cooking, tent the pie with some foil so it’s covered.
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