Monday, May 14, 2007

Caramelised Pecan Tart


For Mothers day I made a couple of cakes to take along for the family lunch. One was a black forest cake which tasted great but was a bit of a disaster in that the top sort of fell apart so I wont be giving that recipe. The second offering was this pecan pie at my mum’s request. She had recently tried making one which didn’t quite work out so this was another recipe, this one from a recent Delicious Magazine, the original recipe also came with bourbon ice cream which I have skipped. Also I used normal everyday supermarket caster sugar as I have no idea what ‘golden’ caster sugar is. It was really very yummy & my mother has also approved, sorry about the crap photo taken very hurriedly on the paper plate before scoffing!

Caramelised Pecan Tart

225g plain flour, sifted
150g chilled unsalted butter, cubed, plus 120g for the filling
300g pecan halves, broken into pieces
150g runny honey
100ml thickened cream
2 tablespoons (40ml) bourbon or whiskey
5 egg yolks
150g golden caster sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon grated fresh nutmeg

For pastry, combine flour with a pinch of salt. Use your fingertips to rub in cubed butter until mixture resembles fine breadcrumbs (or whiz in a food processor). Add 2 tablespoon of iced water & stir with a knife (or whiz again) until pastry forms a ball. Knead briefly on a lightly floured surface until smooth, then roll out & use to line a 24cm loose bottomed tart pan. Prick base with a fork & chill for 20 minutes.

Preheat oven to 200c. Line pastry with baking paper & fill with pastry weights or uncooked rice. Bake for 15 minutes, then remove paper & weights. Bake for a further 5 minutes or until pastry is a pale biscuit color.

Remove pastry case from oven & reduce oven temp to 190c. Spread nuts on a tray & toast for 5-6 minutes. Meanwhile warm honey, butter, cream & bourbon over low heat until butter melts. Beat yolks in a bowl, then stir in honey mixture, nuts, sugar, vanilla, nutmeg & a pinch of salt. Pour filling into pastry & bake for 40 minutes. Serve warm or cold.




3 comments:

Cindy said...

I love pecan pie, and this one looks like an incredibly tasty, crumbly homely version. (Much better than a super-neat processed-looking one from a shop!)

Anonymous said...

Hi
Love your blog and your pecan pie looks great just to let you know that golden caster sugar wasn't available in Aus until recently and now is at some super markets (I'm in perth about 1 in 3 stores seem to have it) under the Brand CSR and is labeled Raw caster sugar normal caster sugar is a fine substitute use the golden if the colour of the final product is important.
Happy Baking
Mel

Ange said...

Hi Mel, thks for the tip!