Skip to main content

Agave Sweetened Butter Pecan Pie

This recipe has been a Thanksgiving tradition in our family for around a decade. It comes out perfect every time, and even caused quite the commotion last Thanksgiving when my father in law told his mother that my Chocolate Bourbon version was better than hers. (Gasp!) It's even a teeny bit healthy too. 

I love making pretty designs on the top.

We have cleaned up the ingredients of this Butter Pecan Pie by removing the corn syrup and replacing it with agave nectar. Before you go all crazy on me by telling me that Agave Nectar is just as bad as corn syrup let me get in two points.

1. Yes Agave Nectar is Fructose. That’s why it works in this and my peanut brittle, but depending on HOW it’s processed it can be lower glycemic
2. Agave Nectar is Non-GMO and doesn’t contain all the icky stuff used to process corn syrup.

Why do you need a fructose component in pecan pie?
If you ever made Rock Candy as a child you know that sugar molecules fight through liquid to bond to each other. When they push out liquid they stick to each other and crystallize. Fructose butts in between the sugar molecules to keep them apart, preventing crystallization. So here we use Agave Nectar as the fructose to keep the sugar from crystallizing.

Say bye-bye to runny pecan pie!
If you ever have had runny pecan pie, or burnt your crust trying to get your filling set up, here is the secret. Cook the filling first! By pre-cooking the filling, your pie crust and filling will finish together is glorious harmony.




Agave Sweetened Butter Pecan Pie

1 Pie Crust
1 ½ cups Pecans (halves and pieces) plus 1 ½ C pecan halves for top
1 cup Brown sugar
1 cup Agave nectar
1/2 cup unsalted Butter
1 tablespoon All-Purpose Flour
1/2 teaspoon Sea Salt
3 Eggs, lightly beaten
1 teaspoon Vanilla

To prepare the filling: Preheat the oven to 425°. Combine the pecans, rapadura sugar, agave nectar, butter, flour and salt in a heavy-bottomed pan over medium heat. Bring to a boil, stirring constantly. Remove from heat. Cool 15 minutes.

Whisk the eggs and vanilla into the filling. Pour the filling into the pie shell. Place reserved pecan halves on top.

Bake 10 minutes. Reduce the oven temperature to 325°. Bake until the custard has set and a knife inserted in the center comes out cleanly, about 45 minutes. Transfer to a rack and cool for at least 45 minutes.

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie Variation 
Before going into the oven




Make as above but replace flour with 3 Tbs Cocoa powder and add 3 Tbs Bourbon in with egg and vanilla. Bake same as above. 

This was a huge hit at Thanksgiving. By using cocoa powder instead of chocolate chips like other recipes you have chocolate throughout the pie instead of glopy chocolate at the bottom of the pie and the cocoa powder cuts the sweetness of the pecan pie a bit!

* for 2014 I used Cognac instead of Bourbon and omitted the vanilla, I think it was even better!

*This recipe originally appeared on my Healthy Gourmet on the Go Blog in November of 2013


Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Pumpkin Spice Bagels

I'm ready for fall and all the smells and tastes that go with it. That includes pumpkin spice. But don't call me basic. These bagels are anything but basic. Pumpkin Spice Bagels Makes 9 Ingredients   2/3 C Water 1/2 C Canned Pumpkin 1/2 C Brown Sugar 1 tsp Salt 1Tbs Pumpkin Spice 2 C All Purpose Flour 1 C Whole Wheat Flour 2 tsp yeast 1/4 C Honey for the boiling water  *Cinnamon Sugar mixture for sprinkling on bagels before baking* In a large mixing bowl combine water, brown sugar, and yeast. Set aside until yeast is foamy. Add pumpkin, salt, pumpkin spice, and flour to the water mixture. Mixing until thoroughly incorporated and you have a supple dough that holds its shape. Let dough rise at room temperature for an hour to an hour and a half until it is doubled in size. Once dough is doubled in size knead dough and divide into 9 equal portions. Roll each of those portions into a ball and set aside on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper or a silicone baking ma...
Post a Comment
Read more

Sourdough Discard Chocolate Cake

I've made sourdough bread for years but recently started branching out and trying different things with my discard. I had made apple cheddar muffins with sourdough discard probably about 15 years ago, sourdough waffles like the ones I had tried in Las Vegas, but never really added it to anything else outside of bread products.  I tried Chocolate Chip Cookies a while back with good results so it seemed natural to try a chocolate cake recipe. I tend to make my baked goods less sweet so I adapted a recipe I found to suit our tastes and topped it with a lightly sweetened peanut butter drizzle. This cake was moist and perfectly sweet. Ingredients: 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour 3/4 cup cocoa powder 1/2 tsp salt 1 tsp baking powder 1 tsp baking soda 2 eggs 1 tsp vanilla extract 3/4 cup oil 1/2 cup sourdough discard 1/2 cup granulated sugar 3/4 cup brown sugar 1 cup milk of choice 1/2 cup hot, fresh and strong brewed coffee Preheat oven to 350° and grease a bundt pan, set aside. In a large ...
Post a Comment
Read more

Spiderman Burger Buns

My kids want to try the Spider-Man Whopper from Burger King but our Burger King was always sold out of buns so we decided to make our own. We actually like ours a little better. Give him a try and let us know what you think. Ingredients: 1 C Water 1 Tbs Yeast  1/4 C Sugar 3 1/2 C Flour 1 1/4 tsp Salt 1/4 C Beet Powder 1 Egg 2 Tbs melted butter 1/2 tsp of Activated Charcoal mixed with a few drops of water for painting buns. In a large bowl or a bowl of a stand mixer combine 1 cup of water and a tablespoon of yeast. Let sit while you gather the rest of your ingredients so the yeast can get activated. Add a quarter cup of sugar to the yeast mixture. Then add in flour, salt, and beet powder. Start to mix those together then add one egg and two tablespoons of melted butter. Mix until thoroughly combined and the dough forms a ball that is tacky. Cover dough and let rest an hour to an hour and a half until doubled in size. When the dough has doubled in size remove from bowl an...
Post a Comment
Read more