Pecan pie–it’s not just for the holidays! I love to bake pecan pie year-round, in all sorts of variations. This one with maple syrup and bourbon is one of my favorites. (I also love burnt sugar pecan pie! And molasses pecan pie! Yum.)
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How to make Maple Pecan Pie (with Bourbon):
3 eggs
3/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup bourbon*
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups pecan halves
pastry for single-crust pie
*You can also use rum, whiskey, or brandy. If you don’t want to cook with alcohol at all, you can increase the maple syrup to 1 cup and add 1 teaspoon of rum extract in place of vanilla for the flavoring.
For the filling, whisk eggs lightly then add maple syrup, bourbon, sugar, butter, and vanilla. Load in the pecan halves and stir. Pour filling into pastry-lined pie plate. Bake on bottom oven rack at 350-degrees for 40-45 minutes.
(I always bake pies on the bottom oven rack. For one thing, it guarantees a well-baked bottom crust. For another, it avoids the need for trying to tediously tuck foil around the crust edges to protect from over-browning.)
Quick, somebody bring me the vanilla ice cream!
P.S. This pie has really fantastic flavor. Don’t wait for the holidays.
To make Burnt Sugar Pecan Pie: Replace the maple syrup and bourbon with 1/2 cup light corn syrup and 1/2 cup burnt sugar syrup. To make burnt sugar syrup, see the directions here. You’ll need to start with about 3/4 cup sugar and an equal part water to come out with 1/2 cup burnt sugar syrup. Let syrup cool to room temperature before using in the recipe.
To make Molasses Pecan Pie: Replace the maple syrup and bourbon with 3/4 cup light corn syrup and 1/4 cup molasses.
Make the best pie crust in the world.
Use homemade vanilla.
See this recipe at Farm Bell Recipes and save it to your recipe box.
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monica says:
This recipe makes me so glad to have liquor around the house! I can’t wait to try this one! Since I am only the 3rd poster–maybe others have already baked it and are now napping before the kids get home from school. :shimmy:
On September 21, 2009 at 8:09 am
Laura says:
A local restaurant that is no more served a pecan pie that had a shot of bourbon and mini-chocolate chips in it and it was divine! Also, if you have black walnuts, they make an awesome pie (instead of pecans).
On September 21, 2009 at 8:38 am
trish says:
Beyond your obvious beauty and charm, I see you are giving 52 absolutely no reason to leave you!
Again, why don’t you weigh 300 lbs??
Clover says, “I want a piece of that pie!”
On September 21, 2009 at 9:25 am
Senta Sandberg says:
That looks wonderful! I love Pecan pie. She stays thin chasing kids,chickens(or running from)goats and donkey’s. :snoopy:
On September 21, 2009 at 9:34 am
Miss Becky says:
Suzanne, I want to know how you knew that I just bought a bag of pecans, not knowing myself that I really wanted a pecan pie. You are an amazing woman…who makes beautiful pies. :shimmy:
On September 21, 2009 at 9:57 am
Mama Pea says:
I think I may have just found a new favorite Pecan Pie recipe. No, haven’t tried it yet but will do so soon.
It’s 11 o’clock, I haven’t had any breakfast (don’t ask . . . crazy morning) so my stomach is growling and salivary glands are working overtime reading this post. If I had a piece of this pie right now, I’d probably be tipsy for the rest of the day. But very happy.
Thanks for sharing with all of us.
On September 21, 2009 at 10:08 am
KentuckyFarmGirl says:
That looks so good! I am having company over tonight and was wondering what to fix for dessert! I’m on my way to the store!
On September 21, 2009 at 10:50 am
Donna says:
Oh how I LOVE pecans and LOVE Pecan pie!!!!
On September 21, 2009 at 1:28 pm
PamP says:
I have a question I hope one of you can help me with. We have butane, which is also what my oven is connected to, which causes a fairly large flame coming from the bottom of the oven. I can roast meat with no problem, but when it comes to baking anything that needs to rise, I am having no luck. I have tried moving my items to different racks, etc. If someone could help, I’d appreciate it!
On September 21, 2009 at 1:34 pm
monica says:
Instead of putting it into the oven to rise, let it rise on top of the stove! Most stoves have some sort of vent where excess heat dissipates from the oven–set it close to that and cover it with the clean dishtowel and you might have better luck. If the bread gets too dried out during baking, you may try a shallow pan of water along with the bread as it bakes–it will help to moisten the air a bit.
I am not sure if this will help or not, but I do hate to see a good question unanswered. Suzanne is super busy and possibly full of pecan bourbon pie. LOL :snoopy: :hungry: :shimmy:
On September 21, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Suzanne says:
Thanks, Monica! Actually, I’m not sure what she’s asking.
Pam, do you mean during the actual rise time of the bread, or do you mean any yeast bread you try to bake? If so (the second), then Monica’s solution about putting a shallow pan of water in the oven with the bread sounds good to me!
On September 21, 2009 at 6:20 pm
Barbara says:
This looks seriously yummy. I’m gonna have to try this one. Thanks!
On September 21, 2009 at 1:52 pm
Yvonne says:
Oh my! Pecan pie is so rich that I can usually only eat about half a slice – I’d probably only be able to manage two bites of this one! Back in the day, when my mom made home made pies, she did the exact same thing with the crust scraps – loved them.
I think you need your own show on the Food Channel – SERIOUSLY !!!
On September 21, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Lexi Connor says:
WOW! That looks delicious!
On September 21, 2009 at 6:13 pm
Darlene says:
You might want to have a technician look at that oven. It should not have a flame that high. It wastes fuel.
hth.
On September 21, 2009 at 7:10 pm
Mariah says:
That looks amazing! Pecan pie is my husband’s all time favorite so I’m going to have to try this. I’ve had raging success with all or your recipes I’ve tried, by the way! 😀
On September 21, 2009 at 11:48 pm
YayaOrchid says:
Suzanne, your recipe looks amazing! I did try and copy the pie crust recipe, and only highlighted the text, but a window pops up saying the pics are copyrighted. I don’t want to print the pics because that would take up too much ink (and printer ink is very expensive for us). I was able to copy some of your other recipes in the past with no problem. Just wanted to let you know that is happening with that particular recipe.
On September 22, 2009 at 10:20 am
Suzanne says:
Look for the Printable Recipe link at the bottom of the post. I have a print link on all of my recipe posts that will give you a printer-ready page minus pics and other graphics.
On September 22, 2009 at 10:27 am
JeannieB says:
OMG, what a beautiful pie. Pecan pie and sweet potatoe pies are my favorite.
On September 22, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Charlene says:
I made this yesterday. The bourbon is very prominent and the filling doesn’t quite hold together. I baked it for 45 minutes and when shaken, it barely jiggled so I think I baked it long enough. I will make this again because it is obvious the flavor would be phenomenal minus a bit of the bourbon. If I can get that right, this will be my new pecan pie recipe. Thanks, Suzanne!
On September 23, 2009 at 7:02 am
Suzanne says:
Hi, Charlene. I’m sorry to hear that! I haven’t had any trouble with mine setting up right. You could try reducing the bourbon slightly and see if that works better for you. I love it with a quarter cup because of the flavor.
On September 23, 2009 at 7:08 am
Charlene says:
Same Charlene as above. Update. Second day, the booziness is gone and the filling is a little firmer. This is delicious! Weird that the booziness (not flavor) would dissipate since it was stored in Tupperware after cutting. Well, I do believe this is my new pecan pie recipe. I will just plan on making it a day ahead or if not, I’ll cut the bourbon down by a tablespoon. Thanks again, Suzanne! You rock!
PS To the poster with the butane-fueled oven, that sounds dangerous both as a fire hazard and a breathing hazard. Please have it serviced and get a carbon monoxide detector if you don’t have one!
On September 24, 2009 at 6:34 am
samira says:
Made this today with my own pie crust and left out bourbon by using 1 cup of maple syrup instead of 3/4 maple syrup+ 1/4 bourbon. I haven’t cut Into it but it smelt good and I snuck a bit of the filling with some pecans and it was great! I took your advice and kept it on the lower rack. Good choice. However it cooked for a bit more than 40 minutes until he filling set. Maybe an hour an 10 minutes. Depending on your oven I guess. I can tell it holds great. Thanks!
On July 27, 2017 at 10:39 am