OMG pie! Maple bourbon date and pecan pie

I’m trying not to brag, but this may be the best pie I think I’ve ever made. And quite possibly the best I’ve ever eaten.

I’ve always loved pie, but rarely eat it as so many commercially made pies are a bit bleugh, usually with soggy pastry. And until recently I couldn’t be bothered making pastry. So really, what was the point!

THIS HAS NOW ALL CHANGED!!

Some of hubby’s golf mates came over for lunch a few weeks ago, at a time that coincided with my baking mojo returning. Yay! So given this happy turn of events, I thought I’d go all out and make two desserts. A gorgeous bourbon pecan tart from Jamie’s America, my favourite of all Jamie Oliver books; and a sticky date tart from the latest Delicious cookbook, Home Cooking by Valli Little.

However time passed, and before I knew it the guests had arrived. The main course was fairly well cooked (slow roast lamb with a couple of salads), the pie cases had been cooked, and part of the fillings prepped. It was about this time that my baking mojo temporarily vanished in favour of a couple of glasses of vino. You know how it is. I also realised I had cooked enough for another eight people, and that one pie would be enough.

This is where the pie miracle began. I figured why not just combine what I’d already prepped into one pie. After all, date and pecan muffins are my favourite morning tea.

It was about this time I also discovered I was missing a key ingredient for Jamie’s recipe. So I improvised. With maple syrup. Which is one of my all time favourite foods ever.

In one mouthful, this became the best pecan pie I’ve ever eaten. No, make that the best pie ever. I think I swooned.

Maple bourbon date and pecan pie

by Mel Kettle

Serves 12-14

What you need:
Pastry:
I make a spelt flour pastry from Jude Blereau’s new book Wholefood Baking, as wheat and my tummy are not great friends. And I’m addicted to Lachlan’s bagels from Flour & Chocolate, which easily gives me more than my required daily wheat allotment.

If you don’t share my wheat affliction, you can use your favourite sweet pastry recipe. Or buy a really good quality ready made pastry – my favourite is Careme.

180g cold unsalted butter, cut into small cubes
130g unbleached white spelt flour
145g wholemeal spelt flour
2 tablespoons castor sugar
90-150ml ice-cold water – I use tap water and stick a few ice cubes in it to quickly cool it down

Pie filling:

240g pitted dates
170ml milk
1tsp bicarb soda
450g pecans
3 large eggs
150g brown sugar
1 tsp cinnamon
100ml maple syrup
50g unsalted butter, melted
50ml bourbon

What you do:

To make the pastry:

Put the flours and butter in your thermomix (or food processor), turbo pulse 3-4 times until it looks like small breadcrumbs. Add about 90ml water and pulse a couple of times. Add a tiny bit of more water and mix on speed 5 for about 3-4 seconds until the dough comes together. Sloooowly add more water if you need to – you don’t want it too moist. Try not to overmix or it will be too tough and you won’t get that lovely flakiness when it’s cooked.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and place it in the fridge for about 30 minutes.

Once the dough is chilled, roll it out – you’ll need to flour the mat or bench, and also flour your rolling pin well as the dough should be a bit sticky. Try not to use too much flour, but make sure it’s enough so the dough doesn’t stick. Once you’ve rolled it out, use a palette knife (or an egg flip if you don’t have a palette knife) to carefully lift the dough to turn it. Roll the other side – you want it to be about 35cm in diameter and about 3mm thick.

Preheat the oven to 180c.

Grease a 24cm loose-based tart tin that is 3cm deep. Carefully transfer the pastry to the tin (this can be fairly easily done by loosely folding the pastry into four, placing it the tin, then gently unfolding it. Carefully push the pastry into the tin and cut off any excess pastry that hangs over the edge. You might need to use some of this excess pastry to patch any gaps or holes in the pastry. Pop the remaining pastry back in plastic wrap and in the fridge (you can also freeze it).

Pop the pastry in the tin in the freezer for about 20 minutes to chill.

Place some baking paper over the pastry and fill it with pastry weights or dried beans or rice. Place the tart tin in the oven. Bake for 12 minutes, then remove from oven and remove the pastry weights and baking paper, then pop the pastry back in the oven for another 10 minutes.

Fresh out of the oven

To make the filling:

Put the dates and the milk in a small saucepan and heat until just below boiling (not too hot a stove). Remove from the heat and stir in the bicard soda so it fizzes up (I love this bit!). Set it aside for about 30 minutes until the dates have softened.

Blitz half the pecans in a thermomix (pulse them 3-4 times) or a food processor until they look like chunky breadcrumbs. You can also put them in a plastic bag and bash them with a rolling pin or a heavy book (this is where the yellow pages can be handy!).

Put the sugar, cinnamon and the eggs in a medium sized mixing bowl and mix together (I just use a wooden spoon). Add the blitzed pecans and mix in.

Without cleaning the thermomix bowl, add the date and milk mix and turbo pulse 3-4 times until it’s like a chunky paste. If you don’t have an electric gadget to do this, use a potato masher or a fork.

Add the date mix to the mixing bowl with the other ingredients, and also mix in the maple syrup, melted butter and bourbon and stir well. Finally, fold in the rest of the pecans.

Pour this into the pastry case and bake in the oven for 30-40 minutes. If the filling wobbles when you gently shake the tart tin, it’s not quite done!

I love a flaky pastry, even if it means a less than fab photo!

Once it’s cooked, leave it in the tin to cool for at least an hour – yes, this bit is hard! Especially with the gorgeous smells wafting out…

Serve with a dollop of thickened cream, good quality vanilla ice cream or both!

Oh, and yes, I know that a pie technically has to have a pastry top, but I love the word pie. The word “tart” just doesn’t do this baked amazingness justice. And besides, real American pecan pie is called pecan pie. Not pecan tart.

What was your best cooking experiment that surpassed all expectation?