This recipe elevates pecan pie from hearty fare to haute cuisine. While baking, pecan halves rise to the surface through a rich, dark, chestnut-brown custard, forming concentric rings of toasted nuts. Towering above all others in taste, size and appearance, this dessert is fit for royalty. I stole this recipe from a great dessert cookbook. I made a major change however. The original recipe calls for corn syrup which is fine but…. use dark maple syrup instead. It elevates the pie from royalty to heavenly.

Preheat oven to 350

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 cup all-purpose flour
• ¼ cup powdered sugar
• 12 tablespoons (1½ sticks) unsalted butter, cold and cut into 12 pieces for food processor;
• at room temperature if using a mixer

Baking Pan
9 x 3-inch or 9½ x 2-inch springform pan

Filling
¼ cup firmly packed dark brown sugar
3 tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
3 large eggs, at room temperature
¼ cup dark maple syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla
¼ teaspoon salt
2 cups chopped pecans (about 8 ounces)
1 ½ cups pecan halves (about 6
ounces)
Whipped cream or vanilla ice
cream for serving (optional)

Method

Crust

Place flour, sugar, butter and salt in food processor fitted with metal blade or in medium-size bowl. Mix until dough holds together and forms a soft ball. Press pastry evenly over bottom and 1inch up sides of springform. Prick crust with fork and set aside.

Filling

Beat brown sugar and butter in large bowl with electric mixer on medium speed until fluffy, about 2 minutes.  Add eggs, syrup, vanilla and salt. Mix thoroughly.  Sprinkle chopped pecans over bottom of crust and cover with half the filling. Place pecan halves in concentric circles over entire top of pie. Pour remaining filling carefully over pecans.

Place pan on baking sheet. Bake in the 350° oven for 60 to 70 minutes or until knife inserted into middle comes out clean and pastry is golden. (*) The tart may be kept covered at room temperature or in the refrigerator overnight, or it may be frozen in springform covered with plastic wrap and foil, if desired. Defrost wrapped tart at room temperature.

Serve tart at room temperature or reheat in 350° oven for 15 minutes and serve warm. Before serving, remove sides of springform. Serve with whipped cream or ice cream, if desired.