My parents have two large pecan trees in their backyard, so pecan pie has always been an easy favorite of mine to make. But, recently, my friend and syrup maker extraordinaire, Tim Burton, of Burton’s Maplewood Farm in southern Indiana, introduced me to his bourbon barrel aged maple syrup. It’s really delicious and I’ve incorporated it in into this pecan pie recipe. It really makes a difference and I guarantee you’ll never make pecan pie any other way in the future. There’s more information about Tim and Burton’s Maplewood Farm below.
Texas Bourbon Maple Pecan Pie
another WayneBite creation
Ingredients
Crust
6 tbl Cold Butter, diced
4 oz Cream Cheese, torn into small pieces
1 1/4 cu All purpose Flour
1/4 cu Pecan Pieces, process into a fine ground in a food processor or spice mill
Filling
8 tbl Butter
1 1/4 cu Dark Brown Sugar, packed
3/4 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cu Burton’s Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup
1/2 tsp Orange Zest
1 tsp Fresh Squeezed Orange Juice
1/4 tsp Salt
5 lg Eggs, well beaten in a medium sized bowl.
2 cu Pecan Halves
Melt butter, add sugar, remove add syrups, oj and zest, salt, cool, eggs, pour over pecans. 350 1 1/4 hour
Topping
8 oz Cream Cheese, room temperature
1/4 cu Granulated Sugar
2 tbl Whipping Cream
1/4 cu Burton’s Barrel Aged Maple Syrup
Additional Syrup for accent
Method
Prepare crust by mixing together flour and pecan pieces in a large bowl. Cut in butter and cream cheese with a pasty cutter or a large fork until mixture resemble large crumbs. Combine mixture with your hands to form a dough. Flatten dough into an 8” disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for an hour. Then, roll out on a floured board and transfer to a pie pan. Crimp the edges to form a decorative border and refrigerate for another hour.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Prepare filling by melting butting in a large saucepan over medium heat. Add brown sugar and stir until fully combined. Transfer to a large bowl and allow to cool slightly. Add corn syrup, Burton’s Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup, orange zest, orange juice and salt. Stir in beaten eggs and continue to stir until well combined. Place pecan halves in the bottom of the prepared pie crust with pretty side up. Gradually pour filling over pecans. Bake pie for 55 to 65 minutes or until center just puffs up and crust is golden brown. Tip: you can tent the pie for the first 40 minutes with aluminum foil to keep the crust from browning too quickly. Remove from oven and cool completely. Refrigerate until ready to serve but allow pie to rest at room temperature for 30 minutes when serving. TIP: This pie freezes well. If you freeze it and then sliced it, you’ll get perfect slices. Simply let it thaw in the refrigerator after slicing.
Make topping my mixing cream cheese and sugar in a bowl at high speed until smooth. Add Burton’s Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup and whipping cream and continue to mix until smooth and fluffy. Place a dollop of the cream cheese mixture on top of each slice and drizzle a bit of Burton’s Bourbon Barrel Aged Maple Syrup on top and on the plate.
Here’s Tim in all his glory tapping trees on his farm in Southern Indiana. For more information on the farm and how to get his wonderful syrups online, check out his Burton Maplewood Farm website.