These Mini Pecan Bourbon Pies are full of pecans, a little bourbon, and are made with an amazing crust. Perfect for a little dessert after a meal.
People who love to cook and bake love people who love to eat.
While you may be saying to yourself doesn’t everyone love to eat?
Yes and no.
People who cook/bake love to cook and bake for those that are willing to try almost anything.
My husband is one of those people.
He ate blue algae in his smoothies when I hand them to him.
Would he prefer something else to eating algae?
Sure.
Don’t we all?
But he is always willing to try.
At Thanksgiving you usually have those that are looking forward to eating the meal.
And then there are those that are looking forward to the dessert. The ones that go around and take a slice of every pie. Aka my people.
The kind that go back and get another slice of whatever was their favorite.
Then there are people like me who enjoy both.
Which leaves us with the people who hardly eat much meal and then when offered dessert say oh just a super small slice.
The kind who no matter how wafer thin the pie slices is they will tell you it’s too much.
Then they turn around and turn down ice cream or whipped cream to go on top.
So I figured I would make mini pies so that you can give those people a mini little slice of pie.
Which of course would still be too big.
And for those that do love dessert they can have the whole mini pie to themselves. 🙂
These Mini Pecan Bourbon Pies are made with a quick puff pastry recipe.
If you watch British Bake Off you will know it as rough puff.
It’s my go to pie crust because it makes the best layers in a pie.
The recipe for the crust is a large batch and you can get a 9-inch pie out of the dough AND 4 mini pies.
I used the second half of the dough for a different pie you will see later on the blog.
The pecan pie filling is a mostly classic pecan pie with just some bourbon added.
This recipe is adapted from Pie It Forward which if you don’t own you should.
P.S. It’s a great day to buy my cookbook Holy Sweet!
Want more Pecan recipes?
Whiskey Pecan Upside Down Cake
Fireball Caramel Pecan Topped Chocolate Cinnamon Flourless Cake
Croissant Bread Pudding with Pecan Toffee Sauce
Mini Pecan Bourbon Pies
Ingredients
- For the Crust:
- 3 2/3 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for dusting
- 1/2 tsp. kosher salt
- 2 cups unsalted butter, cut into 2-tablespoon pieces, at slightly cooler than room temperature
- 10 TBSP ice-cold water
- 1 tsp. bourbon
- For the Filling:
- ½ cup unsalted butter, cut into small pieces
- 1 ½ cups light brown sugar, packed
- 3/4 cup Lyle's Golden Syrup
- 3 TBSP bourbon
- 1 tsp. vanilla bean paste
- 1 tsp salt
- 4 large eggs
- 2 cups (200 g) whole pecans, lightly toasted
Instructions
- For the Crust:
- Add the flour and salt to a large bowl and stir to combine.
- Add the butter and toss to combine.
- With your fingers, begin to "smush" the butter into flat pieces.
- Continue smushing until all the butter is flattened but none of the pieces are larger than a quarter.
- The flour will look like coarse cornmeal.
- Add the water and bourbon, quickly folding it in with a wooden spoon to distribute the moisture. (Do not stir vigorously--the dough should appear shaggy.)
- Use your hands to break up any large clumps of moisture.
- Then use your knuckles or a palm to smear the dough up the sides of the bowl (a technique known as fraisage). This distributes the butter over a larger surface to achieve larger flakes and compact the dough.
- Once you've gone around the bowl one time, fold the dough over itself a few times to pick up any dry bits from the bottom.
- Gently press the dough into a disk. (Note: The dough should remain very cool to the touch throughout the process. If it approaches room temperature, refrigerate it for 5 to 10 minutes to chill.)
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured work surface and roll out to a 10-by-12-inch rectangle.
- Perform a letter fold by folding one of the short ends towards the middle and the other short end over the first, like folding a business letter.
- Turn the dough 90 degrees, so the long side faces you, and perform a second letter fold. Turn the dough 90 degrees again; perform a third letter fold.
- If the dough still feels cool, it can be used immediately.
- Otherwise, wrap it in plastic wrap and chill for at least 20 minutes.
- The dough can be refrigerated for up to 1 week or frozen for up to 1 month.
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.
- Roll out the dough into a rough 11-inch circle.
- Line four 6-inch diameter pie plates with the dough, crimp the edges decoratively, and dock the bottom.
- Freeze the crust for 20 minutes. Line the crust with parchment, fill it with pie weights or dried beans, and bake it for 15 minutes. Remove the weights and parchment and bake the crust for 5 minutes more, or just until the bottom loses its raw-dough sheen.
- Do not let the crust brown. Set it aside while you prepare filing.
- For the Filling
- In a heavy saucepan, melt the butter over low heat.
- Add the brown sugar and stir until the sugar has melted and all the lumps are gone.
- Add the Golden syrup, bourbon, vanilla, and salt, and stir until combined.
- In a mixing bowl, whisk together the eggs.
- Whisking briskly, ladle about ½ cup of the hot sugar syrup into the eggs. This tempers the eggs, bringing their temperature closer to that of the hot syrup and preventing them from scrambling.
- Pour the egg mixture into the saucepan, whisking all the while. Keep whisking until the eggs are completely integrated.
- Stir in the pecan pieces and pour the mixture into the pie crust.
- Bake for 35-40 minutes or just until the filling has set.
Notes
Adapted from Pie It Forward: Pies, Tarts, Tortes, Galettes, and Other Pastries Reinvented by Gesine Bullock-Prado
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