We don’t celebrate Thanksgiving here in Australia, but I thought I’d join in the festivities anyway by creating my first ever Thanksgiving Pecan Pie with a Cinnamon Spelt Crust.
You may have noticed by now that I am a big fan of maple syrup. I love it! It works perfectly in this week’s recipe together with the pecans and cinnamon spelt crust. When you’re purchasing maple make sure you purchase ‘pure’ maple syrup and not an imitation maple flavoured syrup. I like to use B-grade maple that I purchase in bulk from my favourite grocer.
Of course, you don’t need to be celebrating Thanksgiving to enjoy this delicious pie. It’s a sweet treat fit for any occasion or dinner gathering.
Enjoy the recipe and Happy Thanksgiving!
Ingredients
RSF 
2 hrs 
8-10 Spelt Shortcrust Pastry
- 250g sifted spelt flour (or buckwheat flour for gluten-free option)
- 50g coconut sugar
- 2 tsps cinnamon
- 100g cold salted good quality butter, cut into rough cubes
- 1 large egg
- 1 tbs ice cold water
Filling
- 50g good quality butter, melted & slightly cooled
- ¾ cup coconut sugar
- ½ cup rice malt syrup
- 200ml pure maple syrup
- 3 tbs spelt flour (or buckwheat flour for gluten-free option)
- 3 large eggs
- 1 tsp vanilla powder or extract
- 1 tsp flaked sea salt
- 1¾ cups toasted pecans (half roughly chopped & half kept whole)
Method
- Add the spelt flour, coconut sugar and cinnamon into a large mixing bowl.
- Add the butter and work it into the flour mixture using your fingertips (it should look fine and crumbly in texture once it’s ready).
- Next add the egg and water to the mixture and gently mix until it comes together and forms a ball of dough in the bowl (don’t overwork the dough as we want it to stay nice and short in texture and not chewy and tough).
- Lightly flour a smooth work surface (I like to use a large piece of baking paper on my benchtop) and place the dough ball onto it.
- Gently roll the dough out into a large circle about ½ a cm thick and set aside on the baking paper.
- Pre-heat your oven to 180 degrees celcius and grease a 25cm deep pie tin with a little butter or olive oil spray.
- Using the baking paper to help, place the rolled dough over the pie tin and press it in (don’t worry if the dough breaks or cracks, just form it back together with your hands).
- Trim any excess dough from around the tin (although I have found this is the perfect amount of dough for this sized tin). If you have any extra excess dough bits, press them in and around the edges to ensure the crust is secure.
- Now place the pie tin into the freezer for about 30 minutes while we make the filling.
- In a large mixing bowl whisk the eggs, coconut sugar, rice malt syrup, maple syrup, spelt flour, vanilla and sea salt.
- Next add the melted butter while whisking quickly.
- Then add the chopped and whole pecans and mix well.
- Remove the pie tin from the freezer and place it onto a baking tray (using the baking tray ensures the bottom of the pie tin isn’t accidentally pressed in by your hands while removing it from the oven).
- Pour the pecan filling into the pie crust and then place it in the oven for 1 hour and 15 minutes.
- Remove the pie from the oven and let cool for about 30 minutes before serving.
- Serve with fresh cream, mascarpone or ice-cream (I have used vanilla coconut yoghurt).
