English Toffee Pecan Pie
This mouthwatering recipe from audience member Marjorie Johnson took home the blue ribbon at our first pie contest.
The Martha Stewart Show, November 2009
http://www.marthastewart.com/333082/english-toffee-pecan-pie
- Yield Makes one 9-inch pie
Ingredients
For the Crust
- 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus more for work surface
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup cold leaf lard, cut into pieces
- 2 tablespoons cold butter, cut into pieces
- 3 to 4 tablespoons ice water
For the Filling
- 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 2/3 cup light corn syrup
- 1/4 cup firmly packed light-brown sugar
- 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 1/2 teaspoon almond extract
- 1 cup toffee bits
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- 22 pecan halves, for garnish
Directions
- Make the crust: In a large bowl, whisk together flour and salt. Using a pastry cutter, cut in lard and butter until mixture resembles coarse crumbs, about the size of peas. Sprinkle with water, 1 tablespoon at a time, and mix lightly with a fork after each addition, until mixture is moistened. Turn out dough onto a clean work surface and shape into a flattened disk. Wrap in plastic; transfer to refrigerator and chill for 30 minutes.
- Lightly flour a pastry cloth and roll out dough on cloth, using a covered rolling pin, to a 12-inch round, about 1/8-inch thick. With a dry pastry brush, sweep off excess flour; fit dough into a 9-inch glass pie plate. Trim to a 1/2-inch overhang all around. Fold under and crimp edges.
- Make the filling: Preheat oven with a rack set in the lower third to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, mix together eggs, corn syrup, brown sugar, butter, salt, vanilla, almond extract, toffee bits, and chopped pecans.
- Pour filling into pie crust. Top with pecans by evenly spacing 14 of them around the outer edge of pie filling. Make a second row by evenly spacing seven pecans in a smaller circle in the center; place 1 pecan in center.
- Transfer pie to oven; bake for 20 minutes. Cover with parchment paper-lined aluminum foil and continue baking until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean, 20 to 30 minutes more. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
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