Erin McDowell makes Apple Pecan Pie

On Play Me a Recipe, your favorite cooks will walk you through their most treasured recipes, offering all the insider tips, stories, and tricks you won't get from a written recipe—and you'll be right alongside them, every step of the way. Feel free to pause, jump back, or navigate the steps via the podcast chapters (if you're in Apple Podcasts, swipe up on the episode player page—the podcast chapters will be at the bottom).  

If you're cooking along, here's the recipe we're making today. Go ahead and grab the ingredients below (Erin starts listing them at 1:58) before starting the episode.

Apple Pecan Pie
Makes one 9-inch pie

• 1 recipe All Buttah Pie Dough, prepared and chilled
• 4 tablespoons (56 grams) unsalted butter
• 1 cup (212 grams) dark brown sugar, divided
• 2 tablespoons (15 grams) all-purpose flour
• 2 cups (240 grams) peeled and diced apples, such as Cosmic Crisp, Honeycrisp, or Fuji (about 2 large apples)
• 3 (170 grams) large eggs, at room temperature
• 1/4 cup (78 grams) maple syrup
• 1 1/2 teaspoons (7 grams) vanilla extract
• 3/4 teaspoon (3 grams) fine sea salt
• 1/2 teaspoon (2 grams) ground cinnamon
• 1 1/2 cups (200 grams) pecan halves, roughly chopped

1. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to ¼-in/6 mm thick, rotating it as you work to prevent it from sticking to the work surface. Use the rolling pin to transfer the dough to the pan, gently rolling it up, wrapping it around the pin, then unfurling it into a 9-in/23 cm pie plate.
2. Use scissors to trim away the excess pie dough, leaving about ½ in/1 cm of excess all the way around the outside edge of the pie plate. Tuck this excess dough under itself, pressing gently to make it flush with the outside edge of the pie plate. Crimp the edge as desired.
3. Dock the base and sides of the dough with the tines of a fork, then refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour. Towards the end of chill time, preheat the oven to 425°F/220°C.
4. Cut a square of parchment paper slightly larger than the diameter of a pie plate, and press it into the base of the pie plate. Fill with pie weights to the top inner rim of the pan. Bake until the edges begin to lightly brown, 15 to 17 minutes.
5. Remove the parchment paper and pie weights, and return to the oven until the lower portion of crust appears dry and set (it shouldn’t brown), 2 to 3 minutes more. Cool completely before filling. Reduce the oven temperature to 375°F/190°C.
6. In a medium pot, melt the butter over medium heat. Place ½ cup (106 g) brown sugar in a small bowl, and use your fingers to rub the flour into it until well combined. Add the apples to the pot, and sprinkle the sugar mixture over it and stir well to combine.
7. Cook, stirring constantly, until the sugar dissolves and the apples start to become tender; continue to cook until the “sauce” that forms from the sugar and apple’s juices thickens slightly, fully coating the apples, 4 to 5 minutes.
8. Pour this mixture onto a baking sheet or shallow casserole dish and spread into an even layer. Cool for 10 to 15 minutes.
9. In a medium bowl, whisk the eggs well. Add the remaining ½ cup (106 g) brown sugar, maple syrup, vanilla, salt, and cinnamon and whisk well to combine.
10. Add the apple mixture and pecans to the bowl and stir well to combine. Gently pour the mixture into the cooled pie crust.
11. Transfer the pie to the oven and bake until the custard appears just set in the center when the pan is slightly moved back and forth, 35 to 40 minutes. Cool completely before slicing and serving.

Is there a recipe you'd like to hear us make? Tell us all about it at podcasts@food52.com!

Lobby Time Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com)
Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/