There are some childhood food favourites of mine that die hard. My Mum is a talented baker and when we were kids she could effortlessly create a whole repertoire of delectable treats that never lasted long out of the oven. For school bake sales, her chocolate slice would always be the first to sell out and her melting moments were a textural delight. At Christmas time there were a number of cherished creations that would be guaranteed to fill our fridge and her pecan pie was one of those.
When I was approached by Belmont Forum to develop some recipes for Christmas I knew just had to have at least one symbolisation of my childhood and decided to adapt Mum’s recipe to be more gluten free friendly. There is nothing sugar free, vegan or paleo about these pecan pies but then I feel we all have to live a little at Christmas time. Even if it means hitting the gym a little harder in the New Year! 😉
- Readymade gluten free sweet shortcrust pastry
- 20 grams butter, unsalted, room temperature
- ¼ cup brown sugar, firmly packed
- ½ teaspoon vanilla essence
- 1 egg, room temperature
- ¼ cup pure maple syrup
- ½ cup pecans, roughly chopped
- Defrost ready-made gluten free shortcrust pastry as per packet instructions.
- Preheat oven to 170C. Grease individual tartlet trays and one baking tray.
- Roll pastry 2mm thick between two sheets of baking paper.
- Place pastry into tartlet tins and trim edges to neaten. Using a star shaped pastry cutter cut the stars which will be used to top each of the pies.
- Weigh down the inside of the pies with baking weights or uncooked rice.
- Place pies and stars on the baking tray and bake in a pre-heated oven for 10 minutes or until golden brown. The stars will take slightly less time to cook, approx. 7-8 minutes.
- Leave oven on 170C.
- Ensure the butter is at room temperature. Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl on low speed with electric beaters for about 1 minute until mixture is light and creamy. Add egg and maple syrup, beat well. Add the chopped pecans.
- Pour the filling mixture into the prepared pastry pie shells.
- Bake for 5-10 minutes or until the filling is set.
- Place the pastry stars on the pies while they are warm and let them stand for 10 minutes before removing them from their tins.
- Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
This is an original recipe by Chompchomp for part of the Twelve Days of Blogger’s Christmas at Belmont Forum. All ingredients to develop this recipe were funded for by Belmont Forum.
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Oh, delicious and so pretty – Martine.
Thanks Rachel!Hope you had a lovely Christmas and New years! x
Yeah!! I agree, indulge this season with a little bit of everything ;). I will hit the gym after the holidays and go back to healthier options
Happy holidays!
Julie & Alesah
Gourmet Getaways xx
I’m hearing you! We both jumped on the scales yesterday after a 10 day eating fest with family in Melbourne and nearly died of fright!
How stunning and delightfully festive. It is great they are gluten free, more people have to adopt a gluten free diet these days. Your childhood memories are wonderful, a mother’s baking is a child’s delight and it is certain you gained her baking talents. Happy New Year!
Oh you are too kind…I wish I gained her talents but I think I still have a way to go!
I adore pecan pies. These look terrific!
Thanks Helen, they were a little too good and didnt last long enough!