This brown sugar pecan pie is the best pecan pie I have ever had! It has a rich toasted nutty flavor thanks to the brown butter and pecans and a buttery shortbread crust that is out of this world!
Pecan Pie with NO CORN SYRUP!
How is this Brown Pecan Sugar Pie different from other Pecan Pies?
I’ll be honest, I usually turn down pecan pie. But, why? I love pecans and I love that brown sugar flavor? It’s usually a texture thing, most pecan pies I have tried kind of that a gelatinous filling that makes the pecans a little soggy and that just doesn’t work for me.
This recipe fixes those issues and the result is AMAZING! That gelatinous texture typically comes from corn syrup, in this recipe we skip the corn syrup completely! It uses dark brown sugar, a touch of white sugar, eggs, and brown butter for the best pecan pie you’ve ever had! The brown butter adds just the right touch to the brown sugar and pecans that really sets this pie apart! If browning butter intimidates you, we’ve got all the tips for yo on How to Brown Butter post!
If you’ve ever had a Bordeaux or a butterscotch square from See’s candy, that is what the filling flavor reminds me of. Which is basically heaven. Are you ready to try this brown sugar pecan pie? AKA your new favorite!
How to make the Shortbread Crust
When I had some of my friends and family come taste test this pie, I had few people that were concerned that the shortbread crust would be too sweet when paired with the brown sugar pecan pie filling. Don’t worry, this crust actually loses some of its sweetness when it’s baked. Its buttery and crisp, and reminds me a little bit of a Ritz cracker? Maybe that sounds weird, but it totally works with this filling.
Making this shortbread crust is actually much easier than a classic pie crust. You’ll just beat together your butter and sugar until fluffy, then add in your vanilla, salt, and flour, and you’re done! If it seems a little crumbly, that’s okay, just push the dough together and push it into an even layer in your pie pan.
Blind Baking your Shortbread Crust
One technique that might be new to you, is blind baking. Blind baking is where you bake your crust without filling, in this case we are going to bake our crust part way, then add the filling and let it finish cooking in the oven with the filling. Blind baking helps the crust from getting too soggy when we add in our brown sugar pecan pie filling in.
Weighting Down the Crust
One important step in blind baking is weighting down your crust. We don’t want our shortbread crust to lose its shape while it bakes so we are going to weight it down. There are a few different ways you can weigh down crust—pie weights, dry beans, or sugar.
The first thing you’ll want to do is place a large piece of foil or parchment paper in your pie crust to act as a barrier between your crust and whatever you use to weigh it down. You’ll then fill that foil or parchment paper with either pie weights, dry beans, or granulated sugar (NOT powdered sugar).
You can purchase pie weights like these one from Amazon and they can be used over and over again for years to come!
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Your other option is to use just regular old granulated sugar! You can even reuse the sugar for baking in the future! Just cool the sugar completely before putting it in a bag or container back in your pantry.
Once you decide what you’re going to weigh your pie crust down with, bake it for ten minutes at 350 degrees. Then remove your weights, cool the pie crust completely, before adding your pie filling and returning it to the oven.
Don’t let your crust burn!
Watch your shortbread crust after your stick it back in the oven! The crust has a tendency to get too brown. I usually take my pie out about half way through baking, cover the whole thing in foil and putting it back in the oven to finish baking.
How long will this brown sugar pecan pie last on the counter, in the fridge, or in the freezer?
- Room Temperature: This pie will be good at room temperature for 3-5 days (keep it covered).
- Refrigerated: It’ll stay good in the fridge 7-10 days (keep it covered)
- Freezer: wrap this pie tightly in plastic wrap and it will be good for about 3 months
Enjoy!
Alyssa
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Brown Sugar Pecan Pie w/ Shortbread Crust
Ingredients
Shortbread Crust:
- 1 cup butter
- 2 c flour measured correctly
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ½ teaspoon salt
Pecan Pie Filling:
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- ¼ cup granulated sugar
- ½ cup butter
- 2 large eggs
- 1 tablespoon flour
- 1 tablespoon milk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 ¼ cups pecan halves
Instructions
Shortbread Crust:
- Beat together butter and sugar until fluffy.
Then add in vanilla extract, salt, and flour until mixture is crumbly. - Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Press dough into a
pie dish (I used a 9” pie dish), pushing it up the sides and making a nice crust. Line your crust with parchment paper or aluminum foil and fill it with pie weights, sugar, or dry beans (this is called blind baking) and bake the crust for 10 minutes. - Remove your weights and let the crust cool before adding your pecan pie filling.
Pecan Pie Filling;
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees Fahrenheit. Beate ggs with a hand mixer until they get foamy. Add in both of your sugars, flour, vanilla, and milk. Beat until smooth.
- In a saucepan, add your butter and brown it until fragrant and an amber color. Add a little bit of the butter to you filling and beat until incorporated. Repeat this until all the butter has been added in.
- Fold in your pecan halves. Then pour your
filling into you shortbread crust. Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes. - Lower the temperature to 325 degrees Fahrenheit and bake for an additional 40-50 minutes until the pie is no longer jiggly in the center. Watch your pie crust and cover the pie with foil if it starts to get too dark. I usually cover mine about halfway through.
- Cool pie completely before slicing and eating.
Nutrition
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Amazing. A pie shop opened in our area featuring shortbread crusts and I just had to make one. The fact that it is my favorite, pecan is serendipity. This will become my signature pie, the one my family comes home for.
Thank you Alice! It's such a great pecan pie, I hope your family appreciates your cooking!
- Alyssa
This was truly delicious. I do not bake pies often so I didn't have a pie tin but had a huge craving for pecan pie. I used a 5.5" x 14" rectangular tart pan and everything fit perfectly. I even used brown butter for the shortbread crust. Slightly warm from the oven, we topped it off with a little vanilla ice cream and the results were dangerously good.