Amazing Pecan Pie: 2 Ways

I'm calling this Instructable Pecan Pie 2 Ways because I'm giving instructions for making a semi-vegan and non-vegan pie.

The original recipe comes from Allrecipes.com and is just amazing, I tend to make a few tweaks, but it's very solid.

Before making this recipe, I had never really had pecan pie. I've made it countless times and not only is it simple, it's always a hit! I make it for my husband, for family, co-workers, and everyone loves it. It also lends itself well to different recipes, a few weeks ago I decided I needed a pecan pie cheesecake (which I now realize I need to make an Instructable for) and I used the non-vegan version of this recipe to do it. I've also used this recipe to make pecan pie tartlets and bars.

Because my husband is vegan, I try to make things as vegan-friendly as possible or at least make a vegan version in addition to whatever I'm baking. With pie crust, this is pretty easy to do with Crisco. Sometimes I'll do a mix of butter and Crisco, King Arthur actually has a pretty interesting comparison article about Butter vs. Shortening.

The pie crust recipe I followed for my crusts today (sometimes I go back and forth between Crisco and recipes from King Arthur) came from Crisco. I think it's called the Crisco Classic Crust and the recipe is supposed to be enough to make 2 pie crusts. The only changes I made was to add some ice cold vodka.

Vodka in pie crust might sound weird. I thought it did when I first heard about it from a co-worker who found it in a magazine. So I, loving to bake, went straight home and tried it. Now I use vodka all the time because in my crusts because it makes a flakier crust, makes the dough easier to roll out, and if nothing else, there's something about vodka that can save your dough if you add too much water or make some other type of mistake.

Ingredients:

2 cups of flour

3/4 cup/stick of Crisco

2-5 tablespoons of ice cold water

3-5 tablespoons of ice cold vodka

First, add your 2 cups of flour to your bowl and then add your Crisco. Using a pastry blender or a fork, mash the Crisco into the flour. You want to cut your Crisco to different sizes as this helps with flakiness. When your Crisco is sufficiently cut in, start adding your vodka, or water, one tablespoon at a time. Mix with a fork. Continue adding water/vodka until the dough starts to come together, you can also mix with your hands to make sure the dough is sticking together.

When your dough is combined, separate into two balls. Starting with one, flatten the ball into a disc and roll the edges to flatten them a bit. This makes it easier to roll out a circle and to keep the edges together. Using a rolling pin, roll out your dough as flat as you can get it. The first pie I made I used a deep dish so it needed more dough of the dough than a regular pie plate would need.

I greased a pan with Crisco (butter works too) and then laid my rolled out dough into the pan and pushed it in. I'm not great at making the edges of the crust look all pretty, but usually you can just pinch the edges.

For this Instructable I made 2 pies, one that is semi-vegan and one that is not. I say semi-vegan because we haven't found a good butter substitute. We've tried Earth Balance, but it gets a really funky taste if its close to the expiration date (says the company--we called). It's also possible that's just how it tastes when baked. So if anyone has a good butter substitute that isn't Earth Balance, let me know :)

This recipe substitutes eggs with chia seeds. It looks a little funny, especially when you first prepare the chia "gel", but it actually doesn't affect the taste of the pie at all. If anything, it gives a somewhat nuttier flavor that is really tasty. The chia helps bind the filling, that's why we can't just skip the eggs altogether.

Semi-Vegan:

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 cup butter

egg substitute (for this recipe I used chia seeds: 1 tbs chia seed to 3 tbs water and let sit for 15 minutes, I doubled this to replace 2 eggs)

1 tbs flour

1 tbs milk substitute

1-2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2-1 cup pecans

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. For both recipes, you first add your egg/egg substitute to your bowl with melted butter and mix well. Then you add both your sugars and mix again. Finally, you add your tablespoon of flour, milk/milk substitute, and vanilla extract and stir. The last step is to add your pecans and stir. When everything is mixed together, you pour your mixture into your pie pans and bake at 400 for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, lower the heat to 350 and bake for an additional 25-35 minutes.

1 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup white sugar

1/2 butter

2 eggs

1 tbs flour

1 tbs milk

1-2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2-1 cup pecans

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. For both recipes, you first add your egg/egg substitute to your bowl with melted butter and mix well. Then you add both your sugars and mix again. Finally, you add your tablespoon of flour, milk/milk substitute, and vanilla extract and stir. The last step is to add your pecans and stir. When everything is mixed together, you pour your mixture into your pie pans and bake at 400 for 10 minutes. After 10 minutes, lower the heat to 350 and bake for an additional 30-40 minutes.

Let cool (or don't if you're impatient like me) and enjoy!