Lower Sugar Pecan Pie (Gluten Free)
I’ve had a pecan pie recipe on my “to make” list for a year now. It was one of the first recipes I put in my blogging plan for the winter back in July. I was very very excited to try it.
I had my favourite shortcrust pastry recipe and ideas for how to lower the insane amount of sugar and golden syrup that ends up in a slice of pecan pie, and having to go gluten free for a few months only put me off for a little while until I discovered two excellent gluten free shortcrust pastry recipes to have as an option. You’ve heard me rave about Angela Litzinger’s one. But my new favourite is from the AMAZING Naomi Devlin in the River Cottage Gluten Free book I’ve come to love so much.
And this pie. I mean, I would have loved an excuse to test and re-test and re-re-test this because it is just.so.good. But unfortunately the tests were limited by the fact that this pie came out perfect. I mean, PERFECT. I could simply not improve on it.
But I don’t think that will stop me from making it again soon. It’s just too good not to.
Now I’m not going to claim this pie is very low in sugar. It’s got about 2 1/2 teaspoons (about 10g) a slice of free sugars in it. But it is fructose free, made with rice syrup which is converted to pure glucose by the body and absorbed far more slowly than fructose sugar. It doesn’t dump on the liver as much, and doesn’t lead to the sugar highs and crashes you get with white sugar or other syrups. It’s more sustained in energy than that.
Plus, since one slice of ordinary pecan pie contains 32g (8 teaspoons) of sugar, which is more than your whole day’s recommended daily sugar intake, and mine is only a third of that (less than half your daily recommended sugar intake and a little less than a child’s recommended intake), I’d say you are seriously winning with something that tastes this good.
With less than a third of the sugar of regular pecan pie (and all of it easier to absorb, slower releasing sugar), this gluten and fructose free dessert still has all of the delicious flavours and textures of an amazing pecan pie, making it a perfect way to have your Thanksgiving "cake" and eat it, too.
- 250g shortcrust pastry (ideally homemade, see notes for recipe and gluten free pastry suggestions)*
- 100 g (1 cup) pecans (halves or pieces are both fine)
- 2 tablespoons xylitol
- 1 tablespoon gluten free plain flour**
- 50 g (1/2 stick) butter (ideally salted, but unsalted plus a pinch of salt will do), softened
- 3 eggs
- 85 g (1/4 cup) rice syrup
- 2 teaspoons (sugar free and gluten free) vanilla extract
- 50 ml (1/4 cup) single (pouring) or coconut cream
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Preheat the oven to 200C/400F/Gas 6. Roll out the shortcrust pastry, press into a greased tart tin and chill in the freezer for 10-15 minutes while you make the filling. Toast the pecans in the oven for 3-4 minutes, then roughly chop them. Add the butter to a food processor and pulse until pale and fluffy. Add the xylitol and flour and pulse briefly to combine. Add the eggs and pulse until combined (it will look a bit curdled, don't worry!). Add in the rice syrup and vanilla extract, then pulse again until the mixture has smoothed out and combined. Add the cream or coconut cream and give it a final pulse.
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Stir through the chopped pecans and pour into the chilled pastry case. Bake in the preheated oven for 5 minutes, then lower the oven temperature to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and bake for a further 25-35 minutes, until the filling is golden and just set. Allow to cool before serving warm or cold.
*I made 1/2 of River Cottage Gluten Free's shortcrust pastry, which I love. For regular (not gluten free) shortcrust pastry, make 1 batch of this pastry.
**shop-bought blend or this one.
YUM! This pecan pie looks and sounds absolutely amazing!
🙂