Gluten-Free Pecan Pie with Orange Zest

Though I've never hosted or even been to an official friendsgiving, Thanksgiving at my parents' house always brings together a mishmash of friends and family around one table. It's become expected that Lucas and I will bring friends home to Chico with us for the holidays, and, in my opinion, adding other people's traditions to the mix is what makes the day extra special. It's also become expected that I'll bring the pecan pie, a recipe tradition passed down to me by my namesake many years ago.

This year, we're mixing things up by hosting Thanksgiving at our (new!) house. We've begged to host Thanksgiving for years, and it isn't our foray into homeownership that finally won my family over. Nor was it the promise of extra pie. So just how did we persuade them, you ask?

CBS's 2015 promise to stream the Thanksgiving Day NFL game so those of us without cable can watch appease our brother's need for football on turkey day.

This is no joke. For years, my mom would reply to my request to host, "but you don't have cable so they can't watch the football game" and I'd respond with, "exactly." But now that CBS is solving all of our first world problems, I can finally extend our table to its max and pull out our folding chairs.

At our Thanksgiving, there will be something for everyone: football for my brother, a background playlist for me (to drown out the sounds of football), and a pecan pie for my dad.

But not just any ol' pecan pie - a new house calls for a new pie. The base of this pecan pie is my namesake's acclaimed recipe, but I replace some of the corn syrup with blackstrap molasses, adding in a hint of orange zest to give a bitter note to counteract the sweetness, and sprinkling the whole thing with flaky salt.

YOU GUYZZZZZ - this pie! It's less cloyingly sweet than traditional pecan pie, and the filling is nutty and robust without that sugary jelly-like center found in many pecan pies.

My pecan pie-hating friend Angi consumed this enormous slice, proclaiming that all pecan pie should taste like this. I left the pie with Lucas over the weekend while I headed up to Chico for my baby shower(!!), and when I noticed he hadn't touched it when I got home, he insisted "I don't like pecan pie." That is, until Angi convinced him to try a slice and his tune changed to, "why haven't I been eating this all weekend?!" Served up with a dollop of nutmeg-hinted whipped cream, this pie will turn heads at your friendsgiving table.

Recipe

Gluten-Free Pecan Pie with Orange Zest

yields: 1 9-inch pie

5 from 7 reviews

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Ingredients

Gluten-free Pie Crust

• ▢ 1 Gluten-free pie crust, Up to step 10

Pecan Pie

• ▢ 4 large eggs
• ▢ 1 cup light brown sugar
• ▢ ½ cup dark corn syrup, see below for substitutions
• ▢ ¼ cup unsulfured molasses, see below for substitutions
• ▢ ½ teaspoon kosher salt
• ▢ ¼ cup unsalted butter, melted
• ▢ 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 teaspoon packed orange zest
• ▢ 2 cups shelled pecans, chopped
• ▢ ⅓ cup shelled pecan halves
• ▢ ½ teaspoon flaky salt

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INSTRUCTIONS

Gluten-free Pie Crust

• Follow the instructions for a single layer gluten-free pie crust up to step 10.
• Trim the edges so there is just ½-to-¾-inch of overhang all around. Fold the overhang under and use your thumbs and index finger to crimp the edges of the pie into a fluted pattern. Dock the bottom of the pie with a fork to prevent it from puffing up too much in the oven and chill in the fridge for at least another 30 minutes, or in the freezer for 10 minutes, while you prepare the filling.

Pecan Pie

• Preheat oven to 400ºF.
• In a medium bowl or in the bowl of a stand mixer, beat eggs until thoroughly mixed. Add brown sugar, dark corn syrup, molasses, salt, melted butter, vanilla, and orange zest, and mix thoroughly.
• Sprinkle the chopped pecans over the pastry-lined dish. Pour the filling mixture over chopped pecans.
• Arrange the pecan halves around edge of filling next to crust for decoration.
• Set the pie on the middle rack of the oven and bake for 10 minutes.
• Reduce heat to 325ºF, and bake for 30-35 minutes longer or until set.
• Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature.
• Sprinkle the pie with flaky salt and serve with a dollop of nutmeg-spiced whipped cream.

Notes

Note: My glass pie dish is 9.5-inches, so the filling didn't fill it all the way up (which I didn't realize until I went to make the pie - oops). This pie recipe is meant for a 9-inch pie dish (but tastes equally as delicious in a 9.5-inch dish;)

Substitutions: For a twist, you can substitute the dark corn syrup with maple syrup or sorghum molasses. You can also substitute the unsulphured molasses with additional dark corn syrup for a more subtle flavor.