Maple-Bourbon Pecan Pie

Ingredients

Pie Crust (yields two crusts):

Instructions

To make the pastry:

1. In a bowl, combine flour, butter and salt. Using your thumbs and index fingers, press/rub the butter into the flour until no large chunks of butter are present. You can also use a pastry cutter to cut the butter into the flour. The butter chunks should be pea-sized or smaller.
2. With a fork, whisk together egg, ice water and vinegar.
3. Make a well in the center of the flour mixture and pour in the egg mixture. Again, using the fork, pull the flour from the sides of the bowl into the well bringing the ingredients together. Use a light touch.
4. Set the fork aside, and, using your hands, start folding the flour into the egg mixture, pressing down with your palms. You’re making light folds on top of each other until flour is incorporated. It will not be completely smooth and some flour will be loose on the outside, this is completely fine.
5. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 30-60 minutes to relax the gluten and allow the butter to chill once again.
6. Once chilled, liberally dust your table with flour. Cut the pie dough in half; wrap and reserve the other half for a separate pie.
7. Roll out the dough into a circle about 1" larger than a 9" pie pan. Be sure to add enough flour on top and bottom of the dough while rolling.
8. Carefully drape the dough over your rolling pin and gently fit it into the pan.
9. Trim the edges with kitchen shears for any uneven spaces. Tuck the extra dough under the edge and pinch the crust to form an elevated crust around the circumference of the tin. Chill until ready to fill pie.

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. Reserve about ¾ cup of pecan halves for the decoration on top of the pie; these should be the best looking or the most whole pieces you can find. Place the other 1¼ cups of nuts on a sheet tray and toast in the oven for 5-8 minutes or until fragrant. Let cool.
3. Once pecans have cooled, chop up the nuts into small pieces. Reserve.
4. In a medium saucepan, combine maple syrup, brown sugar, honey, butter and salt. Bring mixture to a boil stirring occasionally. Boil for one minute; it should almost double in size from the bubbles created. Let cool slightly. Add vanilla extract and bourbon (if using.)
5. In a large bowl, whisk together eggs until lightly beaten. Slowly add cooled sugar mixture to the eggs, whisking to combine. Whisk sifted flour into egg/sugar mixture making sure there are no lumps.
6. Remove chilled pie crust from the refrigerator. Add toasted, chopped pecans to the unbaked crust. Pour most of the sugar/egg mixture over the nuts into the pie shell, reserving about two tablespoons of the mixture.
7. Arrange the remaining ¾ cup of pecan halves on top. Brush the pecan halves with the remaining egg sugar mixture to coat the nuts so they are glossy.
8. Bake pie for about 45 minutes, until the crust is golden-brown and the filling has fully risen and set in the center.
9. Cool completely.
10. Cut and serve with sea salt or whipped cream.