Cointreau Pecan Pie
published by deep6jonah on Apr 7, 2009
An absolutely scrumptious variation on a traditional southern pecan pie. The orange flavor is an elegant and festive complement to the pecans. It tastes like Christmas in your mouth, but it’s wonderful any time of year.
Ingredients
- 1 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup dark corn syrup
- 3 tablespoons melted butter
- 3 large beaten eggs
- 1 1/2 to 2 cups chopped pecans
- 1 tablespoon orange zest
- 2 tablespoons Cointreau or Triple Sec
- 1 (9-inch) deep-dish pie shell, unbaked
Directions
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
Stir melted butter into sugar until thoroughly incorporated. Stir in corn syrup, eggs, pecans, orange zest, and Cointreau. Pour mixture into unbaked pie shell, and place on a substantial cookie sheet. Bake for 55 minutes, or until pie is set. Remove from oven and cool on a wire rack.
Variations
Substitute ½ cup of light brown sugar for half the white sugar or use unbleached raw cane sugar for a richer more nuanced flavor.
Most pecan pie recipe’s call for pecan halves. This is fine, but I prefer the chopped nuts as it makes the pie easier to cut in my opinion.
I like nuts, and pecans are my favorite so I don’t mind loading a pie up with them—the nuttier the better. 2 cups is about the most you can stuff into a 9 inch deep-dish shell without spilling over as the pie bakes. My wife thinks this is too many nuts as she grew up with pecan pies that just had the nuts floating on the top of the filling. You can certainly use fewer nuts, but I say if you don’t like ‘em why in the world would you bake a nut pie?
A nice addition is Cointreau flavored whipped cream. Just add a tablespoon of the liqueur and a tablespoon of sugar to a cup of cold cream and whip. Yummy!
