Maple Pecan Pie (with Bourbon) | Chickens in the Road

Sep
21

Pecan pie–it’s not just for the holidays! I love to bake pecan pie year-round, in all sorts of variations. This one with maple syrup and bourbon is one of my favorites. (I also love burnt sugar pecan pie! And molasses pecan pie! Yum.)

How to make Maple Pecan Pie (with Bourbon):

3 eggs
3/4 cup pure maple syrup
1/4 cup bourbon*
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups pecan halves
pastry for single-crust pie

*You can also use rum, whiskey, or brandy. If you don’t want to cook with alcohol at all, you can increase the maple syrup to 1 cup and add 1 teaspoon of rum extract in place of vanilla for the flavoring.

For the filling, whisk eggs lightly then add maple syrup, bourbon, sugar, butter, and vanilla. Load in the pecan halves and stir. Pour filling into pastry-lined pie plate. Bake on bottom oven rack at 350-degrees for 40-45 minutes.

(I always bake pies on the bottom oven rack. For one thing, it guarantees a well-baked bottom crust. For another, it avoids the need for trying to tediously tuck foil around the crust edges to protect from over-browning.)

Quick, somebody bring me the vanilla ice cream!

P.S. This pie has really fantastic flavor. Don’t wait for the holidays.

To make Burnt Sugar Pecan Pie: Replace the maple syrup and bourbon with 1/2 cup light corn syrup and 1/2 cup burnt sugar syrup. To make burnt sugar syrup, see the directions here. You’ll need to start with about 3/4 cup sugar and an equal part water to come out with 1/2 cup burnt sugar syrup. Let syrup cool to room temperature before using in the recipe.

To make Molasses Pecan Pie: Replace the maple syrup and bourbon with 3/4 cup light corn syrup and 1/4 cup molasses.

Make the best pie crust in the world.

Use homemade vanilla.

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22 Responses
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9-21
8:09
am

This recipe makes me so glad to have liquor around the house! I can’t wait to try this one! Since I am only the 3rd poster–maybe others have already baked it and are now napping before the kids get home from school.

monica - Reply
9-21
8:38
am

A local restaurant that is no more served a pecan pie that had a shot of bourbon and mini-chocolate chips in it and it was divine! Also, if you have black walnuts, they make an awesome pie (instead of pecans).

Laura - Reply
9-21
9:25
am

Beyond your obvious beauty and charm, I see you are giving 52 absolutely no reason to leave you!

Again, why don’t you weigh 300 lbs??

Clover says, “I want a piece of that pie!”

trish - Reply
9-21
9:34
am

That looks wonderful! I love Pecan pie. She stays thin chasing kids,chickens(or running from)goats and donkey’s.

Senta Sandberg - Reply
9-21
9:57
am

Suzanne, I want to know how you knew that I just bought a bag of pecans, not knowing myself that I really wanted a pecan pie. You are an amazing woman…who makes beautiful pies.

Miss Becky - Reply
9-21
10:08
am

I think I may have just found a new favorite Pecan Pie recipe. No, haven’t tried it yet but will do so soon.

It’s 11 o’clock, I haven’t had any breakfast (don’t ask . . . crazy morning) so my stomach is growling and salivary glands are working overtime reading this post. If I had a piece of this pie right now, I’d probably be tipsy for the rest of the day. But very happy.

Thanks for sharing with all of us.

Mama Pea - Reply
9-21
10:50
am

That looks so good! I am having company over tonight and was wondering what to fix for dessert! I’m on my way to the store!

KentuckyFarmGirl - Reply
9-21
1:28
pm

Oh how I LOVE pecans and LOVE Pecan pie!!!!

Donna - Reply
9-21
1:34
pm

I have a question I hope one of you can help me with. We have butane, which is also what my oven is connected to, which causes a fairly large flame coming from the bottom of the oven. I can roast meat with no problem, but when it comes to baking anything that needs to rise, I am having no luck. I have tried moving my items to different racks, etc. If someone could help, I’d appreciate it!

PamP - Reply
- 9-21
  5:47
  pm
  
  Instead of putting it into the oven to rise, let it rise on top of the stove! Most stoves have some sort of vent where excess heat dissipates from the oven–set it close to that and cover it with the clean dishtowel and you might have better luck. If the bread gets too dried out during baking, you may try a shallow pan of water along with the bread as it bakes–it will help to moisten the air a bit.
  I am not sure if this will help or not, but I do hate to see a good question unanswered. Suzanne is super busy and possibly full of pecan bourbon pie. LOL
  
  monica - Reply
  - 9-21
    6:20
    pm
    
    Thanks, Monica! Actually, I’m not sure what she’s asking.
    
    Pam, do you mean during the actual rise time of the bread, or do you mean any yeast bread you try to bake? If so (the second), then Monica’s solution about putting a shallow pan of water in the oven with the bread sounds good to me!
    
    Suzanne - Reply
9-21
1:52
pm

This looks seriously yummy. I’m gonna have to try this one. Thanks!

Barbara - Reply
9-21
3:56
pm

Oh my! Pecan pie is so rich that I can usually only eat about half a slice – I’d probably only be able to manage two bites of this one! Back in the day, when my mom made home made pies, she did the exact same thing with the crust scraps – loved them.

I think you need your own show on the Food Channel – SERIOUSLY !!!

Yvonne - Reply
9-21
6:13
pm

WOW! That looks delicious!

Lexi Connor - Reply
9-21
7:10
pm

You might want to have a technician look at that oven. It should not have a flame that high. It wastes fuel.
hth.

Darlene - Reply
9-21
11:48
pm

That looks amazing! Pecan pie is my husband’s all time favorite so I’m going to have to try this. I’ve had raging success with all or your recipes I’ve tried, by the way!

Mariah - Reply
9-22
10:20
am

Suzanne, your recipe looks amazing! I did try and copy the pie crust recipe, and only highlighted the text, but a window pops up saying the pics are copyrighted. I don’t want to print the pics because that would take up too much ink (and printer ink is very expensive for us). I was able to copy some of your other recipes in the past with no problem. Just wanted to let you know that is happening with that particular recipe.

YayaOrchid - Reply
- 9-22
  10:27
  am
  
  Look for the Printable Recipe link at the bottom of the post. I have a print link on all of my recipe posts that will give you a printer-ready page minus pics and other graphics.
  
  Suzanne - Reply
9-22
2:25
pm

OMG, what a beautiful pie. Pecan pie and sweet potatoe pies are my favorite.

JeannieB - Reply
9-23
7:02
am

I made this yesterday. The bourbon is very prominent and the filling doesn’t quite hold together. I baked it for 45 minutes and when shaken, it barely jiggled so I think I baked it long enough. I will make this again because it is obvious the flavor would be phenomenal minus a bit of the bourbon. If I can get that right, this will be my new pecan pie recipe. Thanks, Suzanne!

Charlene - Reply
- 9-23
  7:08
  am
  
  Hi, Charlene. I’m sorry to hear that! I haven’t had any trouble with mine setting up right. You could try reducing the bourbon slightly and see if that works better for you. I love it with a quarter cup because of the flavor.
  
  Suzanne - Reply
9-24
6:34
am

Same Charlene as above. Update. Second day, the booziness is gone and the filling is a little firmer. This is delicious! Weird that the booziness (not flavor) would dissipate since it was stored in Tupperware after cutting. Well, I do believe this is my new pecan pie recipe. I will just plan on making it a day ahead or if not, I’ll cut the bourbon down by a tablespoon. Thanks again, Suzanne! You rock!

PS To the poster with the butane-fueled oven, that sounds dangerous both as a fire hazard and a breathing hazard. Please have it serviced and get a carbon monoxide detector if you don’t have one!

Charlene - Reply