Although I own a number of round loose leaf flan dishes, I never use them. Instead I use a much loved rectangular dish because it’s so much easier to cut the flan into neat pieces. However due to its dimensions I always have to downsize the recipe and it’s inclined to break when I try to remove the pie or quiche from the base.
Patisse bakeware is made in the Netherlands and constructed in heavy gauge cold rolled steel. I was keen to try out their 21cm loose base flan dish because I could use my 8 inch tart recipes without having to downsize the recipe. I decided to make one of my old favourite recipes, a Glazed Chocolate Pecan Pie. I used to live in Canada and this pie was served at a local café. I’ve adapted the recipe over the years and this is the latest effort. If the thought of making pastry terrifies you, you can buy good quality chocolate pastry, otherwise I’ve included a chocolate pastry recipe very slightly modified from the one in Isadora Popovic’s
Book of Baking.
I found the tin nice and sturdy and as I discovered, the Whitford Skandia non-stick coating worked like a charm. I spilled the pecan pie filling whilst moving the tart from one rack to another. Normally this would be a disaster because as the filling bakes it welds the tart shell to the tin but that didn’t happen at all. The tart shell came out without any effort and it was a breeze to clean as well. I was sold!
Here’s the recipe for you. For all my recipes I use a 250 ml cup and a 20 ml tablespoon. All eggs are 60 grams and my oven is a conventional oven not fan forced, so you may need to reduce your oven temperature by 20°C. I used rum to flavour the glaze but I’m sure you could use another spirit. If you’d like to make this alcohol free, just use a bit more hot water in the glaze.
Chocolate Glazed Pecan Pie
– makes one 8 inch round or square pie or 12 serves as this is quite rich
Chocolate Shortcrust Pastry
- 225 grams plain flour
- 25 grams cocoa powder
- 125 grams unsalted butter, chilled and cubed
- 85 grams caster sugar
- 1 egg
Place the flour, cocoa, butter and sugar in a food processor and process until crumbs form. Add the egg and mix again until the dough starts to come together around the blade. Take the dough out of the processor and bring together to form a ball. Put the dough on a lightly floured surface then roll with a rolling pin until 3-4mm thick. Line the tart tin with the chocolate shortcrust pastry and trim the excess dough neatly around the edges. You’ll use about ¾ of the dough and any leftover pastry can be stored in the freezer. Refrigerate the tart shell for an hour.
Filling
- 150g toasted pecans, roughly chopped (reserve a few whole pecans for decoration)
- 3 eggs
- ⅔ cup sugar (I used a combination of light brown sugar and caster sugar)
- 2 tablespoons cornflour
- 3 tablespoons melted butter (50g)
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 cup light corn syrup
Preheat the oven to 180˚C (350˚F). Remove the pie shell from the fridge and place the pecans over the base. Lightly beat the eggs with the sugar and cornflour until combined. Add the melted butter, vanilla, the corn syrup and mix until the mixture is well combined.
Pour the filling over the pecans. The pecans will rise to the top. Place the pie tin on a baking tray and place in the preheated oven. Bake the pie for 45-55 minutes or until the top is well browned and the filling is set.
Remove the pie from the oven and cool on a wire rack. When cool place the pie in the fridge while preparing the glaze.
Glaze
- 155 grams dark chocolate, roughly chopped
- 3 teaspoons butter
- 2½ tablespoons boiling water
- 2 teaspoons rum
Place all the ingredients in a small bowl over barely simmering water. Mix well until the chocolate has melted and the mixture is smooth. Remove the basin from the heat and allow the mixture to cool to spreading consistency before using to glaze the top of the pie. Decorate with the reserved pecans. Store the pie in the fridge until ready to serve.
