Recipe: The perfect Pecan Pie

Pecan and Date Pie by Mercy Fenton.
"This pecan and date pie is such a treat, sticky and smooth from the dates and earthy and crunchy from the pecans," writes Mercy Fenton in her weekly column. "The tart isn’t overloaded with dates, which makes it less expensive than a regular pecan pie."
300gr cream flour
150gr unsalted butter
60gr sugar
6gr salt
2 eggs
Zest of an orange
- Mix flour, sugar, orange zest and butter to crumb, add in the eggs and salt and mix lightly.
- Turn onto board and work enough to bring together in small round.
- Wrap in cling film and leave to rest in the fridge for an hour or so.
- Grease and lightly flour a 9 in flan ring.
- Roll out the pastry approximately 1½ in larger than the flan ring.
- Carefully place the pastry into the flan ring, pressing carefully into the sides, and keep a slight overhang to prevent the high sides shrinking.
- Rest for half an hour before baking blind.
- Line with parchment paper and fill with baking beans, bake at 175C until golden all over - about 20 minutes.
- While the tart base is cooking, prepare the pecan filling.
- When cooked, remove baking parchment and brush the pastry case with raw egg yolk, place in back of the oven for two or three minutes, this will help seal the pastry and keep it crisp.
- Remove from the oven and allow to cool before filling.
4 free-range eggs
100g brown sugar
112gr butter (melted)
170g maple flavour golden syrup
170g maple syrup
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 tsp salt
250gr medjool dates
140gr pecan nuts
Set oven to 170C.
- Remove the stone from the dates and slice thinly.
- Roughly chop the pecan nuts.
- In a medium sized bowl, mix the eggs, sugars, butter, syrups, vanilla, and salt.
- Add the dates and pecan to the syrup mixture and fold through.
- Scrape the filling into the prepared tart, level carefully.
- Bake in the centre of the oven for 40 to 50 minutes until set.
- Cool for at least three hours before cutting and serving with ice cream or cream.