Pecan pie is something we take very seriously at Delish. Not only is it one of the biggest staples on our Thanksgiving table, we've got plenty of Southern-born pecan pie experts on staff—and they've got OPINIONS. They claim there are about a million ways a pecan pie can go wrong: too sweet, too gooey, soggy crust, burnt tops... the list is endless.
We knew we had to pit two very different celebrities against each other for this one. In one corner, we've got Joanna Gaines of Fixer Upper fame. Born in Kansas and raised in Texas, she's got the kind of upbringing we assume is required to make a perfect pecan pie. In the other corner, we've got Zooey Deschanel, who was born and raised in Los Angeles. So naturally, we were a little suspicious. Though TECHNICALLY this recipe comes from Zooey's mom, and moms are generally great at pie, so hey this is anyone's game!
JOANNA'S RECIPE
Joanna's recipe comes together way faster than your usual pie. The dough is made in the food processor (plus a little extra kneading), needs no chilling, and no blind baking time! What stuck out the most in this recipe was the ratio of nuts to filling. When baked, the result was a thin, crisp layer of nuts on top and a THICK layer of custard at the bottom. According to the pecan pie experts on staff, this is typical, though they remarked that the custard layer was much thicker than they were used to seeing. Overall, they approved.
The crust was a different story. Made with a mixture of vegetable shortening and butter, tasters weren't fans of the gritty texture and slightly bitter flavor.
ZOOEY'S RECIPE
On the other side of the spectrum, taster's LOVED Zooey's all-butter crust. Made by hand with 3 simple ingredients: flour, butter, and ice water (and salt, if you're a stickler) this dough was far flakier than the opponents. The filling is where things [literally] fell apart. With not enough wet ingredients to bind the mixture, it was extremely difficult to get a clean slice out of this pie. The pecans sort of spill out in a gooey, sticky mass—but hey, the crust is delicious! Some tasters were turned off by the pie's strong molasses flavor (it gets drizzled with a 1/4 cup before baking), though others found the molasses helped combat the sweeter flavors.
THE VERDICT
As you might have guessed, there was no beating a native Southerner on this one. Joanna's pie was the classic version that our tasters were looking for, and we can't help but agree. Though the crust wasn't there, the filling was just the right amount of gooey and crisp. We still like our pecan pie the best though. 😉
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