Why does pecan pie get runny

In fact, that's a good idea even if you don't have trouble with runny pies. Add a fourth egg or a tablespoon of flour or cornstarch. Any of these options should make your pie filling more solid. Use this option last, however, because it can change the taste of your pie. Pecan pie is a delicious dessert that is notoriously difficult to bake well because it can be difficult to tell when it is done.

The crust and the pecans can burn easily if overcooked , but the middle can come out runny if it's not cooked long enough. A good combination is lemon with fruit fillings. Tapioca — Use tapioca flour, not granules to thicken things up. The granules take a while to fully hydrate and you could wind up with weird grit in your pie and have the filling still be runny. Instead use tapioca flour or use a blender to pulverize tapioca granules.

I also add in a little cornstarch dissolved in water at this step. The cornstarch helps to thicken the mixture and ensures that the pie isn't too soupy. I also like to add in a little vanilla extract and cinnamon for more flavor. Whisk together the eggs. After it's baked , does the pecan pie need to be refrigerated or can I leave it at room temperature? Answer: You should refrigerate the pecan pie , unless you 're planning to serve it within two hours of baking.

Properly stored, pecan pie will keep for three to four days in the refrigerator. Problem: The fruit pie filling is all runny. It's not you, it's the fruit. Since baking fruit draws out the water, this is a common problem. One solution is to use a thickener, such as flour, cornstarch, potato starch or tapioca -- they're highly recommended for fruit pies. Make -Ahead Pecan Pie. Prepare our Make -Ahead Pecan Pie the day before your event. Our Make -Ahead Pecan Pie can be stored at room temperature for up to 24 hours.

Tip: What's the best way to tell if your pie is done? For best results, let the filling bubble for at least 5 minutes before removing the pie from the oven. There are a few reasons to Blind Bake a pie shell. I agree with Jolenealaska that you probably need a longer bake time. I always needed minutes for my pecan pies to set and I cook them several times a year. As noted by Wayfaring Stranger, sometimes you need to cover the crust edges with foil to avoid getting them too dark. I don't think the type of sugar will have much effect - I've used all white sugar, all brown sugar dark, light, medium , a mix of white and brown sugar, as well as light corn syrup, dark corn syrup, Roger's cane syrup, generic brand, karo syrup brand, etc.

It's possible that some generic brands have a higher water content; in that case, it would take a little longer to cook before it will set up. In the end, the secret that I was taught to ensure the filling sets up is to insert a butter knife into the filling. If the knife comes out covered with a lumpy or a colored gel, the filling isn't ready.

As soon as the knife comes out "clear" i. For reference, my recipe is almost identical to yours; I use only 3 eggs and no flour in the filling.

I'm having the same problem, all my pies came out perfect up until last week. I think the problem for me is I used generic corn syrup instead of the karo brand.

I used the generic corn syrup with the Karo recipe because I thought the off brand was such a good value. I guess every brand has different measurements, and concoctions? I'm going to retry making the pie using the brand name corn syrup instead of the generic and see what kind of results I end up with! Sign up to join this community. The best answers are voted up and rise to the top. Stack Overflow for Teams — Collaborate and share knowledge with a private group.

Create a free Team What is Teams? Learn more. Why is my pecan pie always runny? Ask Question. Asked 6 years, 11 months ago.

Active 3 years, 6 months ago. Viewed 86k times. Christy learned the art and science of cooking from her Southern kin. Her cooking secrets aren't secrets because she shares them freely. Pecan pie isn't difficult to make, but making the perfect pecan pie is. Out back of my grandmother's house in Lumpkin, Georgia, towered a grand old pecan tree. Whenever we visited in the fall, we would collect a grocery sack full of pecans, and Granddaddy would shell them while he watched the TV news.

We kids could eat those pecans almost as fast as he cracked them. Those pecans were perfect. It was a wild seedling tree, not one of the commercial varieties. Pecan experts claim that seedlings produce poorer tasting nuts; but that tree in Grandmother's backyard defied the experts, producing pecans that were smaller and sweeter than store-bought pecans.

Grandmother would mix a cup of nuts with syrup, sugar, and eggs to make a perfect pecan pie. The crust was golden brown, the filling the color of honey, and it smelled like heaven. I had Grandmother's recipe. I had Grandmother's pecans. So I made a pecan pie—but it looked and smelled like the cigars that Granddaddy used to smoke. No matter how often I tried, my pecan pie was either burnt, or it was soupy, not setting up right. After my grandmother had passed, I asked my mom what I was doing wrong.

She said, "I don't know. I've never been able to bake pecan pie myself," which explained why we never had it at home when I was a kid. I tried different crusts, different variations on the recipe, different oven temperatures. It always turned out the same: either pecan ashes or pecan soup. And then one day, about the time I turned 40—about the same time that I suddenly learned to make perfect cornbread and perfect biscuits—I learned how to make perfect pecan pie.

Maybe the age 40 thing is just because I needed to cook longer before I was done, or maybe it was because I finally found the secrets. Now pecan pie is always a favorite at our holiday table, and always the dish that I take to a potluck dinner.

I have learned the secret to making perfect pecan pie, and now I'm going to share it with you. When something's been around since the Native Americans shared their pecans with the first French settlers in New Orleans, you'd expect many variations on the recipe. Although there are a few newspaper references to pecan pie in the s and early s, most people today use variations on the corn syrup recipe published by Karo in the s.

This recipe began to appear in recipes books such as Fannie Farmer or The Joy of Cooking in the s. But that recipe is only a starting point, as each person blends in an extra ingredient, or changes out one of the basics, to make the pie her own. One person adds chocolate, another bourbon. Someone else uses molasses instead of corn syrup.

In this way, each person's pie becomes her own unique blend of her mother's recipe and her friends' influence. This is what transforms cooking from a utilitarian chore to an expression of individuality. My favorite recipe book has never been published. As I flip through its yellowed and well-worn pages, I read hand-written notes in the margin, like "I made this for George for breakfast the first day after we were married," or "I picked up this recipe for Key Lime Pie when we lived in the Keys in the 30s.

What makes this recipe book so special is that those notes were handwritten by my grandmother, my aunts, my mother, my great-grandmother—by women from four generations of our family—with some of those recipes having been handed down by their mothers before them. My aunt compiled them about 25 years ago, copied the pages, bound them in three-ring binders.

There is no label on the cover, no table of contents, no ISBN number and no pre-printed price, but I know that that book is more valuable than any other cookbook on my shelves. This is my great-grandmother's pecan pie recipe. It's not much different from the one on the Karo syrup bottle, but it's enough different so that I know it is her recipe, and now it is mine. This will bring out the flavor of the pecans. Spread the nuts in a single layer on a baking sheet.

Roast for 10 to 15 minutes at degrees, until you can smell the pecan aroma. If you want to transform a southern lady into a raging monster, say to her, "I see you used pecan halves. Why don't you just use chopped nuts, instead? My grandmother used whole pecan halves or mostly whole, because we always broke some of the nuts as we shelled them. Unbroken pecan halves make a beautiful pie, especially if you take the time to arrange them in a pretty pattern.

Pretty until you cut into it, anyway. That's why I always use chopped nuts. Because your knife won't cut through the nuts, you'll mash those pecan halves down into your pie, making your cut slices look like scoops of pie mush.

In Texas, using anything but the biggest, sweetest and gently toasted freshly-shelled pecan halves from your backyard tree is a hangin' offence, y'all - anonymous. The first year I made pecan pies, I was 17 and I put the nuts in a food processor. Bad mistake! Chopped makes it easier to chew and enjoy the flavors of the pie if you don't have teeth Use the right kind of pie plate!

You can do all the preceding steps to perfection, but if you use the wrong plate, it won't cook the way you want. Here are two great options:. But whatever you do, never, ever, ever use those awful store-bought pie crusts in aluminum tins.