Baking a pecan pie....question

[Tap]

Pecan pie recipes are so varied!

Light Karo syrup or dark?

Brown sugar or white?

Butter crust or shortening/butter crust.

Par bake the crust or not?

I love pecan pie, but it can be sickening sweet. Anyone have a recipe that is less sweet, but still sets?

[1234]

I made these pecan pie bars this week and they were amazing. I really wanted pecan pie but also find it too sweet and these ended up being just enough. They were a big hit here. I also realized I was out of vanilla while making them and substituted honey and they still turned out great.

https://newsouthcharm.com/easy-pecan-pie-bars/

[LinRTX]

We use light Karo syrup, white sugar, and a shortening crust (not par baked). And extra pecans, always extra. 

And I agree it is very sweet.

[marbel]

I have always used light Karo syrup. The recipe I'm using this year (chocolate pecan pie with bourbon) calls for brown sugar.  

No matter what the recipe says, I always parbake my crusts to avoid sogginess. 

I don't have time to look it up now, but I have seen articles on King Arthur flour on how to reduce sugar/sweetness in recipes. 

Edited December 24, 2021 by marbel

[marbel]

Oh, I generally make a shortening/butter crust, but ran out of shortening, so all butter it is this year. 

[Lawana]

My step daughter takes a recipe for a 9” pie, doubles the pecans and makes two 8” pies. Helps with the sweetness factor. 
I just use the recipe on the dark Karo bottle—dark Karo (duh) and white sugar, and extra pecans. 

[math teacher]

I use the recipe on the light Karo bottle and I don't add extra pecans-may have to try that. I don't prebake the shell and I use the rolled kind in the box (preferably brand name.)

[KungFuPanda]

It’s been on my list to try a version of this:  https://12tomatoes.com/pecan-cream-pie/

I haven’t gotten around to it, but the cream would definitely cut the dense sugariness of a traditional pecan pie  

 

Edited December 24, 2021 by KungFuPanda

[VickiMNE]

I always make this, but use light Karo because that is what I have along with dark brown sugar:  Pecan tart  

It is all the goodness of pecan pie without the cloying fill part.  Regular pie crust, parbaked.  Fabulous.  A little goes a long way.

[theelfqueen]

Bourbon helps to cut the over sweetness. 

 

Dark Karo

White sugar.

Parbake.

Butter crust. 

Edited December 24, 2021 by theelfqueen

[YaelAldrich]

No Karo syrup, just brown and white sugars

no pre-baking crust

store bought crust unless I'm feeling really flush in time 

[ScoutTN]

My recipe says light Karo and white sugar, but I like the richer taste with dark.

I have never parbaked, but maybe I will now!

All butter or butter/pastured lard crust. No Crisco here! 
 

Chopped pecans in the pie and halves on top, at least in the middle. Yes, more than the recipe calls for.

[Tap]

Ok, So I did light Karo and sugar. Didn't parbake the crust but did use a full butter crust. Crust wasn't great. I used a different recipe and my regular pie pan was missing, so I use a glass deep dish pie pan. This meant the crust was too thin and didn't cook great. Pie was great and not too sweet. I used 1.5 cups of pecans. Mostly broke in half. The filling was great! I think next time I will use brown sugar and light karo to see how that works. 

But for tonight, it was all quite yummy! Thanks for all the suggestions! I really appreciate it!

 

[Dianthus]

I make shortening crust and don't parbake. I use this filling recipe which I prefer because it has so many nuts. I've wanted to try brown sugar only, but we like this one, and I don't want to waste pecans if it doesn't turn out.