- Serves 10 to 12 - Ready in 5 hours (including 3 hours of cooling time) and making your own pastry will add on another 45 min, so almost 6 hours -
Gather together…
750g (1.5 packets) shortcrust pastry – there will be leftover pastry (enough for about 6 mince pies) after trimming, but it is much easier if you have excess pastry.
1 cup (160g) brown sugar.
2/3 cup (230g) golden syrup (i.e. not as much as the typo in the original Nigella-community recipe online says!).
2 tbsp dark Rum (or you can use Brandy) - or you can leave it out to be booze-free.
1/4 cup (60g) butter, sliced-up ready for melting.
4 medium (or 3 large) eggs.
1 tsp vanilla extract (the Taylor & Colledge brand is fairtrade certified / the Dr Oetker brand is alcohol free).
1/2 tsp finely-ground salt.
2 cups (200g) slightly broken-up pecan nuts.
Serve with...
Vanilla ice cream (1 scoop each).
Get cooking…
1(a). If you want to make your own pastry, scroll to the bottom of this page, or use shop bought as directed later in the recipe.
1(b). In a medium-large saucepan (as it will froth up when boiling later), combine the 1 cup (160g) of brown sugar, the two-thirds of a cup (230g) of golden syrup, the 2 tbsp of dark rum (optional), and the ¼ cup (60g) of sliced butter. Bring the mixture to a boil over medium heat - this will only take about 4 minutes. Stir well every 30 seconds or so.
2. BEING REALLY CAREFUL AS IT IS BURNING HOT CARAMEL THAT YOU ARE MAKING, boil the mixture for about 1 minute, stirring constantly and scraping back any foam that clings to the sides of the pan. IF IT FOAMS TOWARDS THE TOP OF THE PAN QUICKLY AND CAREFULLY REMOVE THE PAN FROM THE HEAT SO IT DOESN'T BOIL OVER AND BURN YOU. At the point you see the foamy mixture becoming a slightly darker brown, remove it from the heat - don't let it get dark brown in colour, or you'll be able to taste burnt sugar.
3. Remove the pan from the heat and tip the boiling-hot syrupy contents into a new (medium sized and heatproof) bowl/pan (as the original pan will keep the contents too hot) and set the new bowl/pan aside for the syrupy mixture to cool (put it on a wire cooling rack to allow airflow under it and sit it in a cool room) – for at least 30 minutes. Or else the eggs will scramble when added later!
4. Meanwhile combine the 1.5 packets of shortcrust pastry (i.e. squash / knead them together for about a minute) and roll the pastry out on a well-floured surface, to a VERY large circle, about £1 coin in thickness. This will take 5 to 10 minutes of very tiring rolling out! Make sure the circle of pastry you roll is much bigger than the tin and that the pastry is only the thickness of a £1 coin all over. Fit it, WITHOUT stretching it, over the base and up the sides of a floured 12-inch / 31 cm loose-bottomed metal pie dish, such as the £7-ish ‘VARDAGEN’ pie dish from Ikea. Gently ease the pastry into the base of the tin using a rolled-up lump of the excess pastry (so you don't put your fingertips through it). Trim off only SOME of the excess pastry with scissors (see images below), just so the pastry isn't touching the worksurface - don't over-trim as the pastry SHRINKS A LOT when baking, and anyway you can neaten it up once it is baked by slicing off baked excess pastry with a dinner knife. Put the loose-based pie tin on a flat oven tray when carrying it, so you don't accidentally push up the underside.
5. Put the pastry case in the FREEZER for 15 minutes (or in the fridge for 30 minutes) and have a cup of tea / clean up the kitchen whilst you wait for the pastry to chill. You need to chill pastry before 'blind baking' it (our next stage) as the butter needs to be firm so that the pastry holds its shape.
6. Meanwhile, towards the end of the freezer / fridge time, prep your oven by putting the main shelf near the bottom of the oven and preheat to 200 C (180 C fan) or Gas 6.
7. You now need to 'blind bake' the pastry case, so the base layer of pastry is cooked through and not soggy. Begin by pricking the horizontal surface of the pastry-in-the-tin all over with a fork, so air doesn't get trapped and swell up under the base. Aim to prick this case firmly at least 50 times with a fork.
8. Next put a large square of greaseproof paper (slightly larger than the metal pastry case) over the top of the fork-pricked pastry in the case. It's best to scrunch the grease proof paper up and then unfold it - the crumpled paper will fit more snugly to the shape of the tin. Now you need to add weight to stop the pastry case puffing up. Either use at least 700g of 'baking beads / beans' (small ceramic, purpose-made spheres which can be reused indefinitely) or use 2 cups of dry rice (the baked rice cannot be eaten afterwards but can be used many times for blind baking over the years, if stored in an airtight container after use.)
9. Spread the 'weight' over the crumpled-then-smoothed greaseproof paper which is over the top of the pastry base. Make sure there is a fairly even layer over all of the base, but do make sure the beads/rice weigh down the edges of the case well, as this is where the pastry tries to shrink the most.
10. Carefully put the weighted-down pastry-lined tin in the oven (remember that the tin base is LOOSE!) and 'blind bake' with the weighted greaseproof paper in for 15 minutes.
11. After the first 15 minutes of blind baking, remove the weight (beads or rice) very CAREFULLY as they will be hot, especially if you are using ceramic beads which retain the heat for ages. You can re-use the rice for more blind baking in the future but you can't eat it.
12. Now blind bake the 'naked' pie base for a final 10 minutes (and then remove the pie base from the oven, but leave the oven ON). If the base puffs up a bit during this time, gently flatten it with a potato masher.
13. Meanwhile, whilst the blind baking is happening, you can prepare the rest of the pie filling.
14. In a medium mixing bowl, beat the 4 medium (or 3 large) eggs until slightly frothy (this will take 1 minute with a handheld whisk / fork).
15. Once the 30 minutes of syrup-cooling time is up, beat the frothy eggs into the pan of still-warm-but-not-hot syrup; stir in the 1 tsp of vanilla extract, the ½ tsp of salt, and the 2 cups (200g) of slightly-broken-up pecans.
16. Pour the filling into the 'blind baked' pie shell and level with the back of a spoon. Very carefully transfer it to the oven - remember that the base of the tin is LOOSE! Bake at the bottom of the oven at 200 C (180 C fan) or Gas 6 until the filling is set but still slightly wobbly in the centre, so for about 45 minutes.
17. Once baked, very, very carefully remove the hot pie dish from the oven, remembering that the pie tin has a LOOSE base. Cool the pie completely on a wire rack whilst still in the tin for 2 hours in a cool place.
18. Before serving - use a knife held straight up and down to carefully chisel off any excess pastry (over a large baking tray to catch the yummy shards of pastry). Then use a tin-can from your cupboard to sit the loose-bottomed tin on, so you can gently remove the tin's outer edge downwards. Finally slide the flat circular base of the tin out.
19. Serve the pie at room temperature with vanilla ice cream.
20. This pie will keep in an airtight container in a cool place (e.g. in the garage) or in the fridge, for up to three days.
21. Once fully cool (give it at least 2 hours on a wire rack in a cool place), you can freeze it, in cut-up read-to-eat portions, for up to 3 months. I place the pieces (not touching or they freeze in a lump) in an airtight freezer-safe container, I don't wrap the slices in disposable cling film or foil, as I don't like the waste.
Adapted from a community recipe on nigella.com, which says that this recipe appears in Richard Sax's, "Classic Home Desserts," and is based upon a recipe by John Thorne.
To make the 750g of Rough Puff Pastry (or just use shop-bought SHORTCRUST pastry)… My homemade rough-puff pastry always comes out like very nice shortcrust rather than like puff pastry, so I use it in recipes requiring shortcrust. It will add 45 minutes on to your recipe (as it requires chilling time once made).
Gather together...
225g chilled butter in cubes.
450g plain flour.
Pinch of salt.
200ml - 270ml (14-18tbsp YES tablespoons) of very cold water.
Get cooking...
1. In a medium mixing bowl, coat the 225g of chopped, cold butter cubes in the 450g of plain flour and the pinch of salt.
2. Add the 200ml - 270ml (14-18 tbsp YES tablespoons) of very cold water and use your hands to squash the flour and butter cubes roughly together into a lumpy clump of a ball. No need to rub in the butter. Keep adding the extra water gradually until there isn't any dry bits at the bottom of the bowl when you clump the pastry together.
3. On a clean and well-floured worksurface, shape the lump into a rectangle and use a rolling pin to roll it out (moving the rolling pin in ONE DIRECTION only) away from you, until you have a rectangle 1 cm thick.
4. Use plenty of flour on the worksurface and rolling pin.
5. Fold the pastry rectangle from the short end furthest from you – fold 1/3 of the dough towards you, then the nearest 1/3 away from you (so it folds over the first 1/3 you folded) – like folding a business letter. So you now have a rectangle made of 3 equal sized layers.
6. Give the pastry rectangle a ¼ turn clockwise, then repeat the ONE DIRECTION rolling and the 1/3 over 1/3 folding.
7. Give another ¼ turn clockwise.
8. Do the rolling, folding into thirds, and turning process 4 or 5 more times, on a well-floured board.
9. Wrap the pastry in a beeswax wrap (or a plastic bag which you can wash and re-use) and chill in the fridge for at least 30 min before rolling out, as directed by the recipe.