December 5th, 2009
Easy Crustless Gluten-Free Pecan Pie
This post is linked to Diane’s Friday Foodie Fix—Pecans. Check out the other recipes there and add one of your own. FYI—Diane’s secret ingredient next week is chocolate. You know you won’t want to miss that one for sure!
Reader Mary C. wanted to convert Erin’s ($5 Dinners) Almond Pecan Pie to a crustless one the other day. (We had a discussion in comments on my Crustless Pumpkin Pie recipe post.) In my research for Mary, I came across this crustless pecan pie recipe at Cassandra’s blog, Delightfully Gluten Free. It didn’t call for any flour at all! Even though I hadn’t made pecan pie in years, I immediately added the recipe to my baking plans for Thanksgiving. (I adore pecans, but usually just snack on a few throughout the week.) This pie came out perfectly, so I thought you might enjoy adding this crustless version to your crustless pie repertoire.
Admittedly, this recipe does have a lot of sugar in the form of granulated sugar and the corn syrup. Frankly, I was surprised I even had corn syrup in the pantry, because I don’t remember the last time I used it. I used the last of it in this recipe and next time I’ll make the pie using honey and probably coconut oil instead of butter. I’ll let you know how it goes. This version is a crowd pleaser though—a classic pecan pie, just without the crust. Not a single Thanksgiving guest noticed there was no crust on this pie (or the other two I served). They are just so good; a crust is not needed and, of course, that makes them gfe.
Easy Crustless Pecan Pie
(Click here for a print version of this recipe.)1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
6 eggs
2 tbsp butter (or non-dairy substitute), melted
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups pecansMix all ingredients in greased pie plate. Bake in a preheated 325-degree Fahrenheit oven for 45 minutes.
Shirley’s Notes: Cassandra said her mother has been making this pie for years, but the source of the recipe is unknown. The original recipe said you could mix ingredients right in the pie plate, but I mixed all in a bowl and then poured into greased pie plate.
Are you wondering what is going on next week? Well, there’s the Holiday Food Fest, which continues on next Thursday right here at gfe—at my new Out and About page. The theme is Holiday Dishes: Sides, Main Dishes, Soup … Anything Goes. I’m sure you’ll have something great that you’d like to contribute or just want to check back to get some new ideas that have already been kitchen tested by some of your favorite bloggers. If you’re still looking for holiday party ideas, be sure to check out last week’s roundup of Cocktails, Mocktails, and Appetizers (including awesome Honeyville giveaway!). My entries were Crab Ball and Reindeer Antlers Holiday Punch (note that the giveaway winners are up on that post!).
Now, let’s talk dessert some more. Please join the Gluten-Free Progressive Dinner Party crew next week for some wonderful dessert ideas for the holidays (including my optional, but admittedly irresistible, topping for this pecan pie). Diane, our lovely and gracious host, has planned five different categories of desserts for us. Five days of desserts … now you know that will be good! Read below for the categories and the bloggers who will be participating. (Incidentally, if you’re still pondering your upcoming holiday meals, I suggest you check out our Thanksgiving Progressive Dinner Party for some ideas. You can find all the links within my post for that dinner party here.)
Monday, December 7, Baked Desserts—Shauna of Gluten-Free Girl and the Chef, Alison of Sure Foods Living, and Ali of The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen.
Tuesday, December 8, Frozen or Chilled Desserts—That would be me, gfe, as well as Diane of The W.H.O.L.E. Gang.
Wednesday, December 9, Chocolate Desserts—Karen of Cook4Seasons and Ali of The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen.
Thursday, December 10, No-Bake Desserts—Diane of The W.H.O.L.E. Gang.
Friday December 11, Favorite Desserts—Melissa of Gluten Free For Good.
It’s snowing here! I absolutely love snow. Now that my post is done, maybe I’ll get in some baking (Banana Chocolate Chip Cookies) and some holiday decorating while Mr. GFE and Huckleberry (one of our cats) both snooze away. Later, we’ll be heading out to attend a combination family birthday party/oyster roast. I’m taking some Reindeer Antlers to share. There’s probably just enough left of our latest batch for any who want to partake to have a small glass, so that will work out very well.
Holiday cheers to all!
Shirley
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Comments
55 Responses to “Easy Crustless Gluten-Free Pecan Pie”
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Oh no….way to go Shirley….now you really have me in trouble…lol! Hubby luves pecan pie…will have to make for sure….thank you!
Enjoy and hugs!
Hi, Pam–Making our hubbies happy is very important. I know it’s a sacrifice
, but it’s really important that you make it. LOL
xo,
Shirley
ha ha ha!
Hugs!
Honestly, I’ve never had pecan pie. Our thanksgiving pies are typically pumpkin, lemon meringue and apple. Or at least pumpkin and one of the others ;D. This looks great!
Have a great Weekend Shirley – it sounds like there is a perfectly laid out couple of days ahead of you! Enjoy the party =D.
Lauren–First, I thought wow, no pecan pie ever … but it is largely a Southern thing in the U.S. I think. Your selections are hard to beat, but, I think you should give pecan pie a try. I’ll be interested to see what you think.
Yes, busy and fun days ahead … hope you have something similar planned.
Thanks!
Shirley
Here you have me drooling over another one of your crustless pies! YUM!!! I love a good pecan pie! I think I am making several for Christmas now, though I will have 20+ different kinds of cookies after I am done with my “Cookie-A-Day” thing on my blog! LOL!
Kim–I hear you … I think we need to start inviting extra guests just so we have a good reason to make more pies!
I’m only partly joking …
I’m just starting to check out the Cookie-A-Day recipes … very neat indeed for your readers (and those of others who are participating), but wow, keeping you busy. Those pecan shortbread cookies looked quite good!
Thanks,
Shirley
This recipe looks delicious – I think I’ll make it for Christmas, although I’ll use Rapadura instead of sugar, and honey instead of corn syrup. Do you use Rapadura at all? I love it! (See this link.)
Hi Jo–Welcome to gfe! I will really look forward to hearing your report when you make this pie using Rapadura and honey. I embedded the link from your site explaining the differences between various sweeters in your comment.
I’d really like to make it next time using all honey. I’ll report back. I have never used Rapadura before. From reading your site, it looks like your source of Rapadura is not available to us in the States. Any update there?
Thanks so much for stopping by and sharing such good info!
Shirley
Hi Shirley, you can get Rapadura in the States, but I’m not sure where. Your best bet would be to check with Debra Lynn Dadd here: http://sweetsavvy.com/sweeteners/summary.php?id=Unrefined Cane Sugar – she in the US and uses Rapadura (also called ‘unrefined cane sugar’).
Jo–Thanks so much for sharing that link to Debra Dadd’s blog. I took a quick peek, but will go back and look more. I also appreciate the translation as to what we call Rapadura here in the U.S. (Rapadura sounds much better! LOL)
What about Demerara sugar? How does that fit into the sweetner profiles?
Thanks!
Shirley
Hi Shirley,
Demarara is still heated and crystalised, like raw sugar, but has some molasses still clinging to the crystals, so it is better than white sugar… but I much prefer Rapadura as it hasn’t been heated at all, and has HEAPS more vitamins and minerals – see the difference between sugar and Rapadura: http://www.daabon.com/australia/pdfs/Rapadura%20Specs.pdf
Hi Jo–Thanks for sharing the additional info! I sort of remembered from other reading that demarara wasn’t that great. That info sheet was amazing! Of course, it all makes sense. We keep bees and we would never dream of heating their honey to process it. We use an old-fashioned hand-cranked centrifuge to spin it out of the comb.
I like quirky.
Nice alliteration with Quirky Cooking, too. 
Thanks again very much for sharing the info!
Shirley
P.S. Forgot to say that I love your blog’s name and concept … quirky cooking should indeed rule for many of us.
Shirley
Thanks! I’ve been called ‘quirky’ a few times, so I thought it suited!
First, I love pecan pie! Maybe I’ll make this for Christmas. Second, I can’t wait to hear about your raw pie!
Hi Iris–I bet you can make a splendid version of this pecan pie.
Stand by for gfe going raw with pie. 
Shirley
Looks delicious! Thank you for your comment on my Coconut Custard Cake post
) We love the tree too.. so rich in history!
Hi Marillyn–Thanks! Yes, I need to get some coconut flour so I can make your cake and so many other fab treats.
Now I’m intrigued about your particular banyan tree … I love them. Incidentally, we were invited to Costa Rica once and didn’t go and have regretted it ever since!
Shirley
Hi Shirley,
I love the idea of the crustless pie. We ususally use a GF oat flour pie crust, but I love the idea of a crustless pie for an oat-free version. I’m going to give it a try. Thanks!
Hi Kim–Welcome to gfe! If you look around, you’ll see that I’m quite fond of everything crustless.
I’ll have to check out your site for your oat flour pie crust. 
(I love the name of your site by the way … Welcoming Kitchen—a welcoming kitchen means so much to most of us here at gfe.) I’ve never tried oat flour. I seem to be one of those folks who can only do a small amount of even gf oats, but I do love the taste of anything with oats. I’ll be interested to see what you think of the recipe. Please let us know when you get a moment.
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment! I look forward to seeing you again.
Shirley
This looks Diane proof. I’m going to make it to take to the in-laws for the holidays. They all love pecan pie and now I can have some too! Is there any substitute for corn syrup? If not it’s off to the store. Thank you for sharing this on Friday Foodie Fix!
Diane–LOL on the Diane proof! You need to give yourself more credit, dear! You must have had a bad baking experience earlier in life. A home economics teacher with a bad attitude, perhaps? You are a great cook, so that can extend to baking, too.
Re: subbing for corn syrup, Wendy commented that you can use maple syrup instead. Doesn’t that sound fabulous? It’s full of good stuff, too (which corn syrup is not).
Please report back on how it turns out after the holidays. Thanks!
Shirley
If you’d like to avoid corn syrup, please try making your pecan pie using maple syrup instead. I think you might like it as much as we do. I’ve never seen recipes that use honey, but you may be inventing a great variation. Try the maple syrup first, though. It’s heavenly.
Hi Wendy!–Welcome to gfe! Special thanks for the maple syrup suggestion. I’m sure that is divine and I still have some maple syrup that friends brought us from Vermont.
We’re partial to honey for many dishes because we keep bees. I’ve actually seen some pecan pie recipes online that use honey. Maybe I’ll have to bake two and then do a taste test comparison! LOL Better try that when I have a large crowd over though … like my support group. 
It’s going to be hard to get through the work day now because I’ll be thinking about the heavenly maple syrup version. And, oh, it would be so good with some of the honey cinnamon Grand Marnier ice cream I just made. Yum.
Thanks so much, Wendy!
Shirley
Oh I love pecan pie! I’m wondering if you could also sub agave nectar for the corn syrup. I’ve done this in other recipes and it worked, so many it’ll work here too? Yum!
Hi Alta–
It’s hard not to love pecan pie. Some are cloyingly sweet though, but this one wasn’t. I’m betting that others have used agave in place of corn syrup. I bet you could google that and find some good “starting point” ideas, but if you’ve done it before, I think it should work. Worst case scenario … you’ll have a wonderful ice cream topping! 
Our local frozen custard stand makes a maple-nut sundae that people go bonkers over, so I’m imagining failed pecan pie in that way. Not a bad way to go. LOL
Please let us know if you make it with agave how it turns out.
Shirley
Wow I would have never thought of this pie without the crust. I have always separated the crust from the pie. I have never liked the texture of the crust after baking the pie. Thanks for the idea. I am new to your website but will be visiting often.
Thanks for new ideas!!!
Betsy
Hi Betsy–Welcome to gfe! I have several other crustless pies here at gfe. Just click on the following links: pumpkin, coconut, and apple (that one’s a pour-over crust, but it’s one that’s lovely to eat). I am so glad you are enjoying my website. My approach is all about making things easy and not often using specialty products. I shop at a basic grocery store all the time. Shoot me an email or leave a comment on any post if you can’t find something you are looking for.
Thanks so much for taking the time to comment!
Shirley
corn syrup is SOOO BAD for you, no matter that it isn’t HFCS. i am seeing so many gluten free sites where corn syrup or even sugar is used and i am so frustrated. i choose agave and will work my way to coconut sugar as i read more on it. sugar and corn syrup are terrible.
Hi gina–Welcome to gfe!
I agree that corn syrup is not something I’d want to use often. This was literally the first time I’d used it in a year, probably longer. I haven’t given up sugar yet though. We all have our own eating plans and have to transition to what is best for us. Some folks can have a small amount of sugar from time to time … some not. I like using raw honey from our bees, but even that must be done in moderation. I admit that sugar is something that I want to greatly reduce. That’s why you’ll see a post on my blog later today that has an alternative sweetener that is not anything bad at all. And, by the way, I’m sure you know that there’s negative info on agave on as well. Sweetening is not often a black and white subject it seems. Last, I do plan to get some coconut sugar and work with that. There are lots of gluten-free blogs that have wonderful sugar-free recipes … like Kelly’s (The Spunky Coconut), Amy’s (Simply Sugar and Gluten-Free), and Ali and Tom’s (The Whole Life Nutrition Kitchen), to name a few. Hope you’ll check out my sweet muffin recipe later today and follow my own journey to eating more sugar free, here on gfe.
Thanks!
Shirley
The crust-less Pecan Pie sounds yummy! I am allergic to eggs though. Do you think the egg replacer would work in the pie?
Hi Tara–It looks like you are new to gfe–welcome!
I have to be honest and say I don’t know about the egg replacer. If you’d made other recipes successfully with egg replacer that called for more than one egg, I’d say it’s likely to work. But, I just don’t know. I use the flax “egg” approach with cookies and muffins fairly often for a vegan option, but have never tried those with a pie either. Be brave … give the egg replacer a try and let us know. 
Hugs,
Shirley
I tried this pecan pie recipe today and loved it! Then add a bit of rum after baking it and it’s perfect. Classic, really easy to make, and my hubby loves it too. And who’d need the crust anyway…
Hi Anna–It’s wonderful to wake up to your review today! And adding a bit of rum to this pie before serving–genius! I’m so glad that this recipes please both you and your hubby! You’ll find many crustless pie recipes here at gfe. It looks like it’s your first time here, too—welcome.
Shirley
Hi Shirley…thanks for this recipe, can’t wait to try it! But I’d want to replace BOTH the granulated sugar & the corn syrup. Do you think I could use 2 cups of raw agave nectar instead? I don’t know if that would end up too sweet! Karen
Hi KarenO–You’re welcome, of course!
Hmmm, my first inclination is that substitution alone is unlikely to work. First, I think you’d need to use less agave simply because it has a higher water content than corn syrup (or honey). That amount of agave would take a long time to “bake down” so to speak. But without the granulated sugar, I think you’re going to need something else to thicken your mixture. My usual trick when making crustless pies is to use 1/4 cup of gluten-free all-purpose flour added to the mix. That can make a big difference in texture and the pie setting up, but not flavor or texture, except it might help a bit with “too sweet” consideration. Or you might use something like tapioca flour instead or a bit in addition. I have to admit I’m just speculating on all of these adjustments. You’ll actually have to try them to see if they work. I think how the mixture looks and “feels” will be a good indicator. You might start out by adding 1 1/4 cups of agave and 1/4 cup of gf ap flour and see how that mixture looks. It should still be fairly liquid and not too thick so it can thicken/cook during baking time. If it’s too think, add a little more agave. Best of luck and let me know how it works! Happy Thanksgiving!
Shirley
Thanks so much for your helpful advice, Shirley! I will do as you suggested with gf flour plus agave. And if it doesn’t work out, I can use it for ice cream topping, as someone already mentioned. Hope you have a wonderful time with your family!
Thanks for this recipe! My boyfriend just went gluten-free about a month ago and pecan pie is his favorite, so I’m excited to try such an easy and delicious looking solution! We will let you know how it goes!
Hi Meg–Just happening to take a quick break from cooking and see your lovely comment–welcome to gfe!
I hope your boyfriend will love this recipe just as much as his old favorite. 
I’m sure he’ll be very grateful to you for making it for him. Look forward to his and your review!
Shirley
Made this recipe last night…and did not refrigerate it as I really have never refrigerated Pecan Pie until after it was cut into. This Pie is much more like a custard type pie with Pecan’s in it…albeit with more sugar. When I bit into it I thought, “custard” and thought perhaps it should have been refrigerated after it cooled on the table. Do you think leaving it out overnight and eating it at room temperature after dinner tonight is cause for alarm? Should I still eat it from the refrigerator or throw it out?
Hi Chuck–Well, pecan pie is a custard type pie because of the eggs. As far as refrigeration, there are varying opinions over whether pecan pie has to be refrigerated. A Google search shows many discussions in various forums on this topic . I have definitely not always refrigerated mine all the time and would eat one left out overnight without hesitation, but please review the discussions (like this one) to make your own best judgment.
Shirley
Our first gluten-free, dairy-free Thanksgiving was a success! Thank you so much for sharing this recipe, my Mother (the GF, DF one) thoroughly enjoyed it.
Thank you for all you do for the gluten-free community!
Hi Sarah–What wonderful news!
Thank you so much for making this pie for your mom and for coming back and sharing your success with us all! I’m so happy that you had such a successful Thanksgiving. With a few tried and true recipes in the future and maybe a new one now and then, you’ll keep the great holiday meals coming. 
Thanks, too, for the kind words … they’re much appreciated! Have a terrific holiday season with your family, Sarah.
Shirley
I made this for Thanksgiving and I must say, it was very easy to make and tasted AMAZING! Thanks so much for sharing this, and all your GF recipes. Much appreciated!
Hi Cathy–First, it looks like you are new to gfe–welcome!
Second, I really appreciate you being willing to share your comment here as well as on my gfe page on Facebook, especially when requested to share it here, too. 
I can never get enough of these kinds of reviews and I know my readers like hearing what other reader reviewers have to say.
Thanks so much!
Shirley