Two days after Thanksgiving, I posted about this gluten-free Luxurious Pecan Pie—with the photo above—on the gfe Facebook page:
“LUXURIOUS PECAN PIE … my new gluten-free pecan pie has been going fast since I took this photo. Only one piece left now. Mr. GFE, Son, and I might be fighting over it after lunch. Do you want this recipe? Sooner or later?”
Here are some of the replies:
“This impatient NY’er wants it yesterday! Lol”
“Sooner!”
“Yes!! Sooner!”
“You have to ask??? Seriously. Want it now!!!”
“Sooner … pleeeeeze!”
“Yes!! I want it sooner, please!”
“That looks amazing, Shirley!”
Such a positive response to a new recipe always makes me happy and I have to admit this pecan pie is my new favorite! It gives you the classic pecan pie taste but also offers a bit of creaminess. The sugary factor is not screaming out, and somehow the pie just tastes “softer.”
Before I shared on Facebook, Son volunteered his own review.
Son: “The pecan pie is amazing! That crust is amazing!”
Me: “What do you like best about it?”
Son: “Well, I love the crust, and the pecans kind of break away from the creamy filling and give you a smooth velvety finish.”
Clearly Son loves it. I love it. Mr. GFE loves it. And so did everyone else when I served it at Thanksgiving.
While I’m not sure that “smooth velvety finish” is typically a term applied to pies, I’ll take it! And I hope you’ll take a piece of this pie, too!
The Back Story on This Gluten-Free Luxurious Pecan Pie
As I share in the recipe notes, I adapted this recipe from Richard Bland College’s Luxury Pecan Pie recipe. The recipe was adopted by the college as its recipe in 1963, which was 3 years after the college opened, and published in its Poor Richard newspaper.
Richard Bland College is a two-year college that comes under the umbrella of the College of William and Mary. Located south of Petersburg in a rural location, the 750-acre property is the only two-year college in Virginia that offers housing to its students.
The college is named after one of Virginia’s early statesmen and “champion of public rights.” Richard Bland, son and grandson of planters and alumnus of the College of William and Mary, served in the House of Burgesses and House of Delegates later. He had also served in the First and Second Continental Congress.
Why do they have their own pecan pie recipe? Long before the property was a college, it was a dairy farm and prior to that it was a plantation. Two Civil War battles occurred here. A pecan grove was planted on the farm about 1906.
The college’s pecan grove is now made up of almost 500 trees. Obviously, that many trees provide a lot of pecans each fall but it wasn’t until 2013 that the college started harvesting the pecans for commercial sales. Proceeds go to both maintaining the pecan grove and the college scholarship fund.
A pecan festival featuring fine entertainment, food, and drink is held in the pecan grove each year in October to celebrate the pecan!
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Luxurious Gluten-Free Pecan Pie Recipe
Luxurious Gluten-Free Pecan Pie
![Luxurious Gluten-Free Pecan Pie. Softer, creamier, velvety pecan pie! [from GlutenFreeEasily.com]](https://glutenfreeeasily.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/01/Luxurious-Pecan-Pie-Vertical.jpg)
A pecan pie that's softer and creamier than traditional pecan pie---even velvety according to Son!
Ingredients
- 3 eggs
- 3/4 cup of full-fat canned coconut milk (or heavy cream)
- 1/3 cup of maple syrup] (or [honey)
- 2 ½ tablespoons vanilla extract] (or [homemade)
- 1 cup of light brown sugar
- 1/8 teaspoon salt (I use this sea salt)
- 2 tablespoons of butter (dairy or non-dairy), melted
- 2 cups of pecans pieces (pieces that are smaller than halves)
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350F. Have pie pan with unbaked pie crust ready to go. (I use my No-Roll, Never-Fail, Press-In Pie Crust.)
- In large bowl, beat eggs well. Mix in remaining ingredients.
- Pour into prepared crust and bake about 45 minutes, or until crust is browned and pie is slightly puffy.
- Cool to room temperature before serving. As pie cools, pie will deflate and firm up.
Notes
Adapted from Richard Bland College’s 1963 Luxury Pecan Pie recipe. Richard Bland College is home to the oldest and largest pecan groves in Virginia. There are nearly 1,000 pecan trees on the grounds. Each year the pecans are harvested and proceeds used to advance student success and maintain the groves.
Using pecan pieces versus pecan halves makes for easier, “cleaner” pie slicing.
Originally published December 12, 2015; updated October 15, 2018.
Mari says
That pie looks amazing. When my daughter was here for Thanksgiving she used your pie crust recipe to make me some pecan tarts. I personally loved the little bits of crumbs left in the pans and I ate them all. Of course I did! I am going to make your version of the pie later this week because I don’t like things really sweet these days, and the typical pecan pie recipe is just too sweet for me with the corn syrup. I will probably use a brown sugar substitute, and chop the pecans in the food processor because we don’t care for the bigger pieces. This looks like a real winner, and I love the idea of maple syrup or honey instead of high fructose corn syrup. When I was a little girl, Karo syrup was sold in pails, and every year for the holidays my mom bought a bucket of the white and dark syrups. I loved those little pails and wish they still packaged them that way. Mind you, I don’t want the corn syrup, just the buckets!
Shirley says
Wow, Mari, I had no idea that Karo syrup used to come in pails! I had to look them up and found
this one on eBay
. They looked like paint cans, huh? What else was corn syrup used for besides pecan pie? I’m thinking candy, but can’t think of anything else at the moment.
I haven’t made this recipe using coconut sugar (vs brown sugar) yet, but I will in the future. Chopping the pecans a bit smaller even is a great idea. 🙂
Thanks for the kind words and taking the time to comment as always, Mari! Hugs,
Shirley
Mari says
They did make candy with it, but I also remember my mom using it on pancakes, which we loved. Before baby formula came on the market, moms made it at home, and I remember my mother making that every day for my younger brothers. The recipe had evaporated milk and corn syrup, of all things! I don’t remember what else, other than some water. The recipe was from the hospital, and she made it for all five of us. Amazingly we all did well on it, but the abundance of Karo syrup certainly contributed to my current dislike of it! I think those buckets sold for under a dollar. At the time they always reminded me of Christmas rather than younger siblings. 🙂
Shirley says
This is all so fascinating to me, Mari! We great up eating King syrup on pancakes. Are you familiar with that product? It’s very sweet like corn syrup and thick as well. It’s still sold. I have heard of evaporated milk and corn syrup as formula. Wow on the buckets of corn syrup selling for less than $1! I appreciate you sharing all these memories. It’s really fun remembering Christmases of the past. My mom and one of her sisters were reminiscing just the other day on Christmases they experienced growing up. Very, very simple compared to today’s typical Christmas experience.
Shirley
Shirley
Shirley says
Mari–I asked Mom yesterday if she used evaporated milk and corn syrup as my formula and she did! She said that’s what they told her to do at the hospital (and we all know that most folks listened to what they were told back then). Pretty incredible, huh? I’d say that explains my sugar addiction, but my sister was fed canned formula and has the same weakness for sweets. Anyway, I had no idea. You’ve educated me!
cheryl says
that looks so delicious! I’m really intrigued with seeing a non-corn syrup version.
Shirley says
Thanks, Cheryl! This is a really lovely version of the classic recipe. 🙂 The only reason I’ve had corn syrup in my pantry for a good while is pecan pie. No real need now. 😉
Shirley
judee@ Gluten Free A-Z Blog says
I’ve never made pecan pie. After reading through your recipe, I am surprised how easy it is. The butter, brown sugar,maple syrup, and pecans sound heavenly ! Pinning this recipe for next time have company.
Shirley says
Hi Judee–Oh, yes, pecan pie is not difficult at all. 😉 Hope you give it a try and enjoy it! Thanks for the pin!
Shirley
April J Harris says
What a beautiful pie, Shirley! Pecan Pie is one of my favourites and this one looks very special indeed! No wonder everyone wants a piece 🙂 I also like your no fail press in pie crust recipe! Sharing this post. Thank you for being a part of the Hearth and Soul Hop.
Shirley says
Thanks, April! I’m really pleased with this new version. 🙂 And the no-fail press-in pie crust is an old and beloved standby. 😉 Hearth and Soul Hop is delightful each and every week and I’m happy to join in and appreciate you sharing my recipes and other posts!
Merry Christmas!
Shirley
swathi says
Looks delicious it is really luxurious pecan pie, thanks for sharing with Hearth and soul blog hop, pinning, tweeting.
Shirley says
Hi Swathi–Thanks so much for the kind words, dear! I love a luxurious pie so I was really happy to create this one. 🙂 Thanks for Heart and Soul Blog Hop and all your sharing and kind feedback!
Shirley
Heather says
Happy Thanksgiving Shirley! I made this pecan pie last night with your press in crust & am enjoying a slice now! It’s delicious & was so easy! This will definitely be my go-to recipe from now on. I made your pumpkin pie, too, of course but we ate it last night lol.
Shirley Braden says
Hi Heather–First, Happy Thanksgiving to you, too! It’s so good to see you here again, dear! And I’m so, so thrilled that you love this recipe so much! I can’t tell you how much I appreciate you taking the time to leave this feedback here—for me and for other readers. That’s because I’ve only had one review of this pie previously and it was awful and frankly, ugly. So much so that I deleted the comment and have been somewhat worried ever since, thinking I should re-make this pie to be sure I didn’t write down a measurement wrong, omit an ingredient, or something like that. Getting your lovely review is such a relief! I also love that you still make my pumpkin pie and that you all ate it BEFORE Thanksgiving. Priceless!
Shirley
Heather says
I have no idea how 1) someone wouldn’t like this pie & 2) could be so nasty, period. I’m so sorry you experienced that! We loved the pie so much I made another one tonight! I think my beloved pumpkin pie has some competition lol. I’m not up on all the blog/internet lingo, but you might want to check your SEO (?). I have been having the hardest time searching for your recipes. Even when I type the whole name (like “luxurious pecan pie gluten free easily”) it’s like 7 results down & isn’t even this pie. Not sure what’s going on but thought you ought to know!
I’m sorry I’ve been MIA, but I keep sending every newly gluten free person I meet over to you! Seriously, I’ve never made a recipe from you that I didn’t like. You’re awesome!
Well, it’s 10:18 but my kiddo is fiiiiinally asleep & a slice of pecan pie is calling my name ?
Shirley Braden says
Hi again, Heather–Thanks so much for your additional kind feedback and sending gluten-free newbies my way! You’re such a dear!
You’re talking about searching for my recipes using Google, right? I have no control over Google. One can do all the SEO research and keyword work in the world and a Google algorithm change can wipe it all out. I don’t spend a lot of time worrying about it because I would go crazy if I did.
The very best way to find my recipes is to come to my site first and enter the search term—like “luxurious pecan pie”—in the search box here. For the record though, I did go incognito in Chrome and entered “luxurious pecan pie gluten free easily” in Google and it came right up, as the first search result. However, as Google adapts search results per user (I think), one’s results may vary. Sigh.
Hope you enjoyed your slice of pie tonight! A nice little treat after getting your kiddo to sleep. 🙂