Grant's Nut-Free Pecan Pie

Food & Fun - By Grant Melton on

Nut-lovers and nut-avoiders alike can dig into this "pecan" pie, which cleverly substitutes crispy rice cereal for nuts to mimic the taste and texture you love. To bring out a "nutty" flavor, the cereal is gently toasted in a skillet on the range top before being folded into the filling.

Ingredients
For the pie crust:
  • 1 ½ cups flour
  • 1 tablespoon sugar
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ½ cup butter, diced and frozen
  • 3-4 tablespoons water
For the pie filling:
  • 1 cup corn syrup
  • 1 teaspoon maple syrup or vanilla extract
  • 3 eggs, beaten
  • 1 cup sugar
  • 2 tablespoons melted butter or canola oil
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • 2 cups crispy rice cereal
Preparation

For the crust, place the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor and pulse three times to blend. Add the butter and pulse three more times. Continue to pulse while streaming in the water. Turn the dough out into some plastic wrap. Wrap tightly and refrigerate. 

Preheat oven to 350 °F. 

In a bowl, mix together corn syrup, maple syrup or vanilla, and the eggs. Mix until smooth. Add in the sugar, melted butter or oil, and salt. Once mixed, fold in the rice crispy cereal, being careful not to crush them too much. 

Remove dough from the refrigerator and roll it out to fit a 9-inch pie plate or tin. Press the dough to cover the entire surface of the pie tin and trim and crimp the edges. Pour the filling mixture into the pie crust.

Bake for 60 minutes or until the filling has risen a bit and is brown on top.