Not Quite Pecan Pie

Hope you all had the happiest Thanksgiving and a well deserved 4 day weekend!    It's still surprising to me how much menu planning and prep goes into the day and how quickly the meal comes and goes. 

Puppies may sit for pictures in front of Christmas trees, but they really prefer Thanksgiving.  Yes, puppies LOVE Thanksgiving. 

Like many of you, I planned my ingredients for the Thanksgiving cooking and baking extravaganza.  Somewhere in the process of putting groceries away, ingredients are bound to get lost in this house and this time it was the pecans.  You would think that an ingredient as important as pecans would be sheltered and cared for right around Thanksgiving time...since pecan pie is essential Thanksgiving eats in my mind.  Once a year that overly-sweet pie tastes just perfect after a little turkey and mashed potatoes.

Somehow, I managed to misplace those pecans so thoroughly that I had to come up with a  backup plan that didn't involve the running out to the craziness of grocery stores the night before Thanksgiving. 

A little internet searching and I found a recipe from Christy at Southern Plate for a pecan-free pecan pie  Yep, pecan pie made without pecans.  

Even better, pecan pie made with pretzels instead of pecans.  Genius. 

The idea that pretzels coated with butter and sugar could replace pecans seemed a little daring to me, but have to say I loved, loved, loved this--maybe even as much as pecan pie. I used my own favorite maple pecan pie recipe and then topped it with the pretzel recipe from Christy's blog.  The result was a pie that was almost indistinguishable from real pecan pie--the only giveaway was that some of the larger pretzel pieces gave a crunchy cookie texture to some bites(which I kind of really liked).  No one else had a clue that it didn't have pecans in it until I told them.  Really.   Shocking right?  This is definitely a make again recipe--maybe pecan pie will become a twice a year affair. 

Look what I found after the pie was cooling.  Of course. 

Faux Pecan Pie

adapted from Southern Plate

1 unbaked 9-inch pie crust

Pie filling ingredients:
1 c pure maple syrup
1/3 c packed brown sugar

1/3 c white sugar
3 large eggs
4 tbsp butter, melted
1 tbsp all purpose flour
1 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

"Pecan" topping:
1 1/2 cups crushed pretzels
3 tbsp melted butter
2 tbsp sugar

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350 and prepare pie crust.
2. Whisk together pie filling ingredients in large mixing bowl until well combined.
3. Pour into pie shell.
4. For topping, combine all ingredients in medium bowl and stir well to coat pretzels.
5. Sprinkle topping evenly over pie.
6. Bake in 350 oven for 1 hour, covering with foil halfway through baking if needed to prevent over browning.
7. Remove from oven and allow to cool completely before serving. (Best made day before serving