Pie is one of the most loved food items in the entire American continent. The general structure of the pie resembles a base and a top made of puff pastry. Between these two items, the filling or the stuffing is made from various mixtures, be it sweets or savories. You can get a meat and bacon pie in one restaurant, or an apple crusted pie in another. These variations in the American dish have made it possible for chefs to try out new recipes and combinations. One such beloved pie is the pecan pie. People often wonder that does pecan pie need to be refrigerated? Since some pies can be served hot while some need to be cooled down, many pie-lovers are looking for a proper answer about whether one needs to refrigerate the pecan pie or not.
This article will discuss how you can make the pecan pie in different ways, the benefits of pecan, which is the main element of this pie, storing pecan pie, and other relevant facts. So, without wasting any more time, let’s get started!
Table of Contents
What Is Pecan Pie?
Pecan pie is a sweet dessert whose origin comes from the southernmost part of the United States of America. This pie is a major element during American holidays where it is served with various toppings, like whipped cream, vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup, maple syrup, and so on.
For enhancing the pie’s look, a glaze of the corn syrup is usually added on top of the pecan layer. This makes the pie look delicious and salivating. It is generally done in traditional pecan pies, where the recipe includes the nut and the corn syrup as the main ingredient. However, if you are using a tweaked recipe of the pie, you may or may not have to use the syrup for a glaze, especially if it’s a savory pie instead of a sweet one. Read on to know does pecan pie need to be refrigerated.
What Are The Main Ingredients Of The Pecan Pie?
Irrespective of any other ingredients used in the stuffing, a pecan pie must have corn syrup and pecan nuts.
Pecan nuts are quite popular in western cuisine, especially in American cuisine. Mexico, Georgia, and Texas are the three primary reasons where pecans are cultivated in huge amounts. The seed’s texture is similar to that of a nut, having the same level of crunchiness and softness altogether. With an oval shape, the nut has a few grooves and ridges, which makes it more appealing in looks. Pecans are the beacon of various nutrients, starting with vitamins to essential omega acids and even a few much-needed carbs.
Since it is widely grown in the States and Mexico, Pecan pies are the primary dessert or savory dish people cook during any holiday or vacation season. But, for those who are still new to this concept, the question of does pecan pie need to be refrigerated might disturb you a lot.
This is why we will discuss the recipes first, and then we will clear your confusion. After all, nothing can taste better than a homemade pecan pie recipe, with stuffing and crust of your choice.
What Are The Benefits Of Pecan?
Often people ask why to use a nut to fill an entire pie when there are so many other options for the stuffing. Also, since pecans are native to American soil only and not grown widely in other parts of the world, these can be quite costly in some countries. This is the reason people usually avoid using a hundred-pound packet of nuts in making the sweet dish.
To ward off such speculations, we have mentioned some of the pecan nuts’ major health benefits that you can enjoy in the form of the pie.
- Good for heart: The nuts are rich in various monosaturated fatty acids like oleic acid and linoleic acid. These fatty acids keep the heart healthy and prevent various diseases, including untimely strokes.
- Enhances digestion: There are pecan nut varieties that are loaded with healthy fibers. These fibers improve the movement of the food through the small and the large intestine, thereby improving the entire digestive system’s health.
- Helps with treating obesity: One of the major benefits of knowing ‘does pecan pie need to be refrigerated’ is that you can eat the pie for more days and work on your obesity at the same time. The nuts do wonders in curving down the hunger, thereby removing the frequent appetite for foods. Also, it enhances the metabolism rate, which further reduces the weight by increasing fat metabolism.
- Anti-inflammatory: Magnesium is idle for treating the inflammatory reactions of the body. The mineral helps reduce the chances of internal inflammation by acting on the free radical concentration in the blood. Since pecans are rich in this mineral, it’s evident that the nut variety will help prevent the inflammations and swellings.
- Immunity booster: The considerable concentration of various types of nutrients, starting with omega acids to Vitamin A, Vitamin D, Vitamin E, and monosaturated fatty acids, the pecans are one of the best immunity boosters in the entire nut family.
- Treats various skin problems: Another advantage of eating pecans is that the nut will treat many of your skin problems, including the dullness of the skin, sogginess in the epidermis, and so on.
- Prevents the skin’s early aging: The free radicals’ huge concentration in the blood can trigger the cells’ early maturing. Since pecans are high in various antioxidants, these nuts will prevent early aging by reducing free radicals’ concentration.
How Can You Make The Pecan Pie In Different Ways?
Before you learn the answer to ‘‘does pecan pie need to be refrigerated,” you need to learn how to cook the dish in various ways, including the traditional one. This section will teach you some of the most exciting and unique ways of cooking the pie at your home without any hassle. So, let’s discover!
- Simple sweet corn syrup pecan pie:
- Ingredients: white sugar, dark corn syrup, water, butter, cornstarch, salt, vanilla extract, cinnamon, eggs, chopped pecans, and a pie crust.
Method:
- First, preheat the microwave to three hundred and fifty degrees Fahrenheit.
- Take a medium-sized saucepan and add sugar, butter, water, cornstarch, and corn syrup. Boil the entire content and remove the pan from the heat.
- Take a large bowl and beat the large eggs in it. Once the whites and the yolk have mixed properly, add the mixture slowly. If you add them at once, you won’t be able to refrigerate pecan pie properly. Also, add the pecan nuts and the vanilla essence and then mix everything.
- Pour this stuffing into the pie crust and bake it for fifty to fifty-five minutes.
- Pecan pie with graham cracker crust:
- Ingredients: graham crackers, unsalted butter, pecan nuts, vanilla extract, brown sugar, eggs, normal sugar, corn syrup, salt, cinnamon, nutmeg, and cloves.
Method:
- Make a fine powder out of the Graham crackers in a blender, and add unsalted butter. Grease the baking pan and then pour the cracker mixture into it. Using a spatula, press down the mixture and make it even.
- For the stuffing, take a medium-sized bowl and add the eggs into it. Whisk it till all the white, and yellow portions have mixed.
- After this, add the butter, brown sugar, white sugar, corn syrup, cornstarch, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves, and the vanilla essence. Mix the contents properly till the sugars are dissolved.
- Add the pecans to the cracker crust. After this, pour the filling mixture on the nut layer and remove the excess from the top. Cover the pie with a crust cover and then insert it into the oven for baking till sixty minutes.
- Since you will look for ways to know ‘does pecan pie need to be refrigerated,’ we would like to say that graham cracker crust needs to be frozen even before it is served for the first time.
- Chocolate pecan pie:
- First, prepare the crust for the pie. You can prepare it in your home or use a store-bought crust. If you ask is pecan pie refrigeration necessary before baking or not, it is necessary. Before baking, you need to freeze the pie crust, and so put your prepared crust in the freezer till you make the stuffing.
- Spread the pecan nuts on a tray and roast them for seven to nine minutes in the microwave oven.
- In a bowl, add the eggs, corn syrup, vanilla extract, brown sugar, salt, bourbon, and butter. Mix in the chocolate chips or the chunky chocolates and then pour the entire content into the frozen pie crust.
- Add the pecan nuts on the top of the filling in a single layer, and bake it for thirty to thirty-five minutes at three hundred and seventy-five degrees.
- To know more about ‘does pecan pie need to be refrigerated,’ you need to make sure that you are not overcooking the pie. If it is overcooked, freezing the pie will make the crusted rock solid.
- Banana caramel pecan pie:
- Since this pie can be prepared without baking, you can look for a normal way for pecan pie storage room temperature.
- Now, take a blender and add the shortbread cookies to it. Blend the cookies till they form a fine powder. Now add the melted butter and the sugar and again mix the content. Pour the powder into a greased baking pan.
- Take a bowl and add the heavy cream and caramel. Use the microwave to melt both these elements until they become smooth and buttery. Mix them well and pour the content on the shortbread cookie crust. Often people ask why does pecan pie need to be refrigerated before baking. Well, in this case, the shortbread cookies are quite soft, and hence, before baking, you need to freeze them.
- Take a bowl, add milk and the pudding mixture. Mix them and leave it to rest. In another bowl, take the cream cheese and condensed milk and beat these two elements until the mixture becomes smooth. Pour this into the banana pudding and then add the pecans.
- Pour the content over the caramel layer and put the entire pie into the freezer for three to four hours. After taking it out, place the banana slices and caramelized pecans on the top for garnishing. You can easily refrigerate pecan pie since the baking process isn’t involved here.
- Pecan pie cheesecake:
- For the crust, grind the graham crackers and then add unsalted butter, pecans, sugar, and salt till everything forms a smooth powder. Pour the content on a greased pan and level it out. You will have to refrigerate the crust to solidify it.
- Take the cream cheese in a bowl and beat it till it forms a smooth element. Add sugars, eggs, salt, and vanilla essence, and again beat the contents for five to seven minutes.
- Pour it over the graham crust, level it out, and then bake it for thirty to thirty-five minutes.
- Take another bowl and add sugars, vanilla essence, eggs, salt, and other ingredients. Mix them and then add the pecan nuts. After mixing these, pour the contents over the cooked cheesecake and then cook the cake again for fifty minutes.
Does Pecan Pie Need To Be Refrigerated Or Does Store-bought Pecan Pie Need To Be Refrigerated
The store-bought pecan pies have many preservatives and other added elements that prevent the pie’s spoilage. However, if you consider the homemade pecan pies, then the answer will be yes to your question ‘does pecan pie need to be refrigerated.’
When it comes to homemade pies, the stuffing base is usually egg, be it the baked pie or the frozen pie. When it is baked, the ingredients’ temperature remains around forty to a hundred and ten degrees. The presence of warmth and moisture makes the ambiance perfect for the growth of bacteria. If the pie is left for more than two hours out in the open after the baking process, microorganisms’ growth is inevitable.
So, if you want to know whether to refrigerate pecan pie after baking or not, here is the answer – If you will eat the entire pie within two hours of baking, there is no need to put it into the freezer. But, if you are not eating the entire pie, you need to keep the rest in the freezer for preventing the growth of the bacteria.
How Do You Store Pecan Pie?
Now that you already know ‘does pecan pie need to be refrigerated,’ you need to learn the proper way to store it for several days. Here is the appropriate way which will allow you to keep the pie without spoiling it.
Pie storage tips:
- After baking the pie, allow it to cool down completely at room temperature. You can enjoy it now if you want. If you are wondering how long can pecan pie sit out. It is for two hours.
- If you want to freeze it, cover it with a plastic wrap sheet appropriately once the temperature has come down. For an extra layer of protection, you can add two to three wraps over the pie.
- Put it into the freezer for further use. Do not use high temperature inside the freezer as this will destroy the flavor profile and the texture of the pie.
- When you want to eat it again, bring out the pie, allow it to defrost, and then cut a piece. Cover it again in the same way, and put it away into the freezer.
How Long Is Pecan Pie Good For Or How Long Does Pie Last?
Here is the answer to your question can pecan pie be frozen? If you are freezing the pecan pie in the refrigerator, you need to know the time limit for eating the pie. You will either end up eating a spoilt pie or destroying half of the pie without knowing this. So, after knowing about ‘does pecan pie need to be refrigerated,’ you need to learn the time of freezing the food.
A pecan pie can be stored for three to four days in the freezer, but with proper protection like plastic wraps. If this is not the case, your pie will become rock solid due to the freezer’s low temperature, which wouldn’t be edible for you. Do you keep peccan pie in the fridge? The answer is, Yes, you can. So, this was about how long does a pecan pie last.
Conclusion
Learning about does pecan pie need to be refrigerated has been quite fun. But, make sure you are following all the precautions that are required for freezing the pie correctly. If you are making a cheesecake from pecan pie, there is no need to follow the steps mentioned separately. Ensure that you are freezing the food within two hours of baking, only after wrapping it in a plastic sheet. Do not refrigerate it when it’s not baked completely, or it is still warm.
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