Maple Pecan Pie with Soured Cream Pastry

Two things got me thinking about Pecan pie last week. Firstly, American pies were the showstopper challenge on last weeks Great British Bake Off, one of my fave programmes at the moment. And, secondly the change in the weather - cool misty mornings and shorter evenings - means lovely seasonal autumn foods and flavours are back on the menu.
The sweet nutty filling goes really well with this soured cream pastry which is deliciously buttery, almost flaky, with just a hint of sweetness. I've coarsely grated the butter into the flour which cuts downs on the rubbing in and adds to the lightness and flakiness of the finished pastry. Any trimmings are well worth re-rolling and baking as jam tarts or cut into shapes for biscuits.

Serves 8
Makes one 23cm tart
Takes about 45 mins plus pastry chilling time

Soured cream pastry:
225g plain flour
25g icing sugar
Pinch of salt
175g firm chilled butter
6 level tbsp soured cream (a small 150ml pot will be enough)
Filling:
100ml maple syrup
50g butter
75g light muscovado sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g pecan halves
3 eggs


1 To make the pastry, place the flour, icing sugar and salt in a bowl. Coarsely grate the butter into the bowl, tossing it in the flour every now and again to stop it forming large clumps. Add the soured cream and mix to form a soft dough. Wrap in cling film and chill in the fridge for 30 mins.
2 While the pastry is chilling, gently heat the maple syrup, butter, sugar and vanilla extract in small pan until the butter has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Cool slightly.
3 Heat the oven to 190C, Fan 170C, Gas 5. Roll out the pastry and use to line a 23cm tart tin. Trim off any excess and crimp the edges. Save any pastry trimmings, they can be re-rolled, cut into shapes and baked as biscuits. Keep about one-third of the pecans as halves, roughly chop the rest and scatter them over the pastry base. Beat the eggs into the maple syrup mixture and pour over the chopped pecans. Scattter the pecan halves over the top and bake for about 25 mins until the pastry is golden and the filling is just set. Serve warm or cold with ice cream or whipped cream with an extra drizzle of maple syrup.