3 Secrets to Perfect Pecan Pie (Page 3)

2. Use Nuts in the Crust

Plenty of pecan pie recipes call for an already prepared crust or if you’re ambitious you make your own from scratch. Either is fine, but the crust can be a hidden source of calories and fat from loads of butter and/or shortening. In this Maple Pecan Tart recipe, we incorporate pecans in the crust to deliver a nuttier flavor that can’t be matched by a store-bought crust. And pecans have less saturated fat than butter: 1/4 cup of pecans has only 2 grams saturated fat vs. butter at 29 grams per ¼ cup! Pecans also contain more antioxidants—compounds that sweep up tissue-damaging free radicals—than any other tree nut, according to a study in the Journal of Agricultural and Food Chemistry. Pecans also provide notable amounts of zinc, a mineral most often found in animal-based foods.

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