Rye Pecan Pie with Buttermilk Ice Cream

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Rye Pecan Pie with Buttermilk Ice Cream (Recipe after the jump.)

For 1 9-inch pie

Rye Pie Crust:
1/3 cup rye flour
3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
4 ounces unsalted butter, cold, cut into cubes
1/4 cup Guinness

1. In the bowl of a food processor, pulse together the flours and salt. Drop in butter, use your fingers to coat the butter in flour, and run the food processor until butter is the size of lima beans. Add the Guinness, about a tablespoon at a time, until the dough just clumps together.

2. Dump dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap, shape into a disk, and refrigerate for at least 3 hours.

3. Preheat oven to 375 F. Roll dough on a floured surface into a 9-inch circle and place in a pie pan. Prick the bottom of the crust with a fork, then place in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

4. Line the crust with foil, fill with weights (beans, rice, etc), and bake for 20 minutes. Remove foil and weights and bake for another 10 minutes (crust should be uniformly golden brown).

5. Remove crust from the oven and let cool.

Pecan Filling:
5 eggs
1 1/4 cups dark brown sugar
6 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
2/3 cup sorghum syrup
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 tablespoons rye whiskey
2 cups chopped pecans
2 cups pecan halves

1. Reduce oven temperature to 325 F. In a bowl, whisk together the eggs, brown sugar, melted butter, sorghum syrup, vanilla, salt, rye and chopped pecans. Pour filling into pre-baked pie shell. Sprinkle pecan halves over the top.

2. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the pie comes out clean. Serve warm with ice cream.

Buttermilk Ice Cream:
2 cups heavy cream
1 1/4 cup sugar
10 egg yolks
2 cups buttermilk
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
large pinch of salt

1. In a saucepan, combine cream and one cup sugar. Bring to a simmer over medium heat. While this mixture is warming, whisk together yolks and 1/4 cup sugar until pale yellow.

2. Add half the hot cream to the yolks, a ladle at a time, vigorously whisking the entire time. Return this mixture to the cream in the saucepan and cook, while stirring, over low heat, until the mixture coats the back of a spoon (2 to 3 minutes).

3. Strain this mixture through a sieve into a bowl and whisk in the buttermilk, vanilla and salt.

4. Let cool in the fridge overnight, then process in an ice cream maker. Place churned ice cream in a pastic container and allow to set up in the freezer for a few hours.