Looking for a way to give your dessert course an additional kick? Try adding a splash of booze to your baked goods. Baking with alcohol has lots of benefits besides the buzz factor, like adding depth of flavor and improving the texture of your treats. For example, a shot of vodka can make your pie crust extra flaky, and an alcohol infusion is the easiest way to give super-sweet frosting a complex twist. While there are many possible boozy bakery pairings, bourbon is an especially inspired choice for any treat with warm, caramelized, vanilla notes, making it the perfect complement to pecan pie.
Bourbon pecan pie is already a beloved classic, especially in the Southern United States, and this is your sign to whip one up yourself. A slice of this ooey-gooey pie probably won’t get you drunk, but it will have a complex, balanced flavor profile with just the right amount of nuttiness, smokiness, and sweetness. According to baking expert Kat from The Baking Explorer, bourbon won’t necessarily reduce the sweetness of pecan pie, but “it would add lovely flavour and compliment the sweetness well.”
Determining how much alcohol to add to any pie filling depends on its type, Kat says. As a general rule, she says, “I would start with 1 or 2 tablespoons and see how you like the flavour, then you can experiment with adding a little more next time if you want it stronger.” So if a super rich pecan pie sounds tantalizing, break out the bourbon and measure out a couple of tablespoons.
More ways to make booze-infused pies
While we’re partial to the smokey vanilla goodness of bourbon pecan pie, some innovative chefs choose to experiment with other liquors instead. Alton Brown famously prefers to use rye whiskey in his pecan pie, plus bitters to balance the sugar content, and that’s hardly the limit to the many different ways to infuse baked goods with alcohol. If you like the flavor notes of bourbon, you should definitely add it to whipped cream to make the perfect pecan pie topping.
Of course, pecan isn’t the only tasty pie filling that can use a boozy upgrade. For fruit pies, Kat from The Baking Explorer says, “Fruit liquors are delicious paired with their matching fruit pie fillings, such as an apricot brandy in an apricot pie or kirsch cherry liqueur in a cherry pie.” If you’re partial to a creamy cocoa-flavored pie, like a French silk or a chocolate cream pie, Kat advises, “Irish cream and coffee liqueurs are perfect in chocolate pies for giving them an extra flavour dimension.”
Just be aware of how alcohol can affect the composition of your pie filling when baking a boozy dessert. “Alcohol won’t have much impact on a fruit filling besides adding extra liquid to it,” Kat says. “Whereas with a custard or cream filling, adding too much alcohol could affect how the filling sets.”
