pecan shortbread squares

for Thanksgiving-ish baking

What I’m reading: Ciara O hArtghaile’s wonderful Substack, “Gorse” - this week’s newsletter all about travelling in Ireland

What I’m listening to: a new cover of “The Parting Glass” by boygenius and Ye Vagabonds

What I’m eating: dinner in Cotto, Auckland. Excellent cocktails, great pasta, I recommend the set sharing menu

Cotto, Auckland

It’s coming up to Thanksgiving, and even though I don’t technically celebrate, it does get me thinking a lot about pie. Pumpkin pie, apple pie and pecan pie, specifically. I’m a huge fan of pie (or tart, as we would usually call it in Ireland), and would perhaps even go as far as to say that it would be my “death row” dessert (warm apple tart, the Ballymaloe recipe, with vanilla ice-cream).

Unfortunately, since I’m in New Zealand at the moment, the fruit/vegetables that I would normally want to put in pies at this time of year are not in season. Instead, in the lead-up to Christmas, there are plenty of berries, and we are eagerly awaiting the first of the stone fruit. I’m still trying to wrap my mind around the fact that we’re eating IN SEASON strawberries in November, and will probably be doing lots of baking with plums and peaches in December. This kind of rules out some of the more classic iterations of pie like pumpkin and apple - but luckily for us, nuts are available year-round.

Hence this recipe for pecan squares, which is kind of like a pecan pie, but in cute bar form. They’re buttery and rich and delicious, but balanced with some lemon zest and a touch of miso (I can’t seem to stop putting miso in baked goods recently, apologies). To be completely honest, I went for squares instead of a traditional pie because I don’t have an appropriate pie dish at the moment - I’m planning in investing in one soon, so you can expect a lot more pie content. In my opinion, though, these pecan squares hit the same spot as a pecan pie would, and are arguably better for sharing - I cut mine into 16 squares, but you could cut them slightly bigger and serve them up for dessert at Thanksgiving!

Recipe: pecan shortbread squares