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This Gluten-Free Treacle Tart with Pecans is a glorious transatlantic marriage between a Pecan Pie and a Treacle Tart. It's the best of both worlds, deeply nutty, rich and sticky. The homemade gluten-free pastry is easy and made with no xanthan gum.
This recipe is a mish mash of Pecan Pie from across the way and a traditional British Treacle tart. It seemed to make complete sense to me to combine the best bits about both recipes for an ultimate sweet treat.
The actual recipes if you look at them are quite similar bar swapping the nuts and breadcrumbs around. An American Pecan Pie calls for dark molasses or corn syrup instead of golden syrup traditionally used in treacle tarts. I stuck with what I know and turned to the golden syrup. However, I gave a nod to the intensely treacly flavour of the dark molasses by adding a smidge of black treacle which adds depth to the sweetness, giving this Pecan Treacle Tart a bit of backbone.
Whereas a treacle tart and a pecan pie use breadcrumbs or roughly chopped pecans respectively in their fillings. Here both are used gives the tart both body and softness. It's a perfect texture. When I originally developed this recipe before I was gluten-free I used brioche breadcrumbs which add a lovely sweet butteriness but in re-testing the recipe I used breadcrumbs from a gluten-free sourdough and I was not at all disappointed with the results.
Finally I’ve finished the tart filling off with a splash of lemon juice to cut through the richness and a tweak of vanilla extract just like they do in pecan pies.
This tart really is wonderful. A delightful alternative to Pecan Pie if you are looking to switch things up this Thanksgiving or if you are keen on upping the ante of your usual British Treacle Tart. Delicious warm with whipped cream.
More gluten-free desserts you'll love
- Gluten-Free Apple Pie
- Gluten-Free Pumpkin Pie
- Gluten-Free Cranberry Cream Tart
- Gluten-Free Coffee and Pecan Cake
Gluten-Free Treacle Tart with Pecans
Ingredients
- 110 g cassava flour
- 100 g gluten-free oat flour
- 60 g almond flour
- 20 g ground flaxseeds
- 100 g unsalted butter - fridge cold
- 75 g caster sugar
- pinch of salt
- 2 eggs - medium
- 1 egg - lightly beaten for the egg wash
For the filling
- 360 g golden syrup
- 40 g black treacle
- pinch of salt
- 150 ml double cream
- 1 egg - medium
- 1 tablespoon lemon juice
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 100 g gluten-free breadcrumbs
- 75 g pecans - toasted then roughly chopped plus extra for decorating on the top
Instructions
Treacle filling
- Warm the syrup and black treacle with the salt, then tip into a large mixing bowl.
- Whisk in the double cream, then the egg.
- Add the breadcrumbs and the pecans, lemon juice and vanilla then set aside.
Pastry crust
- In a large mixing bowl whisk together the cassava flour, oat flour, almond flour and flaxseeds.
- Slice the butter very thinly directly from the fridge and add to the flour.
- Rub the mixture between fingertips until roughly shorn. It’s okay that the butter is still in largish pieces.
- Whisk in the caster sugar.
- Make a well in the centre of the dry mixture and pour in the beaten eggs.
- Bring the dough together using a wooden spoon at first, if you like, but switch to using your hands for the final gathering.
- Turn the shaggy pastry out onto a clean work surface and knead for about two minutes until the dough comes together into a smooth ball which is no longer sticky. If the dough is still too dry and crumbly then add a little extra milk.
- Flatten the ball slightly to make a thick round disc. Wrap in baking parchment and place in the fridge for 1 hour to chill before rolling out.
- Cut two large pieces of baking parchment, 2½ inches wider than the size you need to roll the pastry out to.
- Sprinkle gluten-free flour on the inside of the parchment and place the chilled pastry disc between the parchment sheets.
- Using a long rolling pin roll out the pastry into a round until it is about 5mm thick.
- Peel away the baking parchment and use the rolling pin to lift the pastry over the baking tin.
- Fit the pastry into the baking tin, patching up any cracking with excess pastry.
- Use a sharp knife to cut away the excess pastry against the top of the tin.
- Place the baking tin in the freezer for 10 minutes.
- Remove and place a sheet of baking parchment over the pastry and fill the tin with baking beans.
- Place the baking tin on a large baking tray to help get it in and out of the oven.
- Place the baking tray with the tin in the middle of the oven and bake for 25 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and discard the parchment and baking beans.
- Take the saved egg yolk from making the pastry and whisk it lightly in a small bowl. Using a pastry brush, brush the egg yolk all over the surface of the pastry and up the insides and on the edges.
- Place back in the oven for 5 minutes.
- Remove from the oven and let rest for a few minutes.
Assembling and baking the tart
- Stir the treacle mixture, then pour into the pastry crust.
- Place in the oven and bake for 35-40 minutes until the filling has set.
- Allow the tart to cool in the tin before cutting.
Notes
Gluten-free flour substitutions
- Cassava flour. Can be substituted for sweet rice flour (aka glutinous rice flour).
- Oat flour. Can be substituted for buckwheat flour or sorghum flour.
- Almond flour. Can be substituted for sunflower seed flour.
Jamaica says
I am belatedly discovering that there are no specifications for the baking dish! On the off chance that you see this soon - what size/dimensions is this best for? I will fit it into what I have based on my best judgment but since I’ve never had a treacle tart before I’m not sure what’s customary (I see in the picture that yours is rectangular). We are all very excited to eat this for Thanksgiving today!
Jamaica says
Oh lord, this is another lesson in “read the instructions all the way through twice CAREFULLY before you start”- there is no baking temperature for the oven in the instructions either! I’m going to go for 180 because that’s what so many of your recipes call for, and I’ll monitor it. I’ll keep you posted on my results!