Ingredients

For pastry

• 250 g plain flour
• 125 g cold unsalted butterstraight from the fridge, which matters more than technique
• 60 g icing sugar
• 1 egg yolklarge
• 2 tbsp ice-cold water

For filling

• 250 g pecan halvesfresh, from somewhere with turnover; pecans are oily and go rancid quietly
• 120 ml pure maple syrupdark amber grade, for depth
• 100 g soft light brown sugar
• 80 g unsalted butter
• 3 eggslarge, at room temperature
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

For caramel

• 120 g caster sugarfor the caramel
• 80 ml double creamwarmed
• 35 g unsalted butterfor the caramel, cubed
• 1/2 tsp flaky sea salt
• 200 g creme fraichecold, to serve

Method

1. 01

   Make the pastry

   Rub the cold cubed butter into the flour and icing sugar with your fingertips until it looks like coarse breadcrumbs, or pulse 10-12 times in a food processor. Work fast and keep it cold. Warm butter gives you a greasy, shrinking shell. Add the egg yolk and 1 tbsp of the ice water and bring it together with a knife, adding the second tablespoon only if dry patches remain. Stop the moment it clumps; a smooth kneaded dough will be tough.

   125 g cold unsalted butter · 250 g plain flour · 60 g icing sugar · 2 tbsp ice-cold water

2. 02

   Chill the dough

   Press into a flat disc about 2 cm thick, wrap and chill for 30 minutes. Flattening it now rather than balling it means it rolls out without cracking and chills evenly.

3. 03

   Line the tin

   Roll the pastry on a lightly floured surface to about 3 mm and a good 5 cm wider than your 23 cm tin. Lift it over the rolling pin, lower it in and ease it into the corners without stretching. Stretched pastry always shrinks back down the sides as it bakes. Press it into the flutes, leave the excess hanging over the rim, prick the base all over with a fork, and chill again for 30 minutes. The second chill is what stops the shell slumping.

4. 04

   Blind bake

   Heat the oven to 180C fan / 200C conventional. Line the chilled shell with parchment and fill to the very top with baking beans or rice. Bake 20 minutes, lift out the paper and beans, and bake a further 8-10 minutes until the base is dry, sandy to the touch and pale gold. Trim the overhang level with the rim using a small serrated knife while it is still warm. It snaps off cleanly and gives you a sharp edge.

   If the pastry cracks while blind bakingPatch it with raw dough and give it three more minutes. Unpatched, it welds the tart to the tin.

5. 05

   Toast the pecans

   Spread the pecan halves on a tray and toast at 180C fan for 8-10 minutes until fragrant and one shade darker. This is the difference between a tart that tastes of pecan and one that tastes only of sugar. Raw pecans in a sweet filling read as bland and slightly waxy. Cool while you make the filling.

   250 g pecan halves

6. 06

   Make the filling

   Melt the butter with the maple syrup and brown sugar in a saucepan over medium heat, stirring until the sugar has dissolved. Take off the heat and leave 5 minutes to cool to lukewarm, then whisk in the eggs one at a time and the 1 tsp vanilla. Adding eggs to a hot syrup scrambles them, and you will see threads of cooked egg in the baked tart.

   80 g unsalted butter · 120 ml pure maple syrup · 100 g soft light brown sugar · 3 eggs

7. 07

   Fill and bake

   Drop the oven to 170C fan / 190C conventional. Arrange the toasted pecans in the shell in concentric circles, rounded side up, packed tightly. They will float and rearrange themselves slightly, which is fine. Pour the filling slowly over them so it settles into the gaps. Bake 30-35 minutes until the filling is set and puffed at the edges with a 5 cm circle in the centre that still has a slight wobble. It firms as it cools; baked until completely set it goes dense and sliceable in the wrong way.

8. 08

   Cool completely

   Cool in the tin on a rack for at least 2 hours before unmoulding. The filling is softly set and will crack or slump if you move it warm.

9. 09

   Make the salted caramel

   Scatter the caster sugar in an even layer in a dry heavy pan over medium heat. Leave until the edges liquefy, then swirl, never stir, and cook 6-8 minutes to a deep amber, the colour of strong tea, with the first thread of smoke. Off the heat, pour in the warmed cream in a thin stream while whisking; it will spit violently. Whisk in the cubed butter piece by piece, then the flaky salt. Cool 10 minutes before using.

   120 g caster sugar · 80 ml double cream · 35 g unsalted butter · 1/2 tsp flaky sea salt

10. 10

    Serve

    Slice the cooled tart with a long thin knife wiped between cuts. Serve each slice with a thick drizzle of the warm caramel and a spoonful of cold creme fraiche. The sourness is doing structural work against the maple and the caramel, and without it the whole thing is too sweet.

    Bake morning, serve eveningFully cool, fully set, and not fridge-cold, which mutes the maple entirely.