It thrills me every fall—trees throughout our neighborhood rain food, covering bits of yard and sidewalk with ready-to-eat pecans. Nourishment is right here, in abundant clusters underfoot and dangling in clusters from trees.

It’s such a wonder that we wrote a blog about it! Check out The nourishment of pecans and then gather your own small harvest for our corn-syrup-free version of a classic pecan pie. We also chose a gluten free crust for the wheat sensitive among us.

Gather your ingredients

• 1 pie crust of your choice—we use a store-bought gluten-free crust, but you can sub in your favorite recipe or store-bought crust

• 6 tablespoons unsalted butter

• 1 cup pure maple syrup

• 1/4 cup of packed brown sugar

• 1/2 tsp of sea salt

• 2 cups pecan halves

• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

• 3 large eggs

Make your pie!

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees

• Place pecans on a cookie sheet and toast in the oven for about 10 minutes or until lightly brown. Set aside to cool.

• Once cool, roughly chop half of the pecans. (This step is optional, but we like the texture of some smaller and some larger pecans in the pie.)

• In a saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter. Add brown sugar and maple syrup, whisking until smooth and combined. Bring to a low simmer, then remove from heat and let cool for about 15 minutes.

• In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, salt, and vanilla extract. Gradually add the cooled syrup mixture to the egg mixture, whisking continuously to combine.

• Stir in the chopped pecans.

• Pour the filling into the prepared pie crust.

• Bake in the preheated oven for 40 minutes. If you check and see the crust getting too brown, you can loosely tent the pie with foil before it finishes cooking.

• Remove from oven and let cool completely on a wire rack. The filling will continue to set as it cools.

• Sprinkle with flaky sea salt before serving.

• Serve at room temperature or slightly warmed with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream.