Pecan Pie

For most of my life I refused to touch the stuff, though it was a staple at my family's traditional Thanksgiving dinner (store bought, I would guess--not really any pie-makers in my family). Those days I was too busy savoring a fat slice of the only pie I cared for--pumpkin. Something about pecan pie creeped me out... maybe it was that oozy, gelatinous goo below the pecans.

Well, I don't remember what finally convinced me to branch out a bit and taste pecan pie for the first time, but when I did--holy sweet angels in heaven! It was delicious. For a few years after that first foray, I tried to divide my loyalty equally between the pumpkin and the pecan after our turkey dinner. Then somehow over the years pecan pie pulled ahead and is now unequivocally my first and foremost favorite pie. I wanted to make it.

So, I scoured the Internet and found plenty of recipes. Most of them had about a cup of corn syrup in them, but one on allrecipes.com touted itself as corn syrup free. (Plenty of sugar instead!) I liked the idea, but would it be any good? As it turns out, 366 people had reviewed the recipe and given it an average rating of 4.5/5, mostly commenting that it was even tastier than the corn syrup version. Done.

Here is my adapted version*:

No Corn Syrup Pecan Pie

~Print Recipe~

• 1 cup packed light brown sugar
• 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/2 cup butter (melted)
• 2 eggs (room temperature)
• 1 tablespoon flour
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 1 1/2 cups pecans (I used 1 cup pecan halves and 1/2 cup chopped pecans)
• 1 unbaked 9 inch pie crust (Kate recommended the Pillsbury pre-made crusts to me. I'm now officially recommending them to you.)
  

1. Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
   
2. In a large bowl, beat eggs until foamy. Stir in the slightly cooled, melted butter. Quickly stir in the brown sugar, white sugar and flour so that the sugar begins to dissolve. Mix well. Add milk, vanilla and nuts. (That's it! So easy!)
3. Sprinkle both sides of pre-made pie crust with flour and place in a 9" pie pan. Pour pecan mixture into prepared crust. Cover edges of crust with tin foil or a pie crust protector.
   
4. Bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees. (I know--it was preheated to 350 degrees. Turn it up; go with it.) Then reduce temperature to 325 degrees and bake for 10 minutes. Remove the crust protector and bake for another 25 minutes or until set and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean.
   

* This pie doesn't look completely like an ordinary pecan pie; it comes out a little darker.
* When you pour in the filling, it won't fill up the crust, but it will rise when baking.
* I baked my crusts bare for the first 20 minutes and then covered with tin foil; but my Better Homes and Gardens cookbook (old-school!) says to put it on first--which seems to make a lot more sense. It was kinda tough attaching the tin foil strips to a hot pie.
* This pie tasted pretty fantastic. Especially when served with homemade whipped cream. Try it!