Pecan Pie

Oh my.  I have never made a pecan pie before, and honestly, can’t even remember that last time I ate it.  I had some pecans in shell that I had been needing to use for a long time.  When my friend, Jen, commented on my Thanksgiving menu post that she was making a pecan pie, I decided it was finally time to use those pecans and make the pie.  She recommended this Maple Bourbon Pecan Pie recipe from Martha Stewart.  I didn’t have all the ingredients, so I improvised.  Here are the changes I made:

• I used refrigerated pie dough.  I just unrolled and placed the dough in the pie pan, and didn’t have leftover scraps, so skipped making the leaves.  I also omitted the 2 egg yolks and heavy cream used to glaze the leaves.
• I did not have dark corn syrup, so I used light corn syrup instead.  They can pretty much be used interchangeably, it’s just that the dark can sometimes enhance the flavor.  I think it turned out great with the light.  For more on light versus dark corn syrup, you can read more here.
• I did not have maple syrup, but I did have apple butter syrup that I had gotten at Apple Annie’s, a local apple orchard.  This syrup is very delicious, we’ve used it on pancakes and waffles.  Plus, the flavors of apple and pecan go together well, so I figured it would work.  It definitely did!  The apple flavor is somewhat subtle, but the addition of a syrup greatly enhanced the flavor of this pie.

My husband and I loved this pie.  Getting all the pecans out of the shells was not real fun, but both my kids helped a little, so that made it not so bad.  I was able to keep some nice to lay out on top, then the broken ones when inside the pie.  It was maybe cooked a little too long since some pecans on top got a little over-browned.  But, they weren’t burnt, so they were still edible.  The inside of the pie was perfect.

I would definitely make this pie again, just probably not soon because I ate so much of it!  Also, I would use pecans already out of shell….or there might not be any bourbon left when it’s time to put the pie ingredients all together!

Tags: pecan, pie, Thanksgiving