Traditional Pecan Pie, with whiskey and chocolate variations

* Exported from MasterCook *
Traditional Pecan Pie

Recipe By : Keri C
Serving Size : 8
Preparation Time :0:00
Categories : Pies & Pastry

1 stick real butter, melted in measuring cup -- (try 1/2 stick ***)
1 cup light corn syrup
OR 1/2 cup each light and dark corn syrup
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
1/4 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups pecan pieces
1 unbaked deep dish pie shell

Melt butter in glass measuring cup, pour into medium bowl, and then use buttered cup to measure corn syrup. Add sugar and syrup to butter. Add eggs, vanilla, and salt. Fold in pecans, mix, and pour into pie shell. Bake 50 - 55 minutes at 325. Can also use packaged frozen 2-inch tart shells - fills one dozen generously, maybe 14 depending on the batch. When using tart shells, don't mix pecans into filling - just fill each shell about 1/4 to 1/3 full of pecans (it doesn't take many) and then spoon filling over the top of pecans in shells. Place on baking sheet before filling; bake at 350 for 30 minutes. These little pies freeze very well.

Variations:Black Jack Pecan Pie - add 2 Tbs of Jack Daniels (I prefer Gentleman Jack) to the filling mixture.Chocolate Pecan Pie - add 1/2 cup milk chocolate chips when adding the pecans.OR shoot the moon and add both the chocolate AND the whiskey. This ain't rocket science - it's pecan pie!

*** Although this recipe turns out fine for me with the whole stick (1/2 cup) of butter, you might try it for the first time with only two to three tablespoons and see if it's rich enough for you. I believe the melted butter content may be what is causing the occasional "runniness" problems for some folks, as mentioned in the posts below. -Keri

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Keri,

Thanks for the recipes. I saw this post and wanted to pass on something to the whole forum that I learned about baking pecan pies. I am sure many of you will chuckle at my ineptness, but maybe it will help somebody.

A couple of years ago, I set out to make a pecan pie (I was homesick for the tastes of my youth), but try as I might, I could not get the center of the pies to "set." They tasted great, but the center was runny. It became an obsession with me, and I tried (literally) dozens of recipes, carefully varying the ingredients, proportions, baking times, baking temperatures, etc., all to no avail. I tackled the problem scientifically, and kept copious notes, and made systematic changes with each try. My dear wife was just about ready to have me committed, when I figured it out - bake the pie in the lower part of the oven, on an aluminum cookie sheet! Pies came out perfect. I also determined that if I covered the pie with aluminum foil for the first 30 minutes of baking time, the top crust and pecans would not get too dark. Strangely, variations in the ingredients didn't produce huge differences in the final product. Now, all of that seems obvious, but at the time, it nearly drove me crazy. I think I gained 10 pounds in the process! Science can be grueling! Nonetheless, I have tremendous respect and admiration for successful bakers, and I understand there is a lot I don't know about baking. But, I finally got my pecan pie!!

Best to all,

Mark

Mark, I'm going to try it on the next batch of pecan pies I make. Thanks for posting your experience and conclusions. I'm always up for advancing a little further on the search for the ultimate pecan pie!

Keri C
Smokin on Tulsa Time

Alright Keri, I'm trying 2 of these for Mother's Day this weekend, with the chocolate added in. I'll try Mark's suggestions as well, unless I read otherwise. Any last minute details I need to know?

I'll post how it turns out, wish me luck. /infopop/emoticons/icon_smile.gif

Sounds like you're good to go. For the record, I've tried and like Mark's approach of baking the pies on a cookie sheet.

Let us hear how they go!

Keri C, still smokin on Tulsa Time

I learned from 2 different people (both from KY) that when you add chocolate to a pecan pie, it becomes a "Derby" pie.

I followed the directions to a "T", but the centers came out very runny. I had to leave before they came out of the oven and had my 13 year old take them out. Had I been there, I would have left them in longer. They went into the fridge Saturday to be eaten on Sunday. We ate one, which was a mess but tasted great with vanilla ice cream. The other I put back into the oven for what ended up being another hour. I was checking the center every 15 minutes to see if it had set. This pie ended up being baked for 2 hours in all, but in the end, the center had finally set. We ate it Monday and it tasted pretty darn good despite being in the oven for sooo long.

Tis is my second attempt at baking other than cookies. Both times were bad. The first time was a blueberry cobbler which also came out super runny with undercooked dough. Again, I followed the recipe exactly. Do you think my oven is just slower than most? I'm starting to get discouraged. TIA for any help.

Rob, it could easily be your oven. You could test it with a Maverick probe (or equivalent), if you've got one. Then just experiment with getting the temp up.

Also, did you pre-heat the oven? That could explain an under-cooked pie.

Good luck,
Art

Good idea on checking it with my Maverick, Art; I'll give it a try. And, yes, I did pre-heat.

Another way to fully cook the filling is to 'precook' it. My wife bakes the absolutely best pies...no really, she does and I think the way she does it is to cook the filling on the stove. If she were here I would give more details. I am sure those of you who bake understand. Perhaps I can get the secret later.

The wife was mum on how she makes that pie but I'm sure she cooks the filling first.

I don't think the filling is cooked completely. I think I may be familiar with the process that she's using. She's probably melting the butter and heating the syrup together first, stirring in the sugar to make sure that it's well-dissolved, and then tempering the eggs into the heating syrup/butter filling before adding to the pie crust and baking. I've done it that way as well, and it does speed up the cooking process and make for a different texture on the filling, but usually I just mix it all up and go straight to the pie shell with it.

I might suggest decreasing the amount of butter in the recipe - I'll edit the original recipe to mention this. I use a whole stick of real butter for particularly decadent occasions, but it does work fine with as little as two or three tablespoons of butter.

Keri C

Keri, I believe you hit the nail on the head. The pie sets up nicely.

Mighty Fine Pecan Pie

1 1/2 c light corn syrup
1/2 c sugar
1/4 c butter
1 c pecan halves
3 eggs slightly beaten
1 t vanilla
dash of salt

In a saucepan combine sugar, syrup, and butter-bring to a boil. Boil gently uncovered 5 minutes
stir occasionally, cool slightly
Prepare pastry shell, place pecans in pastry shell.
Combine eggs, vanilla, and salt...pour cooled syrup mixture into eggs (temper) and beat well, pour over nuts.
Bake 350 for 30-35 min. until done.

Note: I am not sure of the pecan measurement-judge for yourslf. Unfortunately, the key part- the pie crust recipe was not with this. I do know she uses Crisco....

The best pecan pie recipe that I have found is on the back of the dark Karo syrup bottle. It has never failed me yet. Cooked all the way through and all. But, I chop all but a handfull of pecans up for the filling. Then when it is poured in the crust, that is when I cover the top w/ the halves. It looks good and you only get a few halves, but most of it is chopped pecans.

Well now, Kevin, that's an interesting approach - never thought of chopping some in the filling and adding the pretty ones on top. I like that idea!

Keri C, smokin' on Tulsa Time

Anytime Keri, it's just an "ancient redneck secret...." But seriously, the bullet is #1 on my Christmas list this year. Cross your fingers.....

The recipe that the Bride learned from her mother is:

3 eggs, beaten
1/2 cup white sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 stick (1/4 cup) margerine, melted
1 tsp vanilla extract (Watkins highly recommended)
1 cup (Plus) pecans

You know the drill, mix the ingredients together in order.

Put the mix in an unbaked 9" pie crust. This recipe will absolutely fill a 9" Pet/Ritz frozen store bought pie crust. Use a deep dish pan if you can. (ask me how I know)

Bake at 350F and start checking doneness after 55 minutes. The top will rise up as the pie bakes and settle back after removal from the oven. The Bride uses the "jiggle" test; she shakes the pan and judges how the center jiggles. She says that it shakes like a firm jello jiggle when it is done.

After being introduced to this pie by the bride-to-be and the mother-in-law-to-be, I soon figured out that I did not need to eat other pecan pies, I would mostly be disappointed.

The best part about this recipe is (if I can use a frozen pie shell because I simply cannot duplicate the bride's scratch crust) that this dumba$$ engineer cannot screw this one up except by filling the shell too full and having a bit of a mess to clean up in the oven, not to mention that burning odor.