Simple Southern Pecan Pie

 With Thanksgiving right around the corner and my family all set to come in to my place for the holiday, I thought it might well be time to start thinking about my favorite part of Thanksgiving; PIE!  I love pie.  Fruit pies of every kind make me stop and take notice.  I love peach pie, blueberry pie and cherry pie.   And, lemon is a particular favorite.  But, the one that sets my heart to thumping and makes my mouth water at the mere though is without a doubt, pecan pie.    That rich dark flavors of roasted pecans and sticky sweet filling was enough to cause mild pandemonium when desert was set out at out thanksgiving feasts growing up. 

  I always thought that pecan pie was so much work until I learned how to make one.  I was like, “is that it?”   And, hopefully after this week’s blog post you will be saying the same thing.

To start, you will need a pie crust.  Momma always made her from scratch, but I like to cheat and get the frozen ones at the grocery; much easier and faster.  Then it is just a matter of mixing your ingredients and pouring it into the shell and baking for about an hour.  Yes, it really is that easy.   This is like the easiest pie you can make, and it tastes like you slaved all day.

In a medium bowl, combine 3 eggs, 1 cup of sugar (brown or white), a cup of syrup (Karo dark works best but the light is good, too. I have also used maple syrup for a nice twist), a couple tablespoons of melted butter, some pecans (chopped) and a bit of vanilla, mix it up and pour it into the pie crust. (This is for a 9” crust.)  Don’t chop all the nuts, you will want a handful or so to layer the top of the pie. This is what gives it that nice pecan pie look. 

   Oh!  You thought it was harder than that?  It will likely take you longer to wash the dishes you mixed this in than it does to make this easy southern classic pie. 

Recipe:

1 cup sugar (brown or white)

1 cup syrup (Your choice but look at the above recommendation)
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 table spoon pure vanilla extract
1 – ½ cups (about 6 ounces) chopped pecans
3 eggs
 One 9” pie crust

   Bake at 350 for 60 t0 70 minutes.  Let the pie cool for about 2 hours before serving.

Keep an eye on the crust edges.  With this much bake time, they can have a tendency to burn.  If you see them getting dark around the edges, take the pie out of the oven and line the crust edge with aluminum foil.  This will keep that crust from burning.