August 3, 2013 - Pecan Pie

I had a hankering for Pecan Pie.  I don't know why, or where it came, but I really wanted some.  So the same day I made my dad his lemon shoofly pie, I figured I would double up and make a Pecan Pie as well.

This was a pretty time consuming pie to make actually.  I guess most pies are when you factor in the dough/crust process.  For this pie, I first had to make the Pie Dough for Prebaked Pie Shell recipe (which luckily let me know another one off my list!).

The dough mixed up and chilled very similarly to the Basic Pie Dough.  Obviously, the biggest difference came at the end of the process.  Instead of putting the filling in the raw shell, you bake the crust partway first.  This was where things got a little tricky, mostly because for this recipe the filling has to go in when the crust comes right out of the oven.  This recipe was all about timing of things.  While the crust was chilling/doing it's thing it was time to mix up the filling.

The first part of this process was to toast and chop up the pecans.  Then, it was a matter of whisking a combination of butter, sugars, eggs, and other minor ingredients and heating them to about 130 degrees.  Then, after that was done, the pecans went in.  I have to say the look and smell of this filling was unbelievable.  I was very excited for this pie.

Amazingly enough, I timed things pretty well perfectly, and just as my filling was finishing up, the pie shell came out of the oven.  In the filling went, and back in the oven.

 

After the pie came out of the oven, it had to finish cooling and setting up.  Then, it was time for a slice.  Wow.  So so good.  Unbelievable combination of the richness of the filling and pecans, and the flaky crust.  It was truly amazing, and a definite winner for everyone!