Pecan Pie

Jim loves pecan pie but I don’t love it, so on Thanksgiving I usually just buy him one from any grocery store bakery.  This year I couldn’t find one, so I decided to try making one myself.   I used a recipe I found on Allrecipes, and made a few modifications based on comments from other users.

Pie crust:

1 1/4 cup flour

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 butter, chilled

3 Tbsp ice water

Whisk the floor and salt together, then add the chilled butter, cutting well with a pastry cutter for as long as you can stand to do it.  Add the water 1 Tbsp at a time, mixing it with a fork until you can form it into a ball.  Roll it out with wax paper on top, then line a 9” pie pan.

Pie filling:

1/2 cup butter, melted and cooled slightly

2 eggs

1 cup light brown sugar

2 Tbsp flour

1 Tbsp milk

1 tsp vanilla

1 1/2 cups pecans 

1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips (optional)

Blend the eggs well until they are foamy, then add the melted (but not hot) butter and mix it in.  Add the brown sugar and mix well.  Add the vanilla and milk and mix well.

Chop all but a handful or so of the pecans and mix those in with the chocolate chips (optional).

Pour the mixture into the shell.  Cover the edges of the pie crust with foil.  Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, then add the handful of pecans to the top, and turn the temperature down to 300 and cook for another 40 minutes or so. Remove the foil around the edge for the last 5-10 minutes.

Don’t forget the vanilla ice cream!