Perfect Pecan Pie

Here at The Misadventures of Mrs B., I like to take the opportunity to showcase the recipes of relatively unknown little bloggers who need the exposure. 

After all, dozens of you read this blog every day, and I feel that it is therefore my duty - nay, my own noblesse oblige - to boost the popularity of bloggers who are just starting out.  What can I say? I'm a giver.

Today's recipe is by someone I'm sure you've never heard of, and someone who I am so proud to promote.

Her name is The Pioneer Woman.

What? You mean you have heard of her and are a devoted follower and have possibly seen her cookbook and her appearance on Throwdown? Oh...

Okay.  Clearly if you're reading this or any other blog devoted to life and food, you've heard of Pioneer Woman and are probably one of her gajillion readers.  She's everywhere.  And with good reason, of course.

Just prior to Thanksgiving, I was debating on whether or not to make a pecan pie this year.  I love pecan pie.  Looooooooove pecan pie.  But I was already making a bunch of other stuff, so making yet another dish was not high on my list of To Do's.  Plus, the pecan pie I'd made in the past was rather work intensive and I knew I wouldn't have the time.  Still...it's so good...what to do, what to do?

Well, the Good Lord must've been listening in on my hemming and hawing because He directed me towards PW's recipe, and I felt as though I'd been born again.  Never had I seen a recipe for pecan pie that was so darn easy.  You mean I don't have to heat the sugar and syrup and then temper the eggs and then spend precious time whisking and whisking and whisking nonstop until my arm feels like it's gonna fall the heck off? Pie is back on the menu, kids!

And here's how it went down.  It was so easy, I couldn't believe it.

First, let me just get something out of the way right here and now.  Please don't judge me.  I bought a pie crust instead of making one.  I know! I know! But those darn pre-made doughs from Pillsbury are just too good and seriously, I'd already been cooking for half the day and had another several dishes ahead of me.  So prepackaged dough it was.

Unroll your dough over top of the pie pan and gently press it into the corners, while taking a picture which reminds you of just why manicures are, in fact, worth the money but you're clearly too cheap to get one.

One heaping cup of roughly chopped pecans go into the bottom of the pie pan.  I was very serious about my heaping.

Then it's time for the goo that holds the whole thing together.

 1 cup of white sugar

3 tablespoons of brown sugar

1/2 teaspoon of salt

 1 cup of corn syrup

3/4 teaspoon of vanilla

3 beaten eggs and 1/3 cup of melted salted butter (around 5 1/2 tbs or so).


Yuck, right? But no worries.  Once you stir it all up and pour it over the pecans, it looks much prettier.

Can I just take a second to pay tribute to the most beautiful crust crimping I've ever pulled off? Just look at that.  It's like the fates all got together to help make this pie possible.

Now it's time for the all-important crust cover, which will keep it from browning too much and (hopefully) leave it golden brown and flaky.  If you're one of the lucky people who have a pie shield, well, hooray for you.  Now you get to use it!

I, however, do not own such a piece of kitchen toolery.  So my shield was made of four strips of aluminum foil, wrapped gently around the crust and overlapped like so, then pressed very tightly along the lip of the pan so as to keep it firmly in place.

Into a 350 degree oven this goes.  After 20 minutes, remove the foil/shield from the crust and let 'er keep baking.  PW suggests an additional 30 minutes but that left me waaaaay too jiggly, so I gently laid a large piece of foil on top and let it go for another 20, checking halfway through.  So altogether this took 70 minutes to bake.

Was it worth the wait, folks?

Well pardon my language, but hell yes it was.

Look.  At.  That.

Now look away.  Now look at it again.

It's, like...perfection in a pie pan.  And the taste? Let's just say a certain someone, namely me, announced at the Thanksgiving table that if I weren't married, I'd marry this pie.  My husband checked to make sure he'd heard me correctly.  He had.

It's just that good.

So thanks, PW, for making my Thanksgiving (and the following weekend, throughout which I ate more leftover pecan pie than is good for anyone) a bit sweeter. 

If you're looking for a fabulous pecan pie recipe (for, I don't know, Christmas maybe?), you've come to the right place.  Bake this.  I'm serious.  If you don't like pecan pie, bake it and send it to me anyway.  I'll make sure it doesn't go to waste (maybe to my waist, though).

Enjoy!


Pioneer Woman's Perfect Pecan Pie

1 unbaked pie crust (I use Pillsbury, but you can be all fancy and make your own)
1 heaping cup chopped pecans
1 cup white sugar
3 tbs brown sugar
1 tsp salt
1 cup corn syrup
3/4 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup melted butter (salted)
3 beaten eggs

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Line bottom and sides of pie pan with unbaked pie crust.  Pour pecans on top of crust and spread to cover the bottom of the pan.

In a large bowl mix the rest of the ingredients and pour the mixture over the pecans.

Cover the crust with pie shield or aluminum foil to prevent overbrowning, then place pan in preheated oven and bake for 20 minutes.  Remove shield/foil and bake for at least another 30 minutes or until pie is only slightly loose in the center when shaken - some ovens require only 50 minutes total bake time, whereas mine took 70. 

Tip: Cover pie loosely with foil if you require the extra time in the oven.

Allow pie to cool, then chill for several hours or overnight.  And then thank the heavens that pecan pie exists for your enjoyment.