Pecan Pie Season

 Thanksgiving is next week. On the way back from Mobile, we stopped by the open air market right off the interstate near Clanton and picked up our favorite fresh organic cornmeal my cousin grows and grinds (hello Cornbread Dressing!). But there were those fresh just shelled huge pecan halves from the Verbena area.  We had just driven through all the farmland in Baldwin County where there used to be pecan groves that had been bulldozed to build subdivisions. Here in sparsely populated Central Alabama, they are lucky to still have their pecan trees.

Since we could not wait to have pecan pie, we went ahead and made a 'test' one. The cable repair man on loan from his home state of Nebraska dropped by right after we had taken it out of the oven, so when he walked in the door and said "Wow, smells great in here" we had to slice him off a large piece to go. Later when we put the forks into our own pieces and took our first bites, my husband declared this recipe a keeper.

I am pretty old to start using a new pecan pie recipe, but more than one person in our family has now cut corn syrup out of their diet.  Thanks, King Arthur, for offering us more than one corn syrup free version of this popular Southern Thanksgiving dessert. The recipe I was handed down contained corn syrup and has always been 'too sweet'.  Here is how we used the King Arthur recipe.

      --Your favorite deep dish single crust pie recipe (no time to learn a new one, right?)

      --1 stick butter

      -- 1/4 cup unbleached all purpose flour

      -- 2 1/8 cups light brown sugar

      --1/2 teaspoon salt

      -- 6 Tablespoons milk

      -- 3 large or extra large eggs (I tend to keep extra large around)

      --2 teaspoons vinegar

      --2 teaspoons real vanilla extract

      --2 Tablespoons good bourbon

      --2 cups best quality freshest pecan halves you can find

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. 

Roll out pastry and place it in greased pie plate.  

Microwave butter in large Pyrex mixing/measuring bowl until melted only.

Whisk in the brown sugar and beat until sugar crystals start breaking down.  Add the milk and whisk more, breaking down more crystals. By now the mixture should be totally cool and you can beat in the eggs. Next comes the flour, salt, vinegar, vanilla, and bourbon. Whisk it all together thoroughly.  Gently stir in pecans.

Place the pie plate on a baking sheet and pour the filling mixture into the shell.  Don't worry about the pecans not being on top.  They will rise in the baking process.  All that sugary bourbon goodness will coat them to perfection.

Bake at 350 for 30 minutes and then lower the oven temp to 325.  Continue baking for another 20 minutes and check to see if the filling is set and the pecans on top are sufficiently toasty and golden. I had to cook for another 10 minutes or so to get that deep golden crust and toasty pecans we love so much.

You can top with lightly sweetened whipped cream but we never do that. For some reason we like it just the way it is.

We think this recipe without corn syrup highlights the natural goodness of the nuts more and is less cloyingly sweet.