Husband Approved Pecan Pie

I know that technically Thanksgiving is over and we've moved on to the Christmas season, but please let me hold on to it a little bit longer!  I love Thanksgiving!  It's my favorite holiday, and I don't want to say goodbye!  What's not to love about food, family, and fun, and more importantly, what's not to love about a holiday that celebrates being thankful for all of the wonderful blessings in our lives?!?  Well, if I have to bid farewell to Thanksgiving, at least let me celebrate one more time by sharing a piece of leftover goodness.

When I met my husband, I found out that his favorite dessert is pecan pie.  I was so disappointed!  Pecan pie?  Really?  Are you sure?  I love to cook, and more importantly, I love to bake.  But never in my life had I made a pecan pie.  How can I impress this man I want to marry with my cooking skills if I don't even know how to make his favorite dessert???  Thankfully, he still married me despite the fact I had never made (and I'm pretty sure never eaten) his beloved pecan pie!


So to make a long story short, last year during the holidays we were living with my parents while our own home was under construction.  Needless to say, not much holiday baking was done by me.  I did attempt a pecan pie, and while it was tasty (I say that not even being a huge fan of the dessert itself), I was by no means impressed with my efforts.  So this year I was determined to change all that!  A co-worker shared his "perfected" recipe with me a month or so ago, so I thought that would be a good place to start.

For those of you who don't know me well, I always try to be an organized planner, but sometimes my best plans are overcome by my scatterbrainedness.  (Yes, I realize it's not a word, but it works for me!)  Because of this little issue of mine, the recipe I used didn't follow quite like the recipe given to me (because that would mean I had all the right ingredients in my pantry), but the results were still yummy!

First, I have to admit I cheated.  We were traveling out of town for the holiday, and my time was running short...so...yes...I did it.  I used a pre-made pie crust.  I did at least buy the kind that you put in your own pie pan and get to make all pretty so that people won't know you cheated. :-)  Admission number two is that although the pie looks really pretty in the pie plate above, it didn't look nearly as pretty coming out of the dish.  The filling was slightly gooey, and the crust chose to stick in the pie plate rather than come out with the filling.  I'm choosing to blame this on the instructions that came with my cheating pie crust, but I honestly can't be sure.  What I do know is that despite it's "ugliness" when served, this pecan pie was a huge hit with my husband and his entire family!  Because of that, I'm going to go ahead and share this recipe with you, but I plan to work at perfecting and will update this post with my progress.  Until then...enjoy!

Husband Approved Pecan Pie

3 eggs
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup dark corn syrup
1 tablespoon Jack Daniel's bourbon whiskey
2 cups pecans, chopped
Pre-prepared pie crust, unbaked

Preheat oven to 375 degrees.  In a bowl, beat together eggs, brown sugar, salt, butter, dark corn syrup, and Jack Daniel's.  Stir in chopped pecans.  Pour pecan mixture into pie crust.  Bake at 375 degrees for 40-50 minutes.

Note: To keep the crust from browning too much, I baked for about 20 minutes.  Then I covered with a piece of foil from which I had cut a circle slightly smaller in circumference than the pie.  This allowed the pecan mixture to still be exposed in the oven but covered the crust and prevented over-browning.