TWD: My Favorite Pecan Pie

I don't know if pecan pie is peculiarly Texan dessert, I suspect it's more southern than Texan, but there are three desserts that I think of as quintessential Texas dessert and pecan pie is one of them. The other two? Texas sheet cake and cobbler. When I think of pecan pie, I just hear "pee-can pah" in my head, even though my family says (and thus I say) "puh-cahn" not "pee-can." At any rate, I adore a good slice of pecan pie but it's hard to come by. In fact, some of the worst pecan pies I've ever eaten have been from my own hands. There are all sorts of variations on the filling, some with molasses, some with honey or maple syrup, and some with a hint of bourbon. My dad swears that the recipe on the back of the Karo syrup bottle is the key to making a good pecan pie; however, I'm never content to settle on one recipe, and I was eager to try Dorie's favorite pecan pie.

Now, when I was little, I would only eat pecan pie if it had chocolate chips in it, but as I've gotten older I've become something of a pecan pie purist. I like my pecan pie plain -- no cinnamon, no espresso, and no chocolate for me. I made the simple pecan pie.

And . . . it was good. I had issues with the cook time. When I checked it after 35 minutes it was still really jiggly, so I left it for 8 minutes and checked it again. Still jiggly, 4 minutes this time. Still a little jiggly. 3 minutes, and at that point I was a little concerned that maybe I'd actually been overcooking it the entire time, and I pulled it out of the oven. As it turns out, it probably could have stood to spend another 5 minutes in the oven as the center of my pie is a little runny. I'm pretty sure this happened because my pie plate was chilled from the fridge rather than at room temperature when I put it in the oven. So, is it my favorite pecan pie? No. Don't get me wrong, it's tasty, but I have some other pecan pie recipes I need to try out before I can declare a winner.  In the meantime, thanks, Beth, for choosing this recipe. If you'd like to check out this recipe for pecan pie, you can visit her blog.