Mike's Christmas Pecan Pie

Merry Christmas! One of my dear husband's favorite desserts is pecan pie. I think that he has had pecan pie as dessert for each of our married Christmas, either I made it, or one of my relatives made it.

Our first married Christmas was the year of the infamous ruining of dessert. That was the first year that I made pie for him. I was so nervous about making pie that I made a trial pie a week or two before Christmas and it passed his test. Then it was time for the "real" pie. It travelled well from our home in Hoboken to his parents' house in Massachusetts. After dinner, Mike said he was going to get the pie ready. The next thing I knew, my pecan pie was all melted. Mike put it in the oven to heat it up not realizing it would ruin the pie. At the time, I was furious. However, as the years passed it has become our little joke.

Over the years, I have played with the recipe for the pie. First, I use finely chopped pecans in the pie crust. Second, I don't use corn syrup in the pie. I like to use maple syrup instead. Other than that, the recipe is pretty standard and it enjoyed by it's primary recipient, Mike.

Pastry for a Single Crust Pie this can be used for the pie crust. If you want to use pecans in the crust, use 1/4 cup of finely chopped pecans and put stir them in with the flour mixture before the water is added.

Pecan Pie
3 eggs
1 cup maple syrup (or corn syrup)
2/3 cup sugar
1/3 butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cup pecan halves

1. Preheat oven to 350F.
   
2. In a mixing bowl, beat the eggs lightly until combined. Stir in syrup, sugar, butter, and vanilla, combine well. Stir in pecan halves.
3. Pour the filling into a pie dish lined with the pie crust. Cover the edge of the pie with foil and bake in the oven for 25 minutes.
4. Remove foil; bake for 20-25 minutes or until a knife inserted near the center of the pie comes out clean. Cool pie on a wire rack. Cover and chill to store.