Melinda's Down-Home Pecan Pie Recipe

Melinda Champagne has been our baker at Bistro-to-Go since we opened in 2007 and previously worked for us at Blue Mountain Bistro restaurant as well. You can imagine how much we appreciate it when she shares a special recipe with us. And our customers do, too. This recipe of hers is especially delicious, and come spring she spices it up with chocolate chips and transforms it into a Derby Pie for the Kentucky Derby. If you have to bring one pie to a friend's house for this special holiday, or just want to impress your family and friends with any time of year, give this one a try.

Makes one 10" pie

Preheat the oven to 350°F.

For the Crust
Pie Dough Recipe

2 cups all-purpose flour
4 oz cold butter, cut in bits
4 oz Crisco
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 tablespoon sugar (optional)
1 egg beaten with 2 tablespoons cold water

Place flour, salt, butter and sugar (if using) in the bowl of a food processor and pulse until texture resembles coarse oats. Add egg mixture a bit at a time, pulsing until it starts to pull away from sides of bowl. If this doesn’t happen, add another tablespoon of water. This depends on the flour you’re using and the humidity, especially if it’s a warm day.

Place a sheet of plastic wrap on your work surface and turn mixture onto it in one big lump. Fold plastic wrap over to seal and press mixture into a round disk about 1/2" thick. You’ll have more dough than you need for a 10" tart, so save the trimmings in case it doesn’t roll out evenly or for another (smaller) project. It will keep, well-wrapped, for 5 days in the refrigerator or for 2 months in the freezer.

After the crust is rolled out and chilled in the pie pan, cover it entirely, including the top edge, with aluminum foil. Fill the entire bottom with dried beans to weigh the foil down and prevent the crust from puffing up and cracking. Bake 15 minutes. Remove beans and foil and bake another 5 minutes to brown the crust. Remove from the oven and let cool while preparing the filling.‍

For the Filling‍

4 large eggs
1 cup sugar
3/4 cup light corn syrup
5 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon bourbon
1/2 teaspoon plain salt
2 cups chopped pecans

In a bowl, mix together eggs, sugar, corn syrup, melted butter, bourbon, and salt. Stir until thoroughly blended. Arrange pecans in the prebaked pie crust in an even layer and cover with filling. Whole pecan halves certainly look nice, but for my money, the pecan pieces make a better pie as I find the halves make it difficult to cut nice neat slices. Place pie on a sheet tray and bake 40-45 minutes; check at 35 minutes, and if it seems too loose, let it bake another 5–10 minutes. The outer edges should not get overbaked. Remove from the oven and let cool a minimum of 30 minutes before serving; better yet, make it a day ahead. Cover but do not refrigerate.

Want more delicious Thanksgiving recipes? We've got lots of them in our Feel Good Food Cookbook. Get a copy here.