I will now let you all in on my pecan pie secret. Be warned that your arteries may harden just from reading the ingredients. Ed calls it "sugar and fat in all their various forms." It's more of the former than the latter.
Anna Mae's (Killer) Bourbon Pecan Pie
1 deep-dish pie shell, thawed if frozen (I like Grandma's brand), or if you're a real hero, make your own (I don't know how to do that, so you're on your own, there)
1 cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1 cup *dark* Karo corn syrup
1/2 cup salted butter, melted
1/4 cup Bourbon of your choosing (you can just forego the Bourbon if you don't want any alcohol in it)
3 large eggs, slightly beaten
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup pecans, broken into very small pieces
Preheat oven to 350 F. Mix the sugar, syrup, butter, Bourbon, vanilla and eggs together by hand or on low speed with a blender. Pour into pie shell. Sprinkle with the pecans. Place the pie directly on the center rack and bake it for 50-60 minutes, until a butter knife inserted in the center of the pie comes out *almost* clean. This is very important - if it comes out wet, let it go another few minutes. If it comes out dry, you've already wrecked it. It needs to be just barely discernibly - glistening. How long you bake it is an art form. It's almost better to underbake it so it ends up just a little bit messy than to overbake it and lose all the flavor. Cool it on a pie rack if you can. Refrigerate it after a half hour or so. Really yummy with homemade whipped cream or Cool Whip. You need something to smooth out its richness. Anna Mae was my Mom, and this was the recipe she devised after years of experimentation with the basic how-to on the back of a Karo bottle.