Corn Syrup Free Pecan Pie

I went back and forth on trying this pie for Thanksgiving.  I had never seen a pecan pie recipe that didn’t call for corn syrup, and I wasn’t entirely convinced it would work out.  I have pretty high standards when it comes to pecan pie!  After mulling it over for a few days, I decided to just go for it, because if it didn’t turn out, there would be plenty of other pies to choose from.  And if it did turn out, well, that would be a wonderful thing indeed!  I can’t take the corn syrup out of my homemade candies- it’s required for the correct chemical reactions- but if I could eliminate it from a favorite dessert, I would consider that a great achievement.

I already find pecan pie very easy to make.  It really is a simple matter of beating together a few ingredients and pouring them into a crust.  There’s no cooking of the filling ahead of time, simply mix and dump.  This was just that easy.  In fact, I didn’t even measure the pecans.  I dumped a generous handful into the bottom of the pie plate before pouring over the filling.  After that sat for a minute, many of the pecans had started floating, and I simply added another handful of pecans, filling in where I saw gaps.   A quick bake, and the pie was ready and waiting.

Unfortunately, I don’t have a photo of just this pie.  I was going to take a picture of a single slice today, but the whole pie plate has migrated elsewhere for the afternoon, and I suspect it will return empty.  That’s okay, because the pie doesn’t need a photo- it just needs you to try making it.

It is way better tasting than I expected.  The molasses flavor of the brown sugar really sparkles, along with the vanilla and the toasty pecans, and it made a wonderful pie experience.  The texture of the pie was a bit different- it wasn’t as sticky.  It also was missing a great deal of the sweetness that naturally comes with a pecan pie.  You expect it to be sweet, and yet every year by the end of one small slice I’ve had enough of the sweet.  This pie is less sweet- still plenty sweet, don’t get me wrong, but it isn’t cloying.  Just delicious.

I do want to play with this a bit and see if it stands to some tweaking- say, maybe adding some chopped chocolate or something.  But overall, I was very pleased with it and I am looking forward to another occasion to bake one up.

Pecan Pie

Directions:
Mix sugars and flour in a large bowl. Beat in eggs, milk, vanilla, and butter until smooth; add pecans. Pour into pie crust and bake at 375 degrees for 40-50 minutes.