The Infamous Pecan Pie

The Infamous Pecan Pie

There is a debate brewing among my family and friends. Sides have been taken. Lines have been drawn. It may get ugly. What are we so passionate about? Food of course, pecan pie to be more specific.

I made this pecan pie for dessert for Christmas day. A lesson I have already learned is never to bake angry. Apparently you also should never bake when you are tired because my first attempt at this pie was a foodie fail followed by a total meltdown. I made the crust, put together the ingredients and went to pour it into the pie tin only to realize I did not divide the pecans. Cue total meltdown because this occurred at around 6:00 p.m. on Christmas Eve when we were supposed to leave the house at around 7:30 p.m. I did not have enough ingredients to make another attempt.

After regrouping and getting the ingredients I made my second attempt Christmas morning. I did not do the leaves because I did not have time. I’m sure they look lovely. I’ll give it a go on my next attempt.

Anyway, the pie was perfect. At least that is what I thought. What I discovered is that there are two distinct camps when it comes to the “aging” process of a pecan pie. There are those that love it fresh out of the oven warm and delish (yours truly) and those that like it better after it has had time to marinate and cure.

So how do I appease everyone? Make two pies. Maybe. (Oh. There is also a minor debate regarding whether to use pecan halves or broken pecan pieces but this is not the focus of my angst. That is easy to fix.) I have a year to figure out my dilemma.