Bourbon Pecan Pie

The holidays are a beautiful time. I don't just say that because I get to bake my ass off, either. I also get to eat.

I haven't made pecan pie in years. It's not for lack of wanting, but in the midst of all my years of baking, pecan pie has simply fallen by the wayside.

I was already in the baking zone making pumpkin pie for Thanksgiving, so I'd whipped up a batch of my super reliable Pie Crust recipe. The recipe makes two crusts; enough for a top and bottom crust. Since pumpkin pie is a bottom crust only kinda pie, that left me with some scraps. But with the only thing certain that I had a bottom crust to make a pie with, there were a lot of things to consider.

A few years ago, my sister gifted me a pie cookbook, with unique baking contest recipes. It's got some beautiful pies features, and one in particular was a pecan pie with bourbon and crystallized ginger. The idea of bourbon in pecan pie rang loudly in my mind like a church bell; bourbon is a baking accent much like vanilla, and I knew it would accent the pie well. Plus, a friend of mine had brought back some pecans from a trip for me, so I had a few cups to play around with.

A pretty simple recipe, pecan pie is really a sugary syrup baked over pecans in a crust. The first time I made it, I used mostly corn syrup, but this time it was a combination of brown sugar, maple syrup, and corn syrup.

We wound up with quite the buffet on Thankgiving; the beauty of my family is that everyone loves sweets, so you had me bringing two pies and cookies and my sister making another pumpkin pie variant. Not to mention the homemade whipped cream...

The warm slice of pie looked even better with some cool ice cream scopped beside it.

I feel like pie is a bit of an underappreciated dish, even for me. I mean, I make cupcakes and cookies all the time, but why don't I make pies for every occasion? I mean, I've made Apple Hand Pies, so handheld, sharing baked good are definitely a party accessory.

Onto this pie. I have to admit, I actually slipped off the bourbon train a bit here and decided to use Crown Royal Vanilla - this is a really great whiskey to sip on as the vanilla flavor is rather good, but not overwhelming to me. Whiskey bourbon are cut from the same cloth, with bourbon being distilled in Kentucky and everything else earning the whiskey title.

The end result was an obviously very sweet, fresh, pecan pie with a vanilla flavor. I can't say I picked up on the ginger much, nor the maple syrup. The combination of the flavors, though, was fantastic, and my family loved the little dessert buffet we set up.

What are we thinking, bourbon pecan hand pies? How about we just start mixing whiskey into more desserts? New trend found.

Bourbon Pecan Pie Recipe

Ingredients:

1 pre-made pie crust
1/2 cup brown sugar 
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/4 cup light corn syrup 

3 eggs, beaten

3 tablespoons bourbon or whiskey

2 teaspoons minced ginger

1 teaspoon ground ginger

1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon almond extract (optional)

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

Instructions:

Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees F. Lay pie crust in a pie dish. Use a fork to poke small holes in dough. Bake the empty pie crust for 10 minutes. In a medium bowl, whisk eggs. Stir in brown sugar, maple syrup, corn syrup, whiskey, ginger, nutmeg, vanilla and almond extract, and salt. Add pecans to the crust, then pour filling mixture over the top. Sprinkle on a few whole pecans. Cook for 25-30 minutes, then remove from oven and set aside to cool.