Spicy Pecan Caramel Pie

I'm not a pie guy. Well, I do eat pies. I just don't cook them much. So, last year, I wanted to make something different for Thanksgiving and we had a whole bunch of unshelled pecans off some friends' trees.

This is piled too high. Less pecans tastes better.

This pie will tickle your sweet tooth with the caramel filling, engage your mouth with the toasted pecans and then bite you gently a few seconds later when the spicy kicks in. All in all, a very pleasant experience and it's pretty, too.

I've never learned to make a good pie crust. What with flour and shortening and salt and getting the temperature just right and "don't stir or knead it too much", its too much work. Maybe when I get old. Oh yeah, I'm already old. Whatever ...

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F.

• 1 pie crust in a pie pan - Buy a pie crust or even a pie pan with a crust in it. If it is frozen, make sure it is thawed by the time you put stuff in it. Do not precook the crust.
• 1 lb Pecan halves, shelled, raw - about 4 cups. This is an approximate measure. I truly measure them out with the pie crust. You want it full and just level level. 4 cups is for my deep 9" pie pan with a store bought crust in it. The store bough crust in the tin pan is smaller.
• optional - 6 oz milk chocolate chips

Set those aside and toast the pecans in a large skillet. Toast 2 cups of pecans at a time. Each 2 cup toasting will use:

• 1 Tbsp butter - not margarine, real salted butter
• pinch salt
• 1 1/2 tsp white sugar
• 1/4 tsp crushed red pepper flakes - this is the kind you get free with a pizza around here
• optional - zest of 1/2 orange

Melt the butter in the skillet on medium heat. Add the other ingredients and stir together spreading over the bottom of the pan. Add the raw pecans, 2 cups at a time, immediately. Keep the pecans moving and turning over so that all surfaces are coated. If the pecans start to brown, its time to take them out. Put them on a plate and set them aside. Repeat the toasting until you have done all the pecans.

Make the caramel pie "filling". We will pour this over the pecans in the pie shell. Note that the proportions have equal parts butter, white sugar, brown sugar and cream. You can adjust these amounts to fit the size of pie shell you have. Get close on the corn syrup, vanilla and salt and you will be good. (The corn syrup is there for chemical reasons and keeps the sugar from getting too grainy.)

This is how the Caramel looks
just before its fully boiling. The
bubbles will be all over soon.

Add the following to a sauce pan on low heat:

• 2/3 stick butter (6 Tbsp) - Melt this and then add the other ingredients.
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2/3 c white granulated sugar
• 2/3 c brown sugar
• 3 T corn syrup - after adding this stir together thoroughly
• 2/3 c cream

Stir together. Bring to a boil stirring constantly. Keep stirring and keep it boiling for 1 minute. Remove from heat. Add:

• 1/2 tsp vanilla extract - I use Adams Extract double-strength vanilla

Stir well. Set aside for just a moment while we get the pie assembled.

Toasted Pecans in Raw Pie Shell
(Ready for the Caramel)

Put half the pecans in the pie shell. Then sprinkle the chocolate chips over them. Then add the other half of the pecans. The pecans might have gotten a little smaller while toasting so the pan might be a little less full than when you measured.

Pour enough of the caramel filling over the pecans to fill the pie three-fourths full of the thick liquid. If you fill it too full, it will overflow and make a royal mess of the oven when cooking.

Cook 10 minutes at 400 degrees F and then reduce the oven to 375 degrees F and cook 10 more minutes. The crust will be just done and the filling will have started to bubble here and there and the pecans will be a little darker but not burned.

Remove from the oven and let it cool before serving small slices. (It's really sweet so a small slice goes a long way.)

Variation 

Fry until crisp: 

• 4 strips strips of bacon

Crumble the bacon into the crust before adding the pecans

Also double the salt in the caramel and sprinkle a bit of coarse salt over the top of the pie