My husband told me the other day that he was really craving pecan pie and I generally don’t make it except around Thanksgiving and Christmas. But yesterday, in honor of him leaving for his annual deer hunting trip, I decided to make him one. He LOVES pecan pie and the only recipe I have ever used to bake a pecan pie is the recipe on the back of the Karo Syrup bottle. This is the recipe my mom used and I know there are probably many, many other recipes out there, but heck, if it isn’t broke, don’t fix it. The pie has tons and tons of calories and is incredibly sweet. A small piece goes a really long way and until I married my husband, I never dreamed of topping the pie with Cool Whip or vanilla ice cream, but this is the way he likes it. And, I have to admit, the Cool Whip or ice cream really adds an additional yummy flavor (and, yes, more calories).
According to the Karo Syrup website, this pecan pie recipe has been around since the 1930s when the wife of an executive of the syrup company “discovred a new use” for the syrup. No wonder this is the recipe my mother used. It is undoubtedly what she was raised on.

Ingredients
1 cup Karo Dark Corn Syrup
3 eggs
1 cup sugar
2 Tbsp butter, melted
1 tsp Vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups pecans
1 unbaked 8 or 9″ deep dish pie crust
Directions
Preheat oven to 350°
Stir the first 5 ingredients thoroughly using a spoon, Mix in pecans
Pour into pie crust
Bake on center rack of oven for 60 to 70 minutes. Cool for 2 hours. Store pie in refrigerator.
Pie is done when center reaches 200° or if you don’t have a thermometer, insert a toothpick into center of pie and if it comes out relatively clean (no syrup visible), the pie is done. For easy cleanup, spray pie pan with cooking spray before pouring pie into it. If pie crust edge is overbrowning, cover the edges with foil.
This pie bakes up with a hard, glossy pecan top that sometimes makes cutting difficult. One way I have solved this is to use chopped pecans. It makes a less “pretty” pie, but makes cutting eaiser.