One of America's Favorite Christmas Treats - Pecan Pie

Another recipe that always reminds me of my Grandmother. Among the many things she would make for Christmas, she would always bake a couple Pecan Pies!

Pecan Pie

Pecan pie is a pie made primarily with corn syrup and pecan nuts. Variations may include white or brown sugar, sugar syrup, molasses, maple syrup, or honey. It is popularly served at holiday meals and is also considered a specialty of Southern U.S. cuisine. Most pecan pie recipes include salt and vanilla as flavorings. Chocolate and bourbon whiskey are other popular additions to the recipe. Pecan pie is often served with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

A slice of pecan pie.

Claims have been made of the dish existing in the early 1800s in Alabama, but this does not appear to be backed up by recipes or literature. Attempts to trace the dish's origin have not found any recipes dated earlier than 1886, and well-known cookbooks such as Fannie Farmer and The Joy of Cooking did not include this dessert before 1940. The earliest recorded recipes produce a boiled custard with pecans added, which is then baked in a pie crust.

Some have stated that the French invented pecan pie soon after settling in New Orleans, after being introduced to the pecan nut by Native Americans. Pecan pie may be a variant of chess pie, which is made with a similar butter-sugar-egg custard.

The makers of Karo syrup significantly contributed to popularizing the dish and many of the recipes for variants (caramel, cinnamon, Irish creme, peanut butter, etc.) of the classic pie. The company has claimed that the dish was a 1930s "discovery" of a "new use for corn syrup" by a corporate sales executive's wife.