Pecan Pie

Spread whole pecans onto a baking sheet and roast in a 350°F (175°C) oven for 10 minutes.

Allow the pecans to cool, then chop coarsely.

Dice butter into cubes and place butter and shortening in freezer for 20–30 minutes.

Combine the flour, sugar, and salt in a food processor and pulse several times to mix.

Add the butter and shortening, and pulse 8–12 times until the butter is the size of peas.

Keep the listed very cold water ready.

With the processor running, add the cold water gradually and pulse just until the mixture starts to come together. Stop adding water once it holds together.

Dump the dough out onto a board and press it together, forming the dough into a disk.

Wrap the dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for approximately 30 minutes.

Roll out dough on a well-floured board into a circle, rolling from the center out, turning and flouring so the dough does not stick to the board.

Roll the dough onto the rolling pin and transfer to a 9-inch pie dish.

Mold the dough into the pie dish, pushing the dough into the corners.

Dock the bottom of the crust with a fork to help prevent the crust from puffing up when baking.

Place the pie shell in the freezer for 30 minutes.

Line the pie shell with parchment paper and fill with pie weights (or dried beans).

Place the pie dish on a cookie sheet and bake the pie shell for 20 minutes at 375°F (190°C) on the middle oven rack.

Remove pie weights by lifting out the parchment paper. Continue to bake pie shell for another 10 minutes. While the pie crust is baking, proceed to making the filling:

In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt the butter.

Stir in the brown sugar and salt until combined.

Add the corn syrup, and bring the mixture up to a boil, stirring occasionally so the filling does not burn on the bottom of the saucepan.

Continue to stir and allow the mixture to boil for 1 minute, then remove from heat.

Stir in the bourbon, vanilla, and chopped pecans.

Allow the mixture to cool for 5 minutes, stirring occasionally.

Beat the eggs and stir them into the cooled mixture a little at a time.

Reduce oven temperature to 350°F (175°C).

Pour the filling into the hot pie crust.

Place the pie dish still on a cookie sheet back into the oven on the lower 3rd over rack; if you have a pie shield, put it in place to prevent the edges of the crust from getting too brown.

Bake at 350°F (175°C) for about 45 minutes, until the filling is set with a slight wobble, not liquid. Check the egg filling reaches 71°C / 160°F.

Cool on a rack until safe to handle, then refrigerate within 2 hours. Do not rely on cooling to finish cooking a raw egg filling.

Serve warm with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.