Our favorite use for pecans

C'mon now.  Is there anything better than a homemade pecan pie and a good cup of coffee?  Nah, I didn't think so.  We've been picking pecans underneath our six trees and have filled up three big feed sacks and two five gallon buckets so far and the ground is still covered with pecans.  I'm in the process of mowing the yard now for what I hope to be the last time this fall and I'm leaving the areas around the pecan trees so we can pick them all.  Once we've picked all the pecans up and all the leaves have fallen off the trees, I'll mow the leaves into a pile and rake them up to use as mulch in the garden.

But with this bumper crop of pecans, what to do with them?  We started by making pies.  Tricia makes up her pie crusts from scratch and rolls them out.  I try to be on my very best behavior when she has the rolling pin handy.

Blunt force trauma?

While she's at it, she went ahead and made one extra to freeze.  All she has to do it thaw it and roll it out.  It never can hurt to have a pie crust waiting in the wings, right?  After all, the Boy Scout Motto is "Be Prepared."


A future pie in the fetal stage of development

Tricia makes the best pecan pies and makes them with Steen's Pure Cane Syrup.  This stuff is addictive and is made right down the road a piece.

According to Wikipedia:  
Steen's cane syrup is a traditional American sweetener made by the simple concentration of cane juice through long cooking in open kettles. It is sweeter than molasses because no refined sugar is removed from the product. Produced in Abbeville, Louisiana, by C. S. Steen's Syrup Mill, Inc. since 1910, it is easy to spot by its bright yellow label. Traditional cane syrup is recognized by Slow Food USA in their Ark of Taste as a cherished and endangered slow food product. Steen's is the only manufacturer left today.

It comes in the can:

Or the bottle:

The can can be quite a mess in pouring, so we opt for the bottle as it is easier and less messy to pour.  Lots of people use this sweet stuff to make popcorn balls as well.  Steen's also makes molasses.  In the wintertime, we generally top off the cow's hay with a liberal splash of molasses.  The cows love the sweetness and it has some nutritive qualities as well, providing energy and trace minerals such as sulfur.

Here's the recipe for some doggone good pecan pie:

Tricia's Best Pecan Pie

1 stick butter
3/4 cups Steen's Pure Cane Syrup
1/4 cup local honey
1/2 cup sugar
3 large eggs from the girls, beaten (the eggs - not the hens)
1/2 teaspoon lemon juice
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 dash salt
1 1/2 cup chopped pecans
pie shell, homemade is best

Melt your butter.  Add ingredients in order listed, stir up real good.  Pour into your unbaked pie shell and bake at 425 F for 10 minutes.  Reduce heat to 325 F and continue baking for 40 minutes.  Remove from oven and grab a fork.

Katy bar the door.  It's on!

A little lovin' from the oven

And here is a slice of delicious homemade pecan pie.  From the trees to the plate, if pecan pie's for dessert, I won't be late.


A little slice of heaven!