pie shield (see Recipe Notes for instructions on making one)
Ingredients
1pie crust
½cup (1 stick)salted butter
1cupgranulated sugar
1cuplight corn syrup
1teaspoonbutter extract
3largeeggs, beaten
1 ¼cupsraw pecans, halves or chopped
Instructions
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Place the crust in a pie pan and dock (prick) it with a fork. Place a pie crust shield on the outer crust and bake for 10 minutes.
Reduce the oven heat to 350°F. Melt the butter in a saucepan on low heat. Add the sugar and corn syrup and stir until the sugar melts. Set aside to cool for 15 minutes.
Add the butter extract and eggs to the cooled butter mixture. (See Recipe Notes for instructions on tempering the eggs.) Stir to mix well. Stir in the pecans.
Pour the filling into the prepared pie crust. Add the pie shield and bake for 50 minutes. Cool the pie to set the filling.
Notes
How to Make a Pie Crust Shield (refer to photos in post)
Tear off a sheet of aluminum foil that will cover the top of the pie.
Fold it in half.
And then fold it in half again.
Cut off the corner, leaving behind a chunky “L” shape.
Open the aluminum foil to reveal a hole.
Pinch each side of the foil to adjust the size, making it smaller if it is too big to fit the crust.
Refold the foil and cut it again if the hole is too small.
How to Temper Eggs
Temper the eggs before adding them to the butter mixture. Tempering helps ensure that the eggs don't cook into small pieces, which could ruin the filling.
First, break the eggs into a bowl and whisk them.
Add 1 to 2 tablespoons of the warm butter mixture to the eggs, whisking continuously.
Then add the eggs to the butter mixture, whisking well.