Bacon Pecan Pie - UPDATED!

I promised there would be a next time and it came on New Years day. I decided to try making the pie without the chocolate chips and I preferred it while Jess missed it.
My altered recipe started with cooking the bacon. Instead of coating the strips in brown sugar to candy them I coated them in maple syrup and they candied much better.
I completely removed the chocolate chips and bumped up the amount of the pecans and added 2 tbsp's of maple syrup.
The only solution going forward will be to make one of each.

 




















If you haven't been able to reach your weight gain goals for the year this could be recipe to get you past the finish line. It has, pretty much, all the things I love in ingredients, bacon, chocolate, pecans, bourbon... did I mention BACON? Yes!... this is the pie you (maybe just me) have always dreamed about. It was relatively easy to make and one chocolate chip away from being too rich for even my non-discerning palate. I think next time (there will be a next time) I might skip the chocolate part of it.
I used about four different recipes I found online and pieced the rest of the recipe together on my own. I was concerned that the crust would be too mushy with out baking it a little first so I did bake it for about 20 min before adding the filling... this was totally unnecessary and ended up making crust pretty umm crusty. I also probably over baked it a bit while trying to avoid making pie that would totally bleed out when you cut it. Even with my amateur butchery of the baking profession this was a great pie that had everyone going back for seconds. This was more than a novelty dessert and fits perfectly in the holiday season.
I wanted the bacon to really shine so I used bacon grease in the pie crust as well as bacon in the filling.
I started the whole procedure with 1 pound of maple bacon. I took half and coated it in brown sugar and baked in the oven at 425 until it was candied. The other half I fried in pan and collected the grease in a glass jar and refrigerated until it hardened.

Pie Crust

Ingredients:

• 1 1/2 cups flour
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tsp sugar
• 3 tbsp bacon grease
• 6 tbsp cold butter
• 3 tbsp bourbon
• ~3 tbsp cold water

Directions:

1.  In a food processor mix all the ingredients other than the bourbon and water until they resemble wet sand.
2. Add the bourbon and just enough water for the dough to come together.
3. Wrap the dough in saran wrap and refrigerate for 30 min.
4. Roll the dough out on a lightly floured surface and fit into your pie dish (leave a little overhang because it will shrink a little as it bakes).

Pie Filling:

Ingredients:

• 3 eggs
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 2/3 cup corn syrup
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 2 tbsp melted butter
• 2 tbsp bourbon
• 1 1/3 cup toasted pecans
• 1/2 cup chopped bacon 
• 3/4 cup semisweet chocolate chips (optional; you can add additional pecans and bacon instead of the chocolate)

Directions:

1. Whisk together the eggs, sugar, syrup, vanilla, salt, butter and bourbon.
2. Stir in the pecans, bacon and chocolate chips.
3. Pour the mixture into your pie shell.
4. Bake in the oven at 375 degrees F for around 30 min. It should have a little movement in the centre when you give it a shake. Allow the pie to cool before slicing.

 Happy eating!