Bourbon-Pecan Pie à la Back in the Day Bakery

As I shared in my Brown Sugar Banana Bread post, I love Back in the Day Bakery in Savannah.  When I saw a beautiful magazine spread with a Bourbon-Pecan Pie in my November issue of Food + Wine, I practically drooled on the page.  I was excited when I saw that the recipe came from Cheryl Day, and even more so when I realized I also had a nearly identical recipe in my cupboard via their cookbook.  BUY THIS BOOK.  It is my Southern baking BIBLE.

The finished product... I was so proud!

I had a pre-made frozen crust in the freezer (don't judge, outsourcing is nothing to be ashamed of when you're a busy person!) so this seemed like the perfect dessert to bring home to my parents for Thanksgiving.  Overall, the recipe is suuuuper simple.  That is, if you can read...  I accidentally put in 1/4 cup of sugar, not 1/2 cup, so I prayed it would turn out alright; pecan pies are very sweet after all!

And it looks stunning when it comes out of the oven!  I think the pecans just give it the most beautiful look, and it looks more complicated than it is.  I used mini chocolate chips so that there wouldn't be large chocolate chunks in each bite, just subtle chocolate flavor in addition to pecans.

The missing sugar didn't make any impact at all in the end!  This pie was sooooo rich...  the chocolate actually helped cut the gooey sweetness of the overall pie.  It was very tasty, and I was happy with the result.  This pie is so beginner-friendly, I don't know why anyone would get a pre-made pie or pre-made filling.  You just have to mentally get past the huge amount of corn syrup and sugar. I also loved that they had the pie placed on a cookie sheet; I am going to do this with all my pies now, because it keeps me from sloshing pie filling over the edge of the crust.  I get a much better overall grip on the pie.
Cheryl and Griffith Day are treasures, and you need to 1) visit their bakery, and 2) buy their book! Get the Recipe:  Bourbon-Pecan Pie
Aubrey's Notes:

• Used 1/4 cup granulated sugar instead of 1/2 cup, by accident
• Subbed kosher salt for fine sea salt (had it on-hand)
• Chose Jim Beam for bourbon
• Subbed vanilla bean paste for vanilla extract
• Chose mini semisweet chocolate chips instead of regular size