Pecan Pie

I made this pecan pie for my favorite police officer, after he helped
me with an EPIC April Fool's Day joke {STORY BELOW}.
His talented wife, Amanda, in addition to being a good friend
 of mine, is a professional photographer and took this beautiful
picture for me!!!
~PHOTO by AMANDA C. PHOTOGRAPHY~

This is my husband's second favorite pie at Thanksgiving (after chocolate cream pie), and I got the recipe from his mom, who is both an excellent cook and a wonderful friend!  I've never been a huge fan of pecan pie myself, but I like doing nice things for my sweet hubby (especially when the nice things are this easy!).

Making your pie crust will take longer than making this simple, delicious filling.  The recipe calls for a single crust, and I often have one already wrapped up and frozen in the freezer, since my flakiest pie crust recipe makes a double crust.

These metallic or silicone pie shields are meant to keep your crust from getting too dark, but they also hold it up on the edge where it's supposed to stay, which I recommend for every single-crust (and some double-crust) pies, too.

  

Bake for 45 minutes, check the color (it should be a nice, caramelly brown), then bake for 5-15 more minutes, as needed.     

Serve on a caramel-covered plate like Amanda if you're feeling fancy.