State Fair Pecan Pie

Recipe by Karri Perry, Cincinnati, Ohio
First place, Baked Pies (Single Crust), 2017

Baking temperature: 350 degrees
Baking time: 55 minutes
Yield: 1 pie, 8-12 servings

Ingredients

Crust:

• 2 c all-purpose flour
• 8 T cold unsalted butter
• 2 T cold lard
• 2 T cold Crisco
• 2 T granulated sugar
• 1 t salt
• ¼ c water and vodka mixed and chilled

Filling:

• Pecans- 1 ½ c chopped and toasted (plus 20 whole untoasted pecans for edging)
• 3 eggs
• ½ c each: dark and light brown sugar
• ¼ c dark corn syrup
• ½ c light corn syrup
• 6 T melted butter
• 1 t vanilla
• Pinch of salt

Instructions

For Crust:

• In a food processor, pulse flour, sugar and salt
• Add cold butter, Crisco and lard. Pulse until mixture is like sand
• Slowly drizzle the cold water/vodka mixture into flour mixture
• Once dough comes together, chill dough well covered for 1 hour- up to 24 hours
• After chilling dough, roll to ¼ inch thickness and fill pie plate. Use extra dough to cut out creative star shapes to cover pie or roll out a top crust. Chill dough in prepared pie plate while working on the pie

For Filling:

• Chop toasted pecans, set aside. Count 20 whole pecan halves (untoasted) set aside
• In a large bowl with a whisk, ad brown sugars, salt eggs, vanilla and melted butter
• Whisk until emulsified, and then add chopped pecans
• Pour mixture into the prepared pie shell
• Lay pecans neatly around edge of the pie
• If desired, gently lay dough cut-outs on the surface of the pecan mixture
• Bake on the lowest rack of a preheated 350 degree oven for 55 minutes