Pecan Pie in a Jar

I love pecan pie (almost as much as I love pumpkin!). Many times I have enjoyed a slice, but I have never took the time to actually make this pie. Since I am the only one in my family that likes pecan, I thought, "Why not make it in a jar?" I found a southern recipe that sounded good, cracked some pecans our neighbors gifted us from Missouri, and created my mini pies. A standard 10 inch pie crust worked well for this project along with a recipe for a 9" pie filling. The pic is a little dark, but I must say they turned out well. YUM!

As everyone knows, pecan is a super rich and sugary pie. (Gelled syrup and nuts? What would you expect!) So, controlled portions is always good. One thing I would change is to make six or seven jars instead of five and make the pie more shallow in the jar. Doing five jars made the pies way to thick and caused the baking time to go quite a bit longer than the recipe called for. Now granted baking longer is no big deal, but a bubbling and rising pie that threatens to go over the jar is not a pretty sight. Also, the less time cooking... the less time the pecans are browning. (Foil can only protect them for so long!) Plus, I could only eat half of the pie for a dessert. Thank heavens for a sealed lid to save leftovers, but I think a more shallow pie needs to be created. Something more similar to the depth of the mini pecan pies that can be found in the stores would be nice.

Even with the future changes, I consider this kitchen experiment a success. I will never again have to wait for a special event to have a slice of this great pie. Which reminds me... I better go walk the dust off my treadmill. I think that I could use the exercise! ;)