I thought making pie from the pecans Rylie and her bestie “harvested” (with the help of a few dads shaking tree limbs) would be a great lesson in where food comes from, but all her 2-year-old mind heard was “pie.”

Finding a nut cracker in Phoenix is no easy task, which is odd considering the number of pecan trees you can find in the area. I finally got lucky at Summer’s Fruit Barn, a cute little farm stand I pass often but have only been to one other time. I spent 2 (messy) days of inappropriate jokes, filthy black dust and shells from one end of the room to the next, cracking nuts.

Brown sugar, white sugar, butter, eggs, flour, milk, vanilla extract, toasted pecans, chocolate chips, dark corn syrup (complete recipe to follow…)

This was the first pecan pie I’ve ever even eaten, so I wasn’t quite sure what to expect. It was so gooey and deliciously sweet. I think I died for a minute and went to heaven… but then I came back and realized I had a lot of dishes to do.

Topped with a little (or a lot) of whipped cream, this pie was well worth all the work put into it… well, except Rylie, she passed on the pie and just ate the whipped cream.

Ingredients
1 Cup Light Brown Sugar
1/4 Cup white sugar
1/2 Cup butter
2 Eggs
1 Tbsp. all-purpose flour
1 Tbsp. milk
1 Tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 Cups chopped toasted pecans
1/4 Cup chocolate chips
2 Tbsp. dark corn syrup
Pie shell

Directions
Preheat oven to 400 degrees
Beat eggs in a large bowl until foamy, then stir in butter and corn syrup
Add brown sugar, white sugar and flour and mix well
Lastly, add vanilla, milk, nuts and chocolate chips
Pour the mixture into a pre-baked pie shell and bake for 10 minutes at 400 degrees
Reduce heat to 350 degrees and bake another 30-40 minutes
Sprinkle a dash of cinnamon sugar, or Penzy’s Vanilla Sugar on top for added flavor
ENJOY!