Brownie Pecan Pie

This pie recipe came with Mike when we got married.  I brought the enchiladas and he brought the pies. Flaky crust, brownie filling, and a toasted pecan top this pie is good enough to eat all by yourself.  So be careful when you make it because if you don't have a lot of people around to help you eat it you are going to find yourself drawn to its irresistible fudginess when you wake up, after jogging, between meals, and around 2:00am. (Yes, I am speaking from experience.)

Serves: 8 slices
Start-to-Finish: 1 hour + 15 minutes
Recipe By: Janet Brunson

Ingredients:

2 squares bittersweet chocolate
¼ cup butter
¾ cup dark Karo syrup
1/8 tsp salt
2 tsp vanilla
2/3 cup sugar
4 eggs, beaten
1 cup pecan halves
1 pie crust-unbaked

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 400°F.
2. Using a double boiler, melt chocolate squares with butter.
3. Take mixture off the heat.
4. Mix in Karo syrup.
5. Mix in salt, vanilla, sugar, and eggs. (when mixing in eggs be careful not to cook them by adding them to the mixture when it is too hot. It is always a good idea to add a little bit of the hot mixture gradually to the eggs to slowly raise the temperature before adding the eggs to the hot mixture.)
6. Put one uncooked pie shell in the bottom of a pie pan.
7. Lay the pecans in the bottom of the pie shell in a pretty pattern. (make sure the pecans are facing up.)
8. Pour mixture of ingredients carefully over pecans. The pecans will slowly float to top. (If you pour too hard or quickly you will disrupt the pretty patterns you made.)
9. If any pecans flipped over turn them back and fill in with other pecans where needed. Pecans should not overlap.
10. Bake at 400°F for 15 minutes then turn oven down and continue to bake at 350°F for 30 minutes. (Chocolate will swell up and may crack around edges but when it cools it moves back down and you can't see the cracks. Make sure pie is not wiggly in the center when you take it out of the oven.)
11. Serve with whipped cream.