Caramel Pecan Pie

My attempt at Caramel Pecan Pie served a la mode

I have been craving pecan pie for weeks now but didn't want just any pecan pie. I was in the mood for a piece of deep dish gooey caramel pecan pie. I was thinking about this kind of pecan pie because I grew up in southeast Ohio and there were many amazing pie bakers in the area. One of my mother's friends made this pecan pie that had caramel in it and I just loved it. I haven't had anything like that in years so I tried to come up with the recipe. I pie ended up tasting soooo good but was a bit more gooey than I remember. I think I may have needed to bake the pie for just a little while longer and on lower heat....but the only issue was really the consistency because everyone loved how it tasted.....especially with the vanilla bean ice cream we served with it. We also didn't cool the pie in the fridge which could have helped the pie set better....but I like my pie warm so that was not an option for me. Maybe some of you out there could tweak the recipe a bit and let me know what you came up with to make this a perfect caramel pecan pie!

Avesta's Caramel Pecan Pie

1 cup white sugar
1 1/2 cups light corn syrup
4 large eggs
1/4 cup butter

1/2 cup of caramel chips

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups pecans (I left some of them in halves and coarsely chopped the other half)

1 unbaked deep dish pie shell

In a medium saucepan bring the sugar and corn syrup to a boil for about 3 minutes. Lower the heat and add the caramel chips, mix until they start to melt. Turn the heat off, and add the pecans, butter and vanilla and mix well then set aside to cool. Meanwhile, in a large bowl, beat the eggs lightly and slowly pour the cooled syrup mixture into the eggs, stirring constantly. Once the mixture is completely mixed together, pour into the unbaked pie shell. I put foil around the edges of my pie for the first 45 minutes so that they would not burn.

Bake in a 350°F oven for about one hour or until set.

You can make your own crust or buy a pre-made one (just make sure it's a good deep crust) I sprinkle a little flour in the bottom of my crust.I used caramel chips that I found near the chocolate chips, but you can also use caramel candies.
I used 2 cups of pecans because I love lots of pecans in my pie!
It looked so good even before I baked it and the smell was amazing!