Unfilled pie shell, cooked at 450 for 10 minutes and cooled.

Filling:

1/4 c butter and

1 c firmly packed brown sugar creamed.

Add one at a time 3 eggs, and beat after each.

Stir in 1/2 cu light corn syrup or molasses

1 - 1.5 cups broken pecans  (Julie: I used 1 1/2 cups but found I had too much filling for the shell, so I will reduce pecans somewhat next time.)

1 tsp vanilla or 1 Tbsp rum

1/2 tsp salt

Fill cooled pie shell and bake at 375 for ~ 40 minutes until toothpick comes out clean.

Notes from Julie: The variations in the recipe are vanilla or rum, and corn syrup or molasses.  I tried brandy, not having rum (!), and found that it sorta cooked away, as, apparently, brandy usually does.  I used corn syrup since that was what Steffen used. The pie was good in very small doses due to the sugar content.  I don't do very small doses sometimes, so I came away with a stomach ache. But we should not disparage the pie because of my intemperance. 

 I will try it again, use molasses and rum to give punch and counterpoint to the sugar, and likely have a stomach ache or two. The abundance of pecans is forcing me into all this.