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I’ll admit it.

I never thought I’d be able to come up with a healthy version of a pecan pie.

The thought of trying to substitute out Karo Syrup danced in my head and made me dizzy.

Did you know that there are 262 grams of carbohydrates in one cup of Karo (corn) syrup. Let’s not pick on Karo. They are just one brand but happen to be the most popular.

That’s more grams of carbs than I’d eat in total over 3 days!

Do you know how much Karo Syrup is in pecan pie? You guessed it. One full cup.

The pecans aren’t the main ingredient. It’s the corn syrup.

You divide that pie into 8 slices and it’s 33 grams of carbs per piece. That makes my teeth hurt.

Let’s admit it though. Pecan pie is tasty.

I hadn’t had pecan pie for about 10 years. It wasn’t my favorite pie on the buffet in the first place, but it did rank up there.

I was in the grocery store about a month ago and they were passing out little samples of their pecan pie. I decided to jump in. What harm could one little bite do?

I popped that morsel into my mouth and my tongue sang a song I had not heard in a long time. I was transported back to North Street, Appleton, Wisconsin where I was raised in the 60’s. That morsel tasted darn good.

So I decided to do research. I was not the first low carb eater to try to come up with a pecan pie recipe. I had plenty of recipes for inspiration.

My first attempt failed dismally. I nicknamed it pavement pie. I thought the more pecans the better. Turns out that just makes it tough.

The secret to a successful pecan pie is the goo. Not the pecans. It actually has relatively few pecans in it.

Back to the drawing board.

It didn’t take me too many tries to get it close enough to the original that I think you could fool friends and family into thinking they are eating the Karo Syrup-laced original.

The Karo Syrup is replaced by butter and Swerve Brown. We all know butter is delightful. Swerve Brown is a new sugar substitute you can order online. I have not yet seen it in a store. If you see it, let me know the chain and I’ll get the word out.

I put more vanilla in my pecan pie than most. Heck I put more vanilla in my cookies and bars than most folks do. I must love vanilla. The bit of grated sea salt in the recipe takes down the cloying element that can pop up in the sweetness. And 3 eggs help make it creamy and hold together.

For the lowest carb version, bake it in an almond flour crust. If, you’re in a pinch, you can use a refrigerated pie crust, but just know if you do that, you’re eating wheat.  More carbs.

So, enjoy this rendition of pecan pie. Tweak it for your tastes and feel free to let me know how you do.

Happy Holidays,

Pecan Pie

This pie comes together easily, and your family will never know they aren’t eating the usual pecan pie pile of sugar.