- Kathy Bates’ pecan pie recipe comes from The Broadway Celebrity Cookbook (1989).
- The pie uses a premade crust and pantry staples like corn syrup, eggs and sugar.
- This pie is ideal for making ahead—its structure holds up beautifully as leftovers.
As we roll into November, it’s time to start planning your pies. Whether it’s for a Thanksgiving showstopper, a Friendsgiving potluck or just a family crowd pleaser, pie is *the* winter dessert. And there’s something very special about a pecan pie—it’s perfect for cooler times of year since you can get pecans year round. During pie season, having a crunchy, nutty option can offer fun variety amongst the tender fruit pies and creamy sweet potato and pumpkin fare. We have a feeling Matlock actor Kathy Bates would agree—after all, she shared her mom’s dreamy recipe in 1989’s The Broadway Celebrity Cookbook, edited by A.J. Vincent.
Bates said her mother Bertye would make her pecan pie every time she visited home. Bates grew up in Memphis, Tennessee, so this Southern classic makes a fitting welcome. After mastering the recipe herself, Bates took a pie to dinner at playwright Beth Henley’s home—Henley wrote one of Bates’ breakout roles, Lenny in Crimes of the Heart. Since Bates went on to snag a Tony nomination for a later role (and Crimes of the Heart landed a few as well), this recipe is an obvious fit for The Broadway Celebrity Cookbook.
While Bates would go on to win an Oscar for her role in Misery, her “Mama’s Southern Pecan Pie” recipe is anything but miserable. She makes it easy by using a pre-made pie shell, but you can, of course, make your own. There’s some debate on if you should cook and cool your pie crust ahead of proceeding with pecan pie, so follow the best advice based on what pie crust you go with—it seems the overall vote is for precooking and cooling. You can blind bake the crust completely or par bake it for a half-cooked crust. Some of this comes down to personal preference.
Bates fills the shell with one and a half cups of broken pecan halves. She didn’t say whether these should be raw or roasted, so opt for whatever sounds most delicious to you.
To make the filling, she beats three eggs and then blends in 2 tablespoons butter or margarine, 2 tablespoons flour, ¼ teaspoon vanilla, ⅛ teaspoon salt, ½ cup of sugar and 1 ½ cups dark corn syrup. She writes that you should pour the mixture over the nuts in the pie crust, being careful to go slowly so you don’t push the nuts to the side.
Bake the pie for only 10 minutes at 425 degrees F. Then lower the oven to 325 and bake for 40 minutes.
Pecan pie can fall apart if you don’t allow it to reach room temperature before slicing, so be patient once it comes out of the oven. Trust us, your patience will be rewarded. Pecan pie is even incredible when leftover, since its structure doesn’t degrade the way fruit pies can. If you like it hot, you can heat it up after letting it set initially and serve à la mode with vanilla ice cream.
No matter how you take it, this recipe is simple but excellent—perfect for making Thanksgiving even more delicious than ever.
