Birthday Cakes & Prize-Winning Pies

Today is a great day because it's my mom's birthday!

If you don't know my mom, I'm basically a spitting image of her ... which is a good thing! I love her to death. Happy birthday, mom!

In honor of my mom's birthday, I thought I'd share a recipe with you. On Saturday, our church had an Easter celebration complete with an Easter egg hunt, carnival games and a pie contest. When I asked Landon which pie I should make, he immediately said Kentucky Derby Pie, which is a recipe my mom had given me. Now, normally, I would not be so brave as to enter this into a contest. First off, pies are not really my specialty in the baking division. I much more prefer cakes. Also, almost every time I've made this particular pie, the end result has been a little runny. But, this is the one Landon asked me to make, so I thought, "Why not?"

You could say making this is "as easy as pie." Here's what you need:

1/2 cup of butter

1 cup sugar

1/2 cup flour

2 eggs (though I might try three next time ... see below)

1 teaspoon vanilla

3/4 cup pecans

3/4 cup chocolate chips

Pie shell

I've never been one to make my own pie shells, so I suggest either buying the frozen kind or going with the Pillsbury roll out crusts that can be found in the refrigerated section of the grocery store.

All you need to do to make Kentucky Derby Pie is mix all the ingredients together, fill your pie shell and bake at 350 degrees for 30 to 45 minutes.

It looked great, but as is typical, when they started cutting into it at the church, it proved to be runny once again. But apparently, those at church didn't mind, because it went pretty fast and still tasted delicious.

The judges must have thought so, too, because they awarded me the Best Overall Pie in the contest! 

Now, I still want to figure out this "runny" pie issue, so a friend of mine suggested adding three eggs instead of two. I think I'm going to try this the next time a make it, but even runny, it's good to know that it is officially a "prize-winning pie!"