I didn’t win.

Whatever.

My pies still rock and nothing will stop me from baking. As I sit here, the chocolatey-bourbon scent of my signature pie is wafting from the oven. The Chocolate Town Pie, a recipe from my mother-in-law that I’ve tweaked and played with in the dozens of times I’ve made it, is still my all-time favorite pie to make and to eat.   Tonight’s pie is one I’m baking specifically for my pie guys. We’re gathering tomorrow at a secret location to talk about the next C’ville Pie Fest.

I didn’t win the last C’ville Pie Fest, either. But I contributed SEVEN pies to the community that day. So take that.

I’ll admit, some of the pies I bake don’t turn out very well, and sometimes a serious setback will keep me out of the kitchen for a bit, but I always come back and pie again.

I have met and made some seriously good friends during this year of pie-related activities. One of these friends is Mollie Cox Bryan, a kindred spirit in so many ways, and one I may not have known if it weren’t for pie. The others (Mary, Sara, Brian, Melanie, Cindy, Bill, Joe, Steve, Coy, Sean, the other Brian and oh so many more) have made this year better by their love of pie and their willingness to come together over something as simple as crust and filling.

I love you guys, almost as much as I love pie.

One 9″ flaky pie crust. This is where people fall down on the job. I like this recipe and in fact have used it for the last dozen pies or so and it’s been foolproof. If you have to buy a crust, FINE (*eyeroll*) just don’t tell me about it.

You need to partially prebake the crust. I’m telling you this now because it adds, easily, an hour to the process.

Filling:

1 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar (none of the light stuff, now)

1/2 stick unsalted butter, cut into pieces

1 cup butterscotch chips

Pinch of salt

3 large eggs

1 egg yolk

1 1/2 tsps. vanilla extract

2 cups chopped pecans

I’m going to assume that your crust has been prebaked, cooled and is sitting waiting for your filling. Set your oven to 350. Warm the corn syrup, the brown sugar and the butter over low heat in a saucepan on the stovetop. Stir until the butter has melted. Remove the mixture from the heat. Add the butterscotch chips and set aside for five minutes, shaking occasionally to distribute the chips and coat them with the liquid. Add salt and whisk to smooth.

In a large bowl, whisk the eggs and the yolk until frothy. Add the vanilla and continue to whisk. Add the hot liquid and whisk until smooth. Add the pecans and stir gently to distribute. Pour filling into the cooled pie crust. Bake for 40 to 45 minutes at 350, turning the pie 180 degrees halfway through baking.

Cool finished pie on a wire rack. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Then came the Pie Down.

Undaunted, I continued to bake, even making a Peaches n’ Cream pie and a Smoothest Peanut Butter Pie for an event attended by his highness, The Food Geek who found them delicious.

Last Friday, I took the day off work and for 13 hours baked myself silly, creating seven total pies. Three of them were entered into C’ville Pie Fest, three were donated to the raffle to benefit PACEM and one (due to family demand) stayed at home.

The C’ville Pie Fest was nothing short of amazing — 27 bakers, more than 30 pies, a star-studded panel of judges and lots of money raised for a wonderful charity.

No, I didn’t win. (Sigh.) But I’ll have you know that two of the judges awarded perfect scores for my Butterscotch Pecan Pie, so put that on your fork and eat it.

Listen to Coy Barefoot and Brian Wheeler describe my Butterscotch Pecan pie.

And look at these tweets from @cmaisannes

Of course, I (and the other 26 bakers) owe it all to this guy, the undisputed King of Pie:

Next year, we’re going statewide — so be on the watch for Virginia Pie Fest — and yes, I’ll be back for the win.

All right — just this ONE LAST THING then I will shut up about pie already — until the fall. Enjoy! (Thanks, for the gazillionth time, to @stevewhitaker for this video and for just being Steve.)