I grew up around a lot of pecan trees. They get harvested in Nov.-Dec. and pecans are a popular Christmas gift and fundraiser. Most Texas pecans end up in pecan pie, which isn't my favorite. If you simply must have one, use cane syrup (Steen's is a good brand) instead of corn syrup and throw in a little splash of bourbon after the filling is off the heat. Until recently Southeast Texas was a world sugar producer and sugar cane still grows wild in the Houston ditches. The Texas City Disaster exploded a ship of molasses, and the dock site of the terrible fire smelled like molasses for years afterward. As far as I know, pecans are always cooked with brown sugar rather than white.
Lamme's Candies, in Austin, makes gobs of pecan candies. If you want to investigate, start with their Turtles, which are toasted pecans under caramel coated with chocolate. When I sent some to friends in France there was pretty much a riot. But they riot easily.
Pecans should be well cooked and many people prefer pecan pie dark, at the almost-burned stage, esp. if it will be served with vanilla ice cream. It's pronounced puh-KHOHN if you're city and puh-KHAWWN if you're country. It is not said PEE-Can under any circumstances. Pecan pralines, a New Orleans favorite also eaten in Texas, are said PRAW-leens, not PRAY-leens. Pecan praline ice cream is probably the most common ice cream there. If you need a crash-course in speaking Texan (there are 5 diff. Anglo regional accents, but only the natives can tell the difference), just add a lot of H's and W's around the vowels, slow down, get pecan right, and you'll be fine.
All of this is preamble to baklava with pecans.
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