Derby Days

We met Billy, Rita, and Alison in Louisville, Kentucky on Saturday. We dropped off Ivy at the hotel and headed for Churchill Downs. It was very hot, but the tour was neat! A tunnel lead from the front gate to the general admission stands- our tour guide said today, it would take us about 2-3 minutes to walk that, but on the day of the Kentucky Derby, it takes over an hour! I think I’ll watch it on tv!

We headed to the Hall of Fame Café for some lunch and drinks to cool us down. Louisville is famous for Derby Pie and Hot Brown. At lunch, Alison wasn’t very hungry, so she only ordered Derby Pie. Rita and I really wanted some, but we were too full from our big lunch to order a piece. We had a sample of Alison’s and it was fabulous- vanilla ice cream, caramel, warm pie! Amazing!

Rita and I agreed that we could not leave Louisville without trying our own piece. Later that night, we went to the restaurant in our hotel and ordered Derby Pie a la mode. They were out of ice cream! And the pie was not warm and not delicious. We were so disappointed! We did try the hot brown and it was very good.



We came back to Nashville after a big brunch on Sunday. I couldn’t let our last memory of Derby Pie be a bad one. So I made some Derby Pie and it was great!

Derby Pie

3 eggs, lightly beaten
1 c. light corn syrup
1/2 c. brown sugar, packed
1 c. chopped pecans
1/4 t. salt
1/2 t. vanilla
6 oz. package semi-sweet chocolate morsels
1 T bourbon
1 9 inch deep dish pie shell, unbaked

Preheat oven to 450 degrees. Mix all ingredients and pour into pie shell. Bake for 10 minutes and reduce heat to 350 degrees for 35 minutes more. Serve with whipped cream or vanilla ice cream.

E’s Notes:

• I used Jack instead of bourbon- it’s all whiskey!
• I had to put foil around the edge of my crust because it was getting too brown.
• Serve warm with ice cream, of course!