Toffee Pecan Pie - Testing

1 - I lost the original, which came from a botched pecan toffee bar recipe which I transformed into a delicious pie. This is my approximation, and from tasting it, it's very good but needs more work. I used the conventional method of making the pie and I think I need to use the Pecan Toffee Bar cooking method, which gets the mix hotter and browner. I think the ingredients are all ok, I just need to redo the cooking of the custard part.

2 - I think I've got it now, I just need to reproduce it. In the original pecan toffee bar recipe you get it up to 240F and then keep it at a boil for 7 minutes. This is with a large quantity. I tried it and it burned after 5 minutes of boiling. The trick is to get it to boil to 240F and then boil up to 7 minutes, keeping an eye on the temperature so that it doesn't exceed 310F. To be safe. Because brown sugar contains molasses and butter contains milk solids they are considerably more reactive than if I were caramelizing plain white sugar. If I hit 320F and above, it can go super dark and bitter very quickly. Which it did the first time around. So, thermometer, and I can try to push past 310F but go with caution. Oh, and it baked beautifully at 50 minutes in my oven.

1 unbaked sweet pie crust

½ cup butter (4oz/114gr)

1 cup brown sugar (7.1oz/200 g)

¼ cup honey or golden syrup or maple syrup (3oz/85g)

¾ cup evaporated milk

3 eggs

1 tsp vanilla

(optional) 1 Tbsp bourbon or rum

½ tsp salt

2½ cups pecans (10oz/285g)

1. Place the oven rack in the lower third of the oven and preheat the oven to 350°F.
2. In a deep pot, melt the butter and add the sugars and the honey. Start at the lowest temperature and be patient, it can take a long time.
3. Heat gently until everything dissolves, then increase the temperature to medium and cook until the mixture reaches about 240°F, then continue boiling while stirring constantly for 7 minutes.
4. Stir in the evaporated milk. Careful, it will bubble and spit a lot at first before subsiding. Return to a brief boil again before removing from the heat.
5. Allow the mixture to cool to around 120°F.
6. Meanwhile, whisk the eggs. Use a bit of the whisked eggs to brush the bottom of the pie crust
7. Once the sugar mixture is cool enough to avoid curdling the eggs, beat the whisked eggs into the sweet mixture (if using the optional bourbon or rum, add that now). 
8. Stir in the pecans.
9. Pour into the prepared pie crust.
10. Bake for 50 to 60 minutes, until the centre reaches about 195–200°F or wobbles like gelatin, not liquid.