Prognosis: Positive

Here's the famed Maple Pecan Pie. I'd be lying if I said I only had one slice. Then again, I probably wouldn't write a food column if I just had one slice.

The maple flavor really came through. And with 1 cup of maple syrup, I'd hope it would.

The crowning touch came as a suggestion from the same book--The Perfect Pie--that gave me the original recipe: serving the pie with maple whipped cream. You just whip a cup of cream and then fold in 5 tablespoons of maple syrup.

It's amazing how these two innocuous-looking containers can make such sweet music, but I can see plenty of flavored whipped cream in my future.

Maybe the next step would be adding food coloring to the mix. How cool would green, mint whipped cream look?!