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1. Preheat the oven to 400°F. In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, vegetable shortening or lard, butter and salt. Use your fingertips to rub the flour and fat together until they look like flakes of coarse meal.
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2. Pour the ice water over the mixture, toss together, and press and knead gently with your hands only until the dough can be gathered into a compact ball.
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3. Dust very lightly with flour, wrap in wax paper and chill for at least ½ hour. Lightly butter a 9-inch pie plate. On a floured surface, roll the dough out into a circle about 1/8 inch thick and 13 to 14 inches in diameter.
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4. Lift it up on the rolling pin and unroll it over the pie plate, leaving enough slack in the middle of the pastry to enable you to line the plate without pulling or stretching the dough.
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5. Trim the excess pastry to within ½ inch of the rim of the pie plate and fold the extra ½ inch under to make a double thickness all around the rim. With the tines of a fork or with your fingers, press the pastry down around the rim.
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6. To prevent the unfilled pastry from buckling as it bakes, either set another pie plate lightly buttered on the underside into the pastry shell or line it with a sheet of lightly buttered foil.
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7. In either case do not prick the pastry, or the filling will run out when it is added later. Bake the shell in the middle of the oven for 8 minutes, then remove the pan or foil and let the shell cool while you make the filling.
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8. FILLING: With a wire whisk or rotary beater, beat the eggs in a mixing bowl for about 30 seconds. Then slowly pour in the syrup and continue to beat until they are well combined. Beat in the melted butter and vanilla, and stir in the pecans.
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9. Carefully pour the filling into the pie shell. Bake in the middle of the oven for 35 to 40 minutes, or until the filling is firm. Serve the pie warm or cooled to room temperature.
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