Preheat oven to 425ºF. Line a 9-inch glass pie plate with the pie-crust dough. Fold overhang under and pinch to form a decorative edge. Line the pie shell with foil, fill with dried beans or uncooked rice and bake 15 minutes. Remove foil with beans or rice and return to oven until golden, 5 to 10 minutes longer. Cool on a wire rack. Reduce oven temperature to 350ºF. Coarsely chop 1 cup pecans; reserve remaining pecan halves.
In large bowl, with wire whisk, mix corn syrup, brown sugar, melted butter, vanilla and eggs until blended. Stir in chopped pecans. Here is where you can do one of 2 things: stir in the pecan halves wait until step 5 for the halves.
Pour filling into crust. If you using the halves in the step simply place the halves on top of the filling in any pattern you like.
Bake 45 to 50 minutes, until edges of filling are set (center will jiggle slightly).
Cool completely on wire rack. Garnish with whipped cream before serving, if you like.
