Well, the Kentucky Derby is fast approaching, and as a Louisville-born gal now living in the Big Apple, it falls upon me to provide the Derby Day festivities for my crowd in my small apartment. (This consists of Derby pie, Kentucky bourbon, the Derby pool and yelling at the horses.)

Anyway, I thought it would be fun to make my pie low-carb this year, to the extent possible. Last year one of my friends altered my recipe into a vegan pie, which was... interesting to say the least. It was good! Don't get me wrong. The appearances were just deceiving. That's it. No, really. It didn't LOOK like Derby pie. Tasted good, sure. But something was missing. The regular pie I made beside it was still much the preferred one.

So my goal is to still make the pie I'm famous for, but make it healthier without anyone even realizing. I'm willing to include some carbs where necessary to keep the consistency and flavor of the pie, this doesn't have to be an Atkins induction pie by any means! But I don't have any experience with low-carb baking, so I thought I'd turn to you well-informed folks here for ideas.

Here's the original recipe as per Mom, from my family cookbook:

1 cup sugar
1/3 cup flour
2 eggs beaten
1 1/2 sticks melted, cooled margarine
1 cup broken pecans
6 ounces chocolate chips
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 jigger bourbon (*or rum if you're Karen's mom)
1 9 inch pie crust

Mix sugar and flour. Add eggs, butter, pecans, chocolate chips, vanilla and bourbon. Pour into 9 inch pie crust. Bake at 325F for 45 minutes. Serve warm with whipped cream.

So where and in what proportions can I cut carbs in this? Off the top of my head, I know I could substitute Splenda for sugar if I could get ahold of it... what proportions would I need? Are there any flour substitutes? I'm willing to include it if I have to, but I'm very anti-flour at the moment in general. Would whole wheat flour make a difference? I don't know if I can afford Atkins bake mix, but how would that play into the recipe? I'm already planning to substitute butter back in - the margarine was Mom's alteration to the recipe in an earnest attempt to be health-conscious. Are there any ideas for a low-carb pie crust?

Like I said, a few carbs are okay, this doesn't have to be free of them. If the substitutes aren't satisfying enough, I'll just do elements of the regular recipe (i.e. I see no way to get around the bourbon/rum - but does anyone know which is lower in carbs?). I'd just like to cut the carbs where possible. Ideally, I'd also like for nobody to even notice they're missing.

Thanks in advance! You guys were a great help over on the veggie forum already.