Wednesday, February 15, 2012

Valentine's Cupcakes


Although these carrot cake cupcakes are not a pie, I made them from scratch for Valentine's Day and they are delicious. You can find the recipe here. My modifications are that I only made half of the recipe and I turned them into cupcakes instead of a layer cake. As such, the cupcakes only need to bake for 30-35 min.

Current Pie Tally: 73

Monday, February 6, 2012

Quickie Pie


Pecan is definitely my go-to winter pie, mostly because the crust doesn't require pre-baking. It takes about 1.5 hours, start to finish, and about one hour of that involves the pie sitting in the oven while you have a cocktail and get ready for the party you're going to. Normally, I don't adorn my pie with any toppings that might undermine the full-force flavor of the pie, but pecan pie tends to be an exception. I always enjoy my pecan pie with a scoop of vanilla ice cream if the option presents itself. When I had a slice of the pie from this post, there was a twist. Our party hosts had also put out a small ice cream sundae bar on the dessert table. Our neighbor started talking through the possibilities of the caramel and hot fudge toppings on the pecan pie. Normally, this would piss me off, but I tend to loosen up my pie purism with the pecan pie. I said, "Caramel - no. Hot fudge - definitely go for it." My thoughts turned to black-bottom pecan pie, with a warm chocolate layer dancing with the sweet, nutty pecans in my mouth. It had to be done. When backs were turned, I brought my ice-cream topped slice over to the hot fudge and added a couple dollops myself. Suffice to say, the experience shall be relived. It was heavenly. Now I'm on a mission to find/tweak a Black-Bottom Pecan Pie recipe that is up to snuff. For my go-to Pecan Pie recipe, click here.

Current Pie Tally: 73