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

Partytime Pecan Pie

When I made the pumpkin pie for my mom's post-Thanksgiving visit, I decided to go two for one on the crusts. I put the extra one in a Ziploc bag in the freezer, with the idea that I could crank out a pecan pie lickity split when needed for any holiday functions. The pecan pie is the only one-crust pie I'm making right now that doesn't require a pre-baked crust, so it's ideal for using up frozen crusts (or "money in the bank" as we pie people like to say). This little number came out great and was a nice addition to the dessert table at our winter holiday party. The recipe is the same as the one used in my last post about pecan pie.

Current Pie Tally: 69

Thanksgiving Pecan Pie

Yes, yes, I'm behind on the pie posting. Here's the kickoff to a holiday pie slam before Christmas. There's at least three more posts coming before Santa slides down the chimney, so stay tuned while I play catch up yet again. I made this pie for my dad and stepmom when they came to visit for Thanksgiving. They may have a different favorite pie, but they always have this one around at their place for Thanksgiving, so I thought I'd follow suit. I goofed up slightly on the syrup quantities in the last recipe for this that I posted. Using those quantities, the pie comes about a bit too sweet for my liking. Here's the corrected version:

Perfect Pecan Pie
6 T. unsalted butter
1 c. light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 c. brown rice syrup
1/8 c. real maple syrup
1/8 c. good quality honey
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 t. grated orange zest
1/4 t. salt
3 large eggs
2 c. pecan halves (1/2 pound)

Preheat oven to 350F. Roll out crust dough and line pie dish. Prick dough all over with a fork and stick in the freezer for about 10 minutes while you prepare the filling. In a large bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in brown sugar until smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in sorghum, honey, syrup, vanilla, zest, and salt. Whisk syrup mixture into eggs. Pour pecans into pie shell. Pour liquid mixture over. Bake at 350F for about 50 minutes. Pie is done when filling is set and crust is golden brown. Enjoy!

Current Pie Tally: 67

Belated Birthday Pecan Pie

I made this Pecan Pie for a college friend of mine who shares my affinity for local seasonal pie goodness. Happy Belated Birthday, Julie!

In this pie, I used brown rice syrup instead of sorghum. I have yet to find a local source of sorghum in the DC area. Julie is on the case though, so maybe she'll unearth some down in northern Virginia and let me know. Using the brown rice syrup instead of the sorghum still lends a delicious and flavorful natural sweetness to the pie, but the resulting pie lacks the full-bodied complexity of the sorghum. Like a rug can tie a room together, sorghum really ties my Pecan Pie together. I miss it.

Perfect Pecan Pie
6 T. unsalted butter
1 c. light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 c. brown rice syrup
1/4 c. real maple syrup
1/4 c. good quality honey
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 t. grated orange zest
1/4 t. salt
3 large eggs
2 c. pecan halves (1/2 pound)

Preheat oven to 350F. Roll out crust dough and line pie dish. Prick dough all over with a fork and stick in the freezer for about 10 minutes while you prepare the filling. In a large bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in brown sugar until smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in sorghum, honey, syrup, vanilla, zest, and salt. Whisk syrup mixture into eggs. Pour pecans into pie shell. Pour liquid mixture over. Bake at 350F for about 50 minutes. Pie is done when filling is set and crust is golden brown. Enjoy!

Current Pie Tally: 66

Pecan Pie for Pops

I made the above pie using the same recipe as for the last pecan pie (with orange zest) in honor of a visit from the in-laws. Pecan Pie is Dad's favorite, and it's a quick one to throw together when guests are on their way. It turned out wonderfully as usual.

Current Pie Tally: 48

Orange You Glad

This pie almost slipped through the cracks and didn't get posted on the blog. This is another Perfect Pecan Pie, except this one was made with orange zest instead of lemon. I must say, I prefer the orange, though both are delicious. I baked this when my mother came to visit for a week after the holidays. Then, I must have forgotten about it the next week, when my family went on vacation. No pies were baked on vacation or have been baked since, but they are coming, I promise.

Current Pie Tally: 44

Perfect Pecan Pie

This is the first of two Christmas pies. I showed up with this one, my father-in-law's favorite, in hand when we arrived for our holiday stay. This is the first time I finally got to try sorghum instead of molasses, and my oh my is it good. It gives the pie less bite and a more mellow, well-rounded flavor. Also, with the tamer flavor of the sorghum, the other flavors, like the lemon zest, really sing out.

Perfect Pecan Pie
7 T. unsalted butter
1 heaping cup light brown sugar, lightly packed
1/2 c. sorghum
1/8 c. real maple syrup
1/8 c. good quality honey
2 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/2 teaspoon grated lemon zest
1/4 teaspoon salt
3 large eggs
2 cups pecan halves (1/2 pound)

Preheat oven to 350F. Roll out crust dough and line pie dish. Prick dough all over with a fork and stick in the freezer for about 10 minutes while you prepare the filling. In a large bowl, lightly beat the eggs. Melt butter in a medium saucepan over medium heat. Whisk in brown sugar until smooth. Remove from heat and whisk in sorghum, honey, syrup, vanilla, zest, and salt. Whisk syrup mixture into eggs. Pour pecans into pie shell. Pour liquid mixture over. Bake at 350F for about 50 minutes. Pie is done when filling is set and crust is golden brown. Enjoy!

Current Pie Tally: 42

Thanksgiving Day Pies

I traveled down to Iowa City to spend Thanksgiving Day with my brother and sister in law and brought these two pies. I made my popular pumpkin and molasses pecan. Both turned out well, though I think the pecan was a bit too firm from either overcooking or not enough butter. For this version of the pecan pie, I used 1/3 c. unsulphured blackstrap molasses, which I left in the measuring cup and then topped it up to 3/4 c. with real maple syrup. The flavor was good, but boy is that molasses strong. It has an almost licorice bite to it. I'm finally almost out of the high octane stuff, so I'm excited to try local sorghum instead of molasses in the next one.

Current Pie Tally: 38

A Challenge on the Horizon

My husband volunteered me to make half a dozen pies for a conference he is hosting the first weekend of October. Luckily, the pumpkin plant in our garden this year was very productive. I'll probably make 4 pumpkin and 2 of either apple or pecan, for those who don't care for pumpkin. I got to buy a bunch of new pie plates for this. I'm excited! Stay tuned.

Current Pie Tally = 26

4th of July Pecan Pie

Granted the height of summer does not exactly call to mind this nutty pie common to Thanksgiving feasts, but it was the hostess' favorite so I obliged. Thanks for a great 4th of July party, Cathy & JP! The recipe I used as a base for this called for corn syrup instead of the molasses and maple syrup mixture that I used. This is the second one of these pies that I've made. For the first, I substituted straight blackstrap molasses for the corn syrup. I really wanted to use locally produced sorghum for the most recent version, but alas we exhausted our supply and have to wait for our next farmer's market outing to restock. Next time, I aim to use a mixture of equal amounts of sorghum, maple syrup, and honey. Also, for this iteration of the recipe, I used some grated lemon rind instead of the orange rind the original recipe calls for and decreased the brown sugar to 1 cup. The resulting pie this time was incredibly rich and velvety with a very strong molasses flavor. Perhaps not for everyone, but all the party guests I polled had nothing but rave reviews.

Current Pie Tally: 23