Wonderful Pecan Pie

For our most recent baking class adventure, we went on to make pecan pie starting with a basic pate sucree recipe. I saw this recipe and I kept nudging my partner and pointing to it. I wanted to make sure we got around to this one.

Lemonade and I went to Norma's for lunch and my Napoleon waffle was so ridiculously rich, I was convinced that I wouldn't be able to eat for days. But when this baby came out of the oven...I already took a bite before it cooled down. Delish! There are so many pecans here and unlike other pecan recipes I've tried out where they were a complement to something else, these pecans take center stage. Lemon Zest said she only wanted to eat the crust, but was completely unimpressed by it. She took a second bite of just the pecan and stayed around to demolish half this pie with me. Yumyum.

Pate Sucree (Your pie base)
Makes at least 3 pie bottoms

1 1/2 lbs all purpose flour
8 oz granulated sugar
1 1/2 tsps baking powder
1 tsp salt
8 oz butter
5 eggs

1) Combine flour, sugar, baking powder and salt. Add in butter in the mixer on the lowest speed. Mix until flour mixture resembles Parmesan cheese.
2) Beat the eggs, add to the flour and butter mixture. Mix until holds together. Scrape out of bowl and cover in plastic wrap. Chill until firm.

Pecan Pie
(makes at least 2 9" pies)

12 oz pecan halves
8 fluid oz dark corn syrup
6 oz granulated sugar
4 oz butter
3 eggs
Pinch of salt
1 fluid oz Bourbon

1) Combine corn syrup and sugar in a saucepan; stir well to mix. Place on low heat and allow to come to a boil, without stirring.
2) Whisk eggs with salt and Bourbon. When syrup boils, remove from heat and add butter, allowing the butter to melt on its own.
3) Whisk hot syrup into egg mixture, slowly, without over beating. Skim foam from surface.

*Note: Skimming the foam is an aesthetics thing. Otherwise, your pie will be foamy looking and hence, unappetizing. I admit that it was kind of disgusting to remove all the foam, but it helps!
You can't really taste the Bourbon. It offers a very subtle aftertaste, which is the only time you can separate the taste from the other gooey goodies. You could also replace the Bourbon with vanilla.
If you want to chocolate-fy this recipe, you can add 4 oz semisweet chocolate in when you add the butter in step 4! Part of me regrets not doing it b/c it smelled heavenly!

Putting the Pie Together...

1) Take the Pate Sucree and shape it into a circle before rolling out. Roll evenly from the center outwards until the dough is very thin. To transfer onto your pie dish, roll the dough onto the rolling pin and then unroll it over the pan.
2) Press the dough into the pan making sure the dough touches the surface. Trim the edges, allowing some excess to be folded over.
3) Fold over the edges and shape as desired.
4) If time permits, return dough to freezer.
5) Fill pan with pecans. Whole 12 oz may not be necessary. Fill until just below pan edge (the dough will rise and the pecan sauce will bubble, so don't go overboard here). Pour sauce over pecans.
6) If necessary, use a fork to press down pecans and make sure they're immersed.
7) Bake at 350 degrees about 40 minutes or until the center is set.

Overall, as excited as I was for this recipe, part of me wondered how good it could possibly be. Then I took it out of the oven....It's sooo good. It's got a ton of pecans in it so it's better than anything store bought. The pecans get well toasted throughout and have a wonderful texture. The sauce also stays gooey at room temperature so the food loving part of me takes the pecans and rubs it into the sauce before popping into my mouth. Yum. It's actually one of the first times where I enjoyed eating the filling more than I enjoyed eating a more balanced piece of filling and crust.

Cinnamon-Pecan Streusel Cake

Lemon-slice has struck again! Since our mom's into nuts, lemon-slice is into making desserts with nuts in them. I love pecans in desserts. It's such a nice texture. =)

This cake smelled heavenly coming out of the oven. Maybe b/c I also love the smell of cinnamon and sugar together. We ate this at night. We're not a big fan of sweets in the morning, but I imagine this would be good with some coffee.

Cinnamon-Pecan Streusel Cake

1 3/4 c flour
1 1/4 c sugar
2 tsp baking powder
1/4 c unsalted butter, cubed
1 egg, lightly beaten
3/4 c milk
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/2 c coarsely chopped pecans

1) Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Grease an 8 inch square baking pan
2) In a bowl, stir together the flour, 1 c of the sugar, and the baking powder. Mix in the butter with fingers until mixture resembles coarse crumbs.
3) Add egg, milk, and vanilla and stir until just combined. Pour and scrape the batter into the prepared pan.
4) In another bowl, stir together the remaining 1/4 c sugar, the cinnamon, and the pecans. Sprinkle the mixture evenly over the surface ofthe batter. Using a table knife, cut gently down through the batter at intervals of 2 inches to spread some topping into the batter.
5) Bake about 25-30, until passes toothpick test. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before cutting into squares and serve warm.

xoxo,
lemonie

New Year and Sticky Buns

Happy New Year!

To celebrate 2009, lemon-slice and I went into the kitchen and baked up a storm. We cracked open a Williams-Sonoma cookbook and made blueberry scones, lemon-slice muffins, and sticky buns. The scones were unsightly, the lemon-slice muffins were far too tart, but the sticky buns...oh the sticky buns were wonderful!

My NYE was quiet...curled up with the family, watching Mamma Mia and munching on unhealthy snacks (popcorn, chocolate covered pretzels...). I couldn't imagine it better any other way!

My resolution this year is to run a mile in 7 minutes. About a month and a half ago, I stared running on the treadmill as part of my warm-up. By running, I mean, I managed to run for like 3-4 minutes and then I'd have to stop and pant for two minutes, before running another 3-4 minutes. Then I'd just "walk it off" for another 5. Now that I can run a full mile without stopping, I'd like to be able to do that within 7 minutes!

Sticky Buns

4 1/2 - 5 unbleached bread flour
1/2 c granulated sugar
1 tsp salt
1 package quick-rise yeast
1/2 c water
1/2 c milk
3/4 c unsalted butter (room temperature)
2 eggs (room temperature)
1 c firmly packed brown sugar
1 tsp ground cinnamon
2/3 coarsely chopped pecans

1) In a large bowl, or the bowl of an electric stand mixer, combine 1/2 cus of the flour, the granulated sugar, salt, and yeast.
2) In a saucepan over low heat, combine the milk, 1/2 c water, and 1/4 c of the butter and heat to lukewarm.
3) Gradually beat the milk mixture into the flour mixture.
4) Beat in the eggs, then gradually stir in 2 1/2 c more flour to make a soft dough that holds its shape.
5) Knead by hand or with a dough hook, adding flour as needed. Knead until smooth and elastic.
6) Form the dough into a ball and place in a clean, greased bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover and let rise about 1/2 hours in warm place.
7) Turn dough onto a lightly floured work surface. Cut in half. Using a rolling pin, roll out each half into an 8 by 15 inch rectangle.
8) Spread the rectangles with 1/4 c of the remaining butter, dividing it equally.
9) In a bowl, mix 1/2 c of the brown sugar, and the cinnamon and sprinkle half of it over the dough pieces.
10) Starting with a long side, roll up tightly andpinch the seams to seal. Cut each log crosswise into 10 equal slices.
11) Butter one 9 inch round and one 8 inch square cake pan.
12) Add the remaining 1/2 c brown sugar and 1/4 c butter to the remaining brown sugar mixture and stir.
13) Toss in pecans and sprinkle over the pan bottoms.
14) Place 9 dough slices, cut sides down and almost touching in the square pan. Place 11 in the round pan.
15) Cover with kitchen towel and let rise until doubled. (60-75 min)
16) Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Uncover loaves and bake until golden brown, about 30-35 minutes.
17) Invert pans onto a plate and serve warm.

Notes
One sister was really not into the idea of pecans, so we omitted them on the pan version and they became delicious cinnamon buns!

xoxo,
lemonie