Pecan is my favorite kind of pie. Lemon Meringue is the only kind of pie that comes close. While they're both almost equally good, Lemon Meringue pies just don't last long enough in the fridge, and thus the effort that goes into making them feels somewhat wasted (taking into account that pecan pies last a loong time in the fridge). I made a Lemon Meringue pie for my Aunt Desnee once, and she loved it. I hated it. I loved that pie. But some things in life you hate.
Recipe from The Joy of Cooking; I am unsure of tome number or version or what not.
OK, first thing to do is to gather your ingredients.
You'll need:
1 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup light corn syrup
1 cup pecan halves
1 teaspoon vanilla
They say hello.
Preheat oven to 450°
Make your pie crust (or get it out of the freezer if you've bought it) and blind-bake it for 5-7 minutes. Reduce heat to 375°. Remove from oven and allow to cool, or you'll turn into a pancake.
The next step is to melt the 1/3 cup butter. You can do this in a pan, or you can do it like I do: put it in a ziptop bag then set in hot water for a bit. Chocolate melts great this way, too, if you're not worried about temper. I only melted it a little, because melted butter makes me feel bad. On the inside. :(The caption says "mELt!!!"
Add the butter, three eggs, 1 cup sugar, 1/2 teaspoon salt, and the 1 cup of corn syrup and stir to the desires of your heart. By the way, if you don't have a kitchen scale, you should get one. They're very handy. Here, instead of dirtying a measuring cup, I tared the bowl and added the corn syrup. However...I am unsure if 8 ounces of corn syrup is a cup, so don't take my word for it. I'm pretty sure.I do know that a cup of flour is 4.75 ounces, and a cup of nuts is 4 ounces. It makes you feel good learning these things.
Then you stir in the pecans and vanilla (NOTE: when making several pies, put the pecans in the pie crusts, as it's hard to determine half when they're in that murky custard). Just so you know, that's the pastry bowl (the great glass bowl you see).Anytime I make small enough batches, I use this bowl. It's just, it's my friend. I use the beaters because I think it's cool using mixer beaters to mix by hand. This bowl, and this mixer, have made some really great angel slices.
More on angel slices/cookies/bars later. Yes.
If you like caramelized sugar, like I do, then cut some slices in the crust. Just make a few slits, about an inch long, in the crust. It's hard to explain what it is, so try one small cut if you like. The filling leaks out of the crust into the pan and crystallizes. The texture it adds! Wow. Update: see post Pecan pie, my sweet -- Thanksgiving post #7 for picture of crystallized sugar.
Anyway, pour the filling into the shell. I had extra left over because I added another quarter cup of pecans. It may or may not be necessary if you're baking a smaller pie.
Bake for 40-55 minutes at 375° or until a knife inserted into the middle comes out clean. You can also jiggle the pie side to side to check (it should jiggle a little). "Transparent" pie. Those freaks.
You can see that the pie made a balloon type top. I'm not sure what causes it. I'm also not sure if it causes problems.
I think it's best chilled. They have lasted me over a month in the fridge, in the coldest part, but I don't recommend that. There's like, nothing that goes rotten in them...crazy.
<---Set your timer. The last step is to get those dishes soaking.--->
If you're wondering why it looks like the counter's burned, well, it is. Let's just say that there was a cast iron skillet and a burner involved.
Apparently you'll have a bourbon pie if you omit the nuts and vanilla and add 3 tablespoons of bourbon whiskey. Black walnuts could be substituted for pecans.
Next up is either sugar cookies or chocolate chip cookies. Yes, desserts are the only things that are beautiful enough to take the time and photograph whilst cooking. I made the cookies for a 'family' 'gathering.'
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