Episode 29 – Pecan Pie

Episode 29

I couldn't decide if the pecan pie looked better with the flash on...

December 19, 2010
Pecan Pie

Pecan pie is one of those time honored pies that seem to always taste a little better around the holidays.  The recipe I make here is pretty solid and is uber easy to make.  I really love recipes that don’t even require the use of an electric mixer.  The less time I have to spend washing dishes the better.  I’m sure you feel the same!

Before this episode I made the pie dough and the pie shell.  However, I only had about half the flour on hand for the pie recipe – okay, no problem I’ll just divide everything in half.  Hm, apparently that’s easier than it sounds seeing as I guess I forgot halfway through measuring the ingredients and weighed out too much water (and quite possibly too much butter/shortening).  It’s like whenever you’re talking to somebody and you don’t really quite know what you’re talking about or you’re getting bored so you even start to tune yourself out and your sentences start to not make any sense.  Wait.  What did I just write…?  Well whatever I just said, the pie dough was really sloshing – I thought for sure it was ruined seeing as I can’t roll out a big a sloshy mess but then I remembered I had bread flour in the pantry.  I just threw a couple big handfuls and kneaded them together and viola it was saved!  It was a little soft and delicate but at least I could still use it.  Like I always say, don’t throw in the towel until the very end!  Think on your feet and you just might be able to save whatever you’re working on.

...or if the pecan pie looked better if the flash off... Well now you have both!

When I was working at the Fairmont Scottsdale Princess they had a item on the banquet menu called “Whiskey Pecan Tarts” – at least I think it was tarts – and as far as I remember this is pretty much the same thing.  I had already decided when I was going through my school recipes that if my school cookbook didn’t have whiskey in the recipe I was going to add it in anyway.  Lucky for me it was already included in the recipe.  Remember if you don’t feel comfortable using whiskey feel free to swap it out with rum extract or just leave it out altogether.  My chefs in school would always make us put a warning on foods that have alcohol in it (cooked or not) that it would not be acceptable for individuals recovering from alcohol abuse – interesting right?  You would never think of that but it makes sense.

Oh and you’re probably wondering why the resort called it a tart and not a pie right?  Well that’s because they used sugar cookie dough to make a tart shell instead of using a pie dough.  A quick cookie dough recipe that you can use for this is called 1-2-3 dough and is 12 ounces flour, 8 ounces butter, 4 ounces sugar and 1 egg for every pound of flour (12 ounces = 1 egg).  In other words it’s 1 part sugar, 2 parts butter, 3 parts flour hence 1-2-3 dough.  That’s a master recipe right there.  You might want to throw in some vanilla extract for flavor but otherwise that cookie recipe is a blank canvas ready to be tweaked and experimented with!  Ah, isn’t the science of baking fun?

Speaking of switching things out – if you’re not a fan of using corn syrup feel free to make your own syrup by boiling 12 ounces of granulated sugar with 1/8 of an ounce of cream of tartar until it reaches 235 degrees F.  If you saw in my previous episode, cinnamon rolls and sticky buns, the sugar does risk getting crystallized.  How about using honey instead?  That’s right, feel free to swap in honey – honey is nature’s syrup, in fact it’s said that corn syrups and such are man’s way of trying to create cheap honey, and is a great substitute for corn syrup.  You can also use maple syrup if you’d like – just make sure it’s real maple syrup!  Did you know that many maple syrups are just corn syrup just flavored to taste like maple syrup!!  I never realized this growing up, and when I found out I felt… violated in a way.  Drama aside, I always double check my maple syrup now to make sure it’s authentic.  Just keep in mind that either honey or maple syrup will impart a flavor to your baked goods that corn syrup would not have on it’s own.  I’m not sure why I didn’t remember that until just now – it’s definitely a lot easier than trying to make your own syrup albeit a bit pricier.

Anyway, this was a quick episode – just under 9 minutes!  Great for you because you get an easy recipe and a short video and great for me so I’m not up for 3 hours working on a video : )  Not that I’m complaining!  So here is the pecan pie recipe and the video to go along with it!  Enjoy and thanks for watching!