Toasted Pecan Pie from Hometown Cooking

Even though we just celebrated Thanksgiving, and I have plenty for which to be thankful, this will be a short post this week.

Why?

I’m getting ready for Christmas.

Again.

Every year it arrives so quickly, and every year I’m not ready in time, even after swearing that I will start earlier the next year. (And I imagine that I’m not alone.)

But it never happens…except for this year.

I want to spend time with my family in the days leading up to Christmas...baking cookies, making candy, eating pie (wait till you see what I have planned for this next Sunday!), sledding, drinking hot cocoa, (or dreaming of sledding while drinking hot cocoa, since we probably won’t have any snow by then), shoveling snow, building snow forts, (again, just dreaming), reading Christmas stories, watching Christmas movies, helping my kids make their Christmas presents…all the fun stuff that makes the season bright.

What I will not be doing this year is what I do every year...staying up until 2 a.m. on Christmas Eve wrapping presents because I waited until the last minute. (Literally. I’m still wrapping presents after Santa lays a finger aside his nose, gives a wink – or is it a nod? – and up the chimney he rises.)

 

I have a good start. I spent much of this weekend shopping and running errands, so I’m ahead of the game, and I want to keep it that way.

So, I’m sharing the recipe for the Toasted Pecan Pie that I made for Thanksgiving. (My mom also made a delicious traditional pumpkin pie. I’ll have to share the recipe with you sometime.)

For now, I’m off to do more shopping and prepping for Christmas. Only 29 days left!

Hoping you had a happy Thanksgiving!

Yours in pie,

Mindy

My 4-year-old daughter couldn't wait to eat this pie and started with the crust.

 

This is my favorite pecan pie. Well, just barely, after diving into the Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie I made last week to celebrate my son’s birthday. This pie is so yummy! I entered it in the Iowa State Fair in 2004 and took first place in the pecan pie class. Toasting the pecans brings out their flavor and gives them a nice crunch, and the added buttery, maple pecan topping really puts this pie over the top!

I found this recipe more than ten years ago, in the August 2001 issue of Hometown Cooking Magazine, and it’s been my favorite pecan pie ever since. Hometown Cooking is also my favorite cooking magazine. Or I should say, was. It’s no longer published. It ran from October 1999 until its last issue in August 2002. I know because I have every issue. (Yes, still. And they are not going anywhere.) Each issue featured the best hometown cooks from across the country and their favorite recipes, and highlighted the community cookbooks which featured those recipes. The magazine was such a great source of delicious tried-and-true dishes, which were also tested in the kitchens at Better Homes & Gardens. (Meredith Corporation published both magazines.)

 

 

 

So while you make and enjoy this tried-and-true Toasted Pecan Pie, I’ll be scanning recipes and catching up on old issues of Hometown Cooking – after I finish my Christmas shopping!

 

Toasted Pecan Pie

from Hometown Cooking Magazine, August 2001

Pastry for single-crust 9-inch pie

4 slightly beaten eggs

1 c. sugar

2/3 c. light corn syrup

1/3 c. pure maple syrup

¼ c. butter, melted

1 tsp. vanilla

1/8 tsp. salt

¾ c. pecan halves, toasted and chopped

¾ c. pecan halves, toasted

3 T. sugar

3 T. pure maple syrup

1 T. butter

 

For filling:

Combine eggs, 1 c. sugar, corn syrup, 1/3 c. maple syrup, ¼ c. melted butter, vanilla, and salt. Mix well. Stir in ¾ c. chopped pecans. Pour filling into prepared pastry shell. Cover edge of pie with foil to prevent overbrowning. Bake pie in 350° oven for 45-50 minutes, until knife inserted off-center comes out clean.

 

For topping:

Combine ¾ c. pecan halves, 3 T. sugar, 3 T. maple syrup, and 1 T. butter in microwave-safe bowl. Microwave on 100% power (high) for 1 ½ minutes; stir. Spoon the topping over the warm, baked pie. Cool completely on wire rack.

 

To toast pecans:

Spread pecan halves in a single layer in a shallow baking pan. Bake in 350° oven for 5-10 minutes or until light golden brown, watching carefully and stirring once or twice to prevent burning.

 

Special note: The magazine gives nutrition information for each recipe. This recipe was divided into 12 servings, and I don’t think I’ve ever cut a pie into that many slices! Even so, I’m not going to freak you out with the fact that this pie has 453 calories per serving (that’s 1/12^th of the pie)…just enjoy it before you set your New Year’s resolutions.

 

Turning 7, and Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie

I think I may have experienced my worst nightmare.

(Probably not really, but it feels like it at the moment.)

My son, my first-born, my Buggy-love, turned 7 over the weekend.

7.

Seven.

I know. It doesn’t sound like that big of a deal. It’s not like he turned one….or five….or sixteen. It’s not one of the big birthdays. But yet, it is.

It’s monumental. Because he’s not one anymore, when he was still my baby. He’s not five anymore, ready to start kindergarten. (And thank God, he’s not sixteen. I know we have a few years to go, but I already predict that he should not…I repeat…not be given keys to a car. Perhaps ever. Because he is, without a doubt, his father’s son.)

It’s monumental because he’s changed.

He’s taller, for one…..smarter…..even more handsome. And he’s lived a little more life, which means he wants more independence. So, he’s testing the waters…..a lot more than he used to. (A lot more than I’m used to.)

But to deal with it, while not ignoring it, I’m choosing to focus on the positive changes that come with his age. For instance, when he’s not pushing her around, he steps in as the protective big brother to his little sister. (Though she’s quite capable of sticking up for herself, thank you very much.)

He also expresses a greater compassion for others, especially for those who have less than he does. For his birthday party, he asked his friends to not bring him gifts, but instead to bring new, unwrapped toys that he can collect and donate to our local Toys for Tots for this Christmas gift-giving season.

And, he continues to make us laugh in new, unexpected ways. As a family, we rounded out his birthday by going out for pizza. He sat next to his dad on the inside of the booth, and when he was ready to head to the restroom to clean up, he proceeded to slide under the table to get out. My husband quickly stopped him, and this is how the conversation went:

My husband: “Whoa. What are you doing?”

My son: “Going to the bathroom.”

My husband: “You’re seven now. Are you going to be a little boy or a big boy?”

My son: “A big boy, so I’m going to go wash my hands and face.”

My husband: “How do you think a big boy would get out of the booth?”

My son: “Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. I know. I’ll climb over the back.”

Nightmare’s over.

Yep. With table manners like those, I don’t think he’ll be leaving us for a looooong time.

(And that’s alright with me!)

Yours in pie,

Mindy

My son loves pie. Loves it. So he’s really enjoying the fact that he gets to have pie every week, now that I’m making pie a lot more often. I really haven’t been too adventurous, I’m kind of a pie purist and just like more traditional pies. I had not yet tried adding chocolate to pecan pie, and when I came across this recipe from Laurie at cookin’ up north, I knew it was time to start. Laurie says this is “hands down [her] favorite pie ever”, and I thought the chocolate chips would make having pie a little more special for my son on his birthday. This pie is definitely deliciously rich, like eating a chocolate chip cookie with, um...pecan pie. (Does that mean it has twice the calories, or half the calories of each?)

As listed below, Laurie’s recipe calls for filling an unbaked crust, so of course, thinking the bottom may not get golden and flaky, I first partially pre-baked the crust, then filled it. I wish I had just baked it once, as Laurie did. While the crust tasted fine, had a nice texture and was done on the bottom, partially pre-baking it created some avenues for seepage of the filling, which also allowed some of the filling to spill over the edge of the pie plate from underneath the crust…and all over the bottom of my oven. Next time I will save a step and just fill an unbaked crust…as the recipe calls for!

Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie

from cookin’ up north

Pastry for single-crust 9-inch pie

3 eggs
1 c. light corn syrup
½ c. sugar
¼ c. melted butter
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 c. pecan halves
¾ c. chocolate chips

Combine eggs, corn syrup, sugar, melted butter, and vanilla in bowl. Stir in pecans and chocolate chips. Pour filling into pastry-lined pie plate. Bake at 350° for 50-55 minutes until done. Cool completely on wire rack.

I shared this recipe on:

Full-Plate Thursday at Miz Helen's Country Cottage.

Check out all the great recipes at this Linky Party!

A Trip to the Orchard, and Caramel Apple-Pecan Pie

Apples.

 

 

Caramel and pecans.

Need I say more?

I’m going to anyway. It’s what I do.

Three quintessential flavors of Fall. Combined in a pie, they become decadent. This pie is so deeply rich and sweet; you’ll still taste it 364 days from now. And on the 365th day, you’ll make it again, just as I did on Sunday. (It may have been only 362 days since I made it last, but who’s counting…)

I love apple season. With the late Spring frost after the apple trees began blooming, I was rather concerned that there wouldn’t be any apples at the local orchards this year. While we haven’t been able to pick the apples ourselves, our favorite orchard does have their apples available in their store. So last week when my son had the day off from school, we headed to Center Grove Orchard near Cambridge, Iowa.

My kids love apples, too, but the draw for them at this orchard is not so much the apples. It’s The Farmyard. With a list of activities and “venues” much too extensive to mention, The Farmyard provides hours of fun and entertainment for kids big and small. A petting zoo, pedal carts, jumping pillow, and giant slide are just a few, and my kids’ personal favorite: the corn pool.

 

If it weren’t for the fact that millions or billions, quite possibly even trillions, of corn kernels had been dumped into a small arena and surrounded by straw bales, my kids would literally have ears coming out of their ears. (Get it? Ears. Of corn.)  While I didn’t find any corn in their ears, my daughter did deposit a kernel in the toilet as she undressed for the bathtub. She had corn absolutely everywhere. In places I didn’t know corn could reach.

 

Corny jokes aside (get it? corn-y), my favorite part of Center Grove Orchard, when not picking their apples myself, is the store. This is where I get my pre-picked apples, cider, and cider donuts, among other treats. On this trip I came home with a half-peck of Empires (we love these for eating as well as for making applesauce) and a peck of Jonathans (my favorite for pie).

There are so many versions of apple pie, I could probably make an apple pie every week and still not exhaust all the options. In the next few weeks I’ll be making my favorite classic apple pie, but for now I wanted a change of pace, something a little more indulgent.

Teresa over at My Homemade Iowa Life had requested a caramel apple pie recipe, and the recipe I had in mind certainly fit the bill for indulgence. This pie really is one that I make just once a year, and it comes from the book Pie: 300 Tried-and-True Recipes for Delicious Homemade Pie, by Ken Haedrich (2004). If you’re looking for a helpful companion on all things pie, complete with detailed step-by-step directions, tips for success with each recipe, as well as anecdotes, side-notes, and background on the recipes, this book is so worth the money for its 639 pages. And like the title says, you get over 300 recipes, for every kind of pie you can imagine, and then some.

I’ll admit that I haven’t yet made very many recipes from this book. Yet. That’s one reason I started writing this blog. So in the weeks to come, you’ll likely be seeing several pies from the pages of Pie.

This week, it was the Caramel Apple-Pecan Pie (pages 229-231). Be forewarned, this pie takes a little time. It’s not difficult, but it’s not a pie that you can throw in the oven and walk away from for an hour. It will keep you in the kitchen for a while. (Any pie recipe that covers three pages is going to take some effort, but any pie recipe that covers three pages might be worth it. And this one is!) The caramel makes it indulgent, but the crunchy pecans (incorporated three times) knock this pie out of the park. Even my four-year-old daughter, who doesn’t like pecans, loved this pie. Her comment: “Mommy, I really like the croutons you put on the top. They’re so crunchy!”

What???!

Is it a crime not to tell her?

Ken Haedrich calls for using Golden Delicious apples, which I have used for this pie in the past. This time I switched it up a little in an attempt to lessen some of the sweetness, using half Golden Delicious and half Jonathan. The reliable Jonathans did not disappoint, nor did they overpower with tartness, and still allowed for a decadent pie. So if you’re in the mood for some rich Fall flavor, spend a little time in the kitchen, after a trip to the orchard, and indulge in this Caramel Apple-Pecan Pie.

Yours in pie,

Mindy

 

 

Caramel Apple-Pecan Pie

Pastry for a one-crust 9” pie (deep dish will work fine, too)

10 caramels, each cut into 4 pieces

 

For the filling:

7 c. peeled, cored, and sliced apples (I used half Golden Delicious, half Jonathan)

½ c. packed light brown sugar

1 T. fresh lemon juice

2 T. sugar

1 T. cornstarch

½ tsp. cinnamon

1 tsp. vanilla extract

 

For the pecan crumb topping:

¾ c. all-purpose flour

¾ c. pecan halves

½ c. sugar

¼ tsp. salt

6 T. butter, cut into small pieces

 

For the caramel and garnish:

3 T. butter, cut into pieces

1 T. water

30 caramels

Large handful of pecan halves

½ c. chopped pecans

 

Line pie plate with pastry and crimp the edges. Scatter caramel pieces in the pie shell and place in the freezer while preparing the filling. Preheat oven to 400°F.

 

Combine apples, brown sugar, and lemon juice in a large bowl. Mix well and set aside. Mix sugar, cornstarch, and cinnamon together in small bowl. Stir this into the apple mixture along with the vanilla. Scrape the filling into the chilled pie shell, smoothing the fruit with your hands. Cover edges loosely with foil or a pie crust guard. Put pie on center rack in oven and bake for 30 minutes.

 

Meanwhile, make the crumb topping. Combine flour, pecan halves, sugar, and salt in a food processor. Pulse several times, chopping the nuts coarsely. Scatter the butter over the dry mixture and pulse again until mixture resembles fine crumbs. Transfer to a bowl and finish combining with your hands to make damp, gravelly crumbs. Refrigerate until ready to use. (If you do not have a food processor, you can use a pastry blender for making the crumb topping. Very finely chop the pecans first.)

 

Remove pie from oven and reduce oven temperature to 375°F. Carefully dump crumbs in center of pie, spreading them evenly over the surface with your hands. Tamp them down lightly. Return pie to oven and bake until juices bubble thickly around the edge, 30 to 40 minutes, or longer.

 

Transfer pie to wire rack to cool for about 1 hour.

 

While the pie is still warm – approaching the 1-hour mark – prepare the caramel. Combine butter, water, and caramels in the top of a double boiler. Melt caramels over (not in) barely simmering water. When melted, whisk mixture until smooth, and then drizzle caramel over entire surface of the pie. Immediately press pecan halves into caramel, then sprinkle chopped pecans over the top. Let cool several hours before serving.