Pecan Pie
January 14, 2009 by admin
On Christmas morning I made pie crust dough in preparation for pecan pies that I was supposed to make for Christmas dessert, along with creme brulee. Later in the day, though, I decided I didn’t have enough time and only the latter got made. As a result, the pie dough was thrown into the freezer and a prayer was said that it’d be fine to use later on.
This past Saturday, while Jason was making lamb chops for dinner, I decided finally make the pecan pie. I pulled one disc of dough – the recipe makes two – out of the freezer to defrost while I whipped up the filling.
In retrospect, had I known that the crust would be super cooperative and take 5 minutes to roll out while the filling would take only 2 minutes to whip up, I wouldn’t have shafted my father-in-law and sister out of their requested Christmas dessert three weeks ago. Sorry guys!
No worries though, I have the other round of dough in the freezer destined to be used in another pecan pie when my father-in-law comes up to meet “baby J.” When she finally decides to grace us with her presence, of course. Head over to the life blog to see what’s been going on with that!
All Butter Pie Crust
source – Elise from Simply Recipes
This recipe is very quick to pull together with the use of a food processor but I imagine it would be easy even without it. It makes enough dough for a double pie crust.
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for rolling
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch cubes and very cold (I put the cubes in the freezer for a few hours)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon sugar
6 to 8 tablespoons ice water
Combine flour, salt, and sugar in a food processor; pulse to mix. Add butter and pulse 6 to 8 times, until mixture resembles coarse meal, with pea size pieces of butter. Add ice water 1 Tbsp at a time, pulsing until mixture just begins to clump together. If you pinch some of the crumbly dough and it holds together, it’s ready. If the dough doesn’t hold together, add a little more water and pulse again.
Remove dough from machine and place in a mound on a clean surface. Gently shape into 2 discs. Knead the dough just enough to form the discs, do not over-knead. You should be able to see little bits of butter in the dough. These small chunks of butter are what will allow the resulting crust to be flaky. Sprinkle a little flour around the discs. Wrap each disc in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour, and up to 2 days.
*JLH Note: I don’t remember seeing bits of butter in my dough but the crust still turned out flaky so I wouldn’t worry about that too much. Also, if you’re like me, you can just throw the rounds into the freezer to be used weeks later.
Remove one crust disk from the refrigerator. Let sit at room temperature for 5-10 minutes in order to soften in order to make rolling out a bit easier. Roll out with a rolling pin on a lightly floured surface to a 12-inch circle, about 1/8 of an inch thick. As you roll out the dough, check to make sure that the dough is not sticking to the surface below. If necessary, add a few sprinkles of flour under the dough to prevent the dough from sticking. Carefully place the dough onto a 9-inch pie plate. Gently press the pie dough down so that it lines the bottom and sides of the pie plate. Use a pair of kitchen scissors to trim the dough.
*JLH Note: To get the rolled out pie crust into the plate easier, I gently folded the round in half and then half again into an almost triangle shape. Then placed this into the pan with the triangle point in the middle of the pan and unfolded it. My pie dough also didn’t roll out into a perfect round so I used the trimmed edges to fill in any gaps along the edges. Again, my pie crust turned out flaky and yummy so I feel no shame in sharing this tip!
Pecan Pie
source – Elise from Simply Recipes
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 Tbsp molasses
2 Tbsp melted butter
2 Tbsp flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 1/4 cups pecans, coarsely chopped
1 prepared pie-shell, chilled for an hour if freshly made or defrosted for 10 minutes if from frozen (see above recipe)
Preheat oven to 375°F. Spread pecans along the bottom of the pie shell.
Mix the remaining ingredients and pour over pecans. The pecans will rise to the surface of the pie.
Bake at 375°F for 45-50 minutes until the filling has set. About 20 minutes into the cooking you may want to use a pie crust protector, or tent the edges of the pie crust with aluminum foil to prevent the pie crust edges from burning.
Remove from oven and let cool completely.
Enjoy! 
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