My dear husband had his birthday last month, and he had one request: Pecan Pie. Partly, this was the pragmatist in him: the pecans were going to go bad, and he hates to waste anything. But also, the man just loves my pecan pie.
In truth, this is my sister Miriam's recipe. She is the one in the family who is famous for her pies. But I do my best. For one thing, I make my pie crust from scratch:
(Quick style note - please forgive the awkward font formatting. For some reason, when cutting and pasting from some Word documents, blogger doesn't let me change the font style. It is deeply annoying, but I haven't got the time to re-write the whole recipe just to make the fonts match.)
Basic Pie Crust
For a covered pie. Make a half-recipe if you are doing an uncovered pie, like this pecan pie recipe.
2 ½ cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp. white sugar
½ cup solid vegetable shortening
8 Tbs (1/2 cup) cold unsalted butter
1 tsp. Salt 1/3 cup plus 1 tbs. cold water
1 to 2 tbs. cold water, if needed)
In a large bowl, thoroughly mix together the flour, sugar, and salt.
Break the shortening and the butter into large chunks then add the shortening and butter to the flour mixture. Cut into the dry ingredients using a pastry cutter or by cutting in opposite directions with 2 knives, one held in each hand.
Cut the pastry until some pea-size chunks remain in the mixture and the rest is reduced to the consistency of coarse crumbs.
Drizzle the water over the mixture and work the mixture together with your fingers. If needed add 1 to 2 tbsp. of water until the pastry forms a ball (do not overdo the water in order to have a flaky crust, but make sure you add enough so that you are able to handle the dough)
Split pastry into two equal balls and roll out on a floured surface. Fill with your favorite pie filling.
Milo was so excited about my pie, he wanted to take a picture with his own camera:
Pecan Pie
9 inch unbaked pie crust
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup dark brown sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla
3 eggs, slightly beaten
1 heaping cup pecan halves
Heat oven to 350(F. In large bowl, combine corn syrup, sugar, eggs, butter, salt and vanilla; mix well. Pour filling into unbaked pie crust. Sprinkle with pecan halves. Bake at 350(F for 45 to 50 minutes or until center is set. (Toothpick inserted in center will come out clean when pie is done.) Cool before serving.
Recipe contributed by Miriam; from a Dear Abby column
