Bailey's (Bourbon) Pecan Pie

It's the most wonderful holiday of them all. Thanksgiving is just around the corner. Whether you are making your own holiday feast, or you have been commissioned to "bring something small" to someone else's gathering, this pecan pie will surely please everyone and is VERY impressive.

I will admit that I approach pie-making with some trepidation. Baking is not my forte; there's too much of a need to be "exact" with measurements, and quite frankly, I think it takes too long. But I know that having a good pecan pie in one's repertoire is important, so I commissioned my friend Bailey to teach me how to make this delightful treat. She even makes her own crust!

Prep time: 45 minutes

Cook time: 45-55 minutes

Cool time: 30 minutes

Total time from prep to pie-eating: 2-2.5 hours. Like I said, not for the quick gourmand at all.

What you will need:

*Pie Crust Ingredients: 

2 sticks of unsalted butter

10 1/2 oz  (dry) all purpose flour

2 oz (liquid) buttermilk

1 tsp kosher salt

1/4 oz (dry) white sugar

(optional: 1/2 tsp vanilla extract)

*Note:  This recipe theoretically makes two pie crusts if you are using shallow pie tins. Shallow tins are not as awesome because they don't allow you to have a very filling pie. So I say this makes enough crust for one decent sized pie, and you have some left over you could use for a lattice top if you were ever making a lattice-topped pie. 

**Pie filling Ingredients: 

5 eggs

5 oz (dry) light brown sugar

1 stick unsalted butter, melted and somewhat cooled

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1/2 tsp salt

1 cup dark corn syrup

1 cup light corn syrup

8 oz. pecan pieces (you can buy them ready in pieces or you can get pecan halves and chop them yourself)

Reserve some pecan halves for the top to decorate

1 "glug" of bourbon (optional)

**Another Note: This is supposed to fill two pies. Again, if you're using shallow pie tins. It filled one deep dish pie tin and it is absolutely delicious so I really recommend going that direction. 

I would also like to point out that you can completely ignore all of the directions for the pie crust here and you could just buy frozen pie crust from Pillsbury. I'm a big believer in "let the experts do their work," but Bailey's pie crust seemed pretty manageable if you have the time.

To make the pie crust: 

Cube your butter into small manageable pieces:

Put the butter and the flour in the bowl of your Kitchen Aid, or some large mixing bowl.

In a Kitchen Aid stand mixer with the paddle attachment, start mixing them on the lowest speed for about 1-2 minutes

In a pour measuring cup, combine the 2 oz. buttermilk with 1 tsp kosher salt and .25 oz of white sugar, and stir, letting the salt and sugar dissolve

Add the buttermilk mixture to the flour/butter mixture and put it back on the lowest (1-2) speed for about 2-3 minutes. You will have to hold the mixer down probably as it mixes the butter.

You will know when it is ready when all of the dough sticks together and comes cleanly off the sides of the mixing bowl. There is no dough left in the bottom of that bowl in the picture above. 

Pull the dough off the mixer and roll into a ball, then pound flat and store in a large ziplock bag. You want to let it "chill out" for at least 20 minutes in the fridge (no big deal since you're going to be making your filling now).

For your filling: 

Melt the stick of butter in your microwave. Then, set it aside to let it cool for a little bit. Bailey explained that if you mixed the piping hot butter with the eggs right away, you would start to have scrambled eggs, which is NOT a key component to pecan pie. 

Combine the brown sugar, eggs and butter in a mixing bowl and whisk together well. Then add your salt and vanilla to this mixture and whisk again.

Combine your light and dark corn syrups in a separate measuring cup.

Now add the corn syrup mixture to the egg/sugar mixture above and whisk some more. If the corn syrup is stubborn, use a silicon spatula to get it all out of the measuring cup. If you are going to add in some bourbon, now is the time to do it. A word of caution: I added way too much bourbon. Apparently, a few tablespoons is the way to go. 

Add in 4 oz of pecan bits, and mix again.

Ok! Time to turn our attention back to the pie dough. Now is a good time to pre-heat your oven to 350.

Bailey found these really great pie dough mats at Home Goods and she says they cost $5. I am going to go purchase one. They have different sizes of the crusts you'd want to use and help you make it circular. The oil/wine/vinegar is keeping the mat spread out. Put flour on the mat so the dough doesn't stick.

Start rolling out your pie dough. Bailey has a fancy non-stick rolling pin which she put additional flour on. Since I am a very amateur baker, I will let you know that I use a wine bottle on the random occasions I have to bake, and it works fine too. 

Roll the dough to about 1/4 inch thickness. Then, grease and flour your pie tin. Bailey has a great ceramic pie tin we used, and she sprayed it with Pam and put some flour in it.

Then she did this really neat trick to get the pie crust dough in the actual pie tin (something that caused me a great deal of worry, because if it was up to me, I promise you that would be one holey pie crust). She DRAPED THE PIE CRUST OVER THE ROLLING PIN AND ROLLED IT INTO THE TIN.

THIS IS REVOLUTIONARY! Of course, I did not try this trick, so I can't tell you if it's actually as easy as she makes it look, but she swears it's not difficult. Report back and let me know if she's correct.

Then she pressed the pie crust into the tin fairly loosely and cut the excess off. She has a cute little pastry cutter but she tells me that if you don't, you can just tear it off against the sides of your pie tin.

And voila! Pie crust!

Now, this is not a pie which requires any pre-baking. Bailey explained to me that you would pre-bake the crust for a heavy fruit-filled pie possibly. But not this one. So just go ahead and pour your filling in to the pie crust. You want it to ALMOST come to the top.

You can leave the pie like so, or you can decorate the top with whole pecan halves. Bailey and I opted for the latter.

Then, we stuck it in the oven for 55 minutes. It was in for this long because of how deep it is, but typically, the pie should only take about 45 minutes to cook. Less time if you're making two shallow pies.

Pretty good if I say so myself! It tasted delicious, but took a little while to congeal, so I just stuck it in the fridge. Now, go out there and impress your Thanksgiving guests/hosts. Serve, and enjoy!!!

Bubbe Elaine's Honey Cake (as modified by Dr. Carol)

This past week marked the beginning of the year 5775 for members of the Jewish faith. The Jewish New Year, known as "Rosh Hashanah" (literally, Head of the Year), is celebrated in Jewish homes with sweet foods, traditionally sweetened with honey, to help us with our hopes for a sweet new year. Fortunately, weight loss is not typically a "Jewish New Year Resolution." 

This honey cake recipe was created by my grandmother, Bubbe Elaine, and was so good that it appeared in her Sisterhood's cookbook up in Syracuse, New York. The recipe was subsequently handed down to my mother, Dr. Carol, who makes it every year. However, in the time that she has had the recipe, its been modified to include substantially more liquor than Bubbe Elaine's original...

This is the version of the recipe that my mother taught to me. It requires you to have a good collection of liquor, but can be easily modified if you don't want to fail a breathalyzer after eating a slice. Best part of this post? Dr. Carol is actually making the cakes in the pictures. She has great jewelry.

One recipe makes 4 medium-sized cakes baked in loaf pans. 

Prep time: 30 minutes

Bake time: 50 minutes

What you will need:

3 1/2 cups flour (note: we needed to add a little more flour...perhaps because of how much *liquid* Dr. Carol put in the mixture...)

1/3 cup coffee

1/3 cup pulpy orange juice
3/4 cup canola oil (or other vegetable oil)

1 cup light brown sugar, lightly packed

3 eggs

1 lb. orange blossom honey (an extra little dollop won't hurt either)

2 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. ground cinnamon

1 tsp. ground nutmeg

1 tsp. lemon peel (dried, found in the spice department)

1 tsp. orange peel (dried, found in the spice department)

1 tsp. ground ginger

1 tsp. ground mace

Slivered almonds to top the cakes (not pictured--I forgot about them until the end)

1 "cup" Southern Comfort brandy (Note: This is the only liquor that appeared in Bubbe Elaine's recipe)

B&B (or any other type of Brandy you prefer)

Triple Sec

Cointreau

Wild Turkey American Honey (or other honey liquor)

Canadian Club whiskey

Preheat your oven to 350. Spray four medium sized (Dr. Carol likes the disposable kind the best) loaf pans with Baker's Joy or some other non-stick baking spray and set aside.

Pour the honey into a large mixing bowl. 

Then, add the coffee, oil, sugar, orange juice and eggs. The next step will be adding the "cup" of Southern Comfort. This is Dr. Carol's version of a "cup" when it comes to Southern Comfort:

I'm pretty sure there was an extra slug added after I took this picture, too.

Start mixing on a low-medium speed (my Kitchen Aid stand mixer came in very handy for this recipe, especially with the pour shield, since there was quite a bit of splashing at the beginning). Add the flour to the mixture as it mixes, about a cup at a time.

Once the flour is mixed in, add the rest of the dry ingredients (baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, lemon peel, orange peel). This should all keep mixing on a low-medium power.

Next, it's time to add the rest of the liquor. I can't give you exact measurements for this; it's really how alcoholic do you want your cake to be. Dr. Carol gives each bottle a good splash. I personally like the taste of the honey liquor the best. 

Let the mixture continue to beat for another few minutes and scrape the bottom with a spatula to ensure the sugar and flour are not sticking. The batter is ready when it's slightly thick. If you find that the batter still seems very runny (as in, it drips right off the spatula), add a little more flour (1/2 cup or so) and continue mixing until it seems more like a cake batter consistency. My mother claims that the reason her measurements were off were because I had a different brand of flour than she uses at home; I contend that it's because she put more Southern Comfort in when I wasn't looking.

Once your batter is the right consistency, pour into the readied loaf pans. You want to pour until each loaf pan is about 1/3 of the way full.

For toppings, pour sliced/slivered almonds down the center of each loaf pan. If you don't like almonds, you can use other types of nuts, or even raisins or other types of dried fruits.

Pop the loaf pans in the oven at 350 for about 50 minutes. Depending on your oven, you'll want to check them at around 40-45 minutes with a toothpick/testing device to see if it comes out clean in the middle. Once it does, remove from the oven and transfer to cooling rack.

Let the cakes cool in their pans for about ten minutes before transferring directly to a cooling rack. Continue to let cooling for about 20-30 more minutes, then serve and enjoy!

World's Best Hamentaschen

The Jewish holiday of Purim is coming up in mid-March, and one of my favorite cousins is visiting me to escape the "thundersnow" occurring in Chicago, where she lives, so we decided we would bake. Her mother (my aunt) happens to be the creator of the "World's Best Hamentaschen" and she has so graciously provided this recipe to my cousin, and by proxy, to me. These are delightful shortbread/butter cookies that are triangular shaped and filled with things like apricot, raspberry, and nutella. What's not to like? They're traditional for this holiday and people go nutso for them!!! So without adieu...The World's Best Hamentaschen:

Total Prep Time: 30 minutes

Total Cook Time: 20-25 minutes

What you will need:

5 cups all-purpose flour (in red mixing bowl)

1 tbsp baking POWDER

1/2 tsp salt

4 eggs

1 tbsp lemon juice
1 and 1/4 cups sugar
1 cup canola or vegetable oil
a little extra flour to flour your rolling surface
a rolling pin
whatever fillings your heart may desire (examples include Nutella, Apricot pie filling, raspberry pie filling, cherry pie filling, prunes, poppy seed filling for the old school bubbes out there).
A cup with a 3" diameter opening, or some other round cookie cutter that is 3" in diameter

A brief digression about the fillings for these hamentaschen: My cousin swears that if you are going to use a fruit filling, Solo is the best brand to use. However, we could not find Solo raspberry filling, and I really wanted raspberry. So we tried the Duncan Hines "Comstock" brand of raspberry filling. We found it to be a bit runnier than the Solo, but otherwise, just as delicious. So don't be afraid to use the alternate brand.

Preheat oven to 350.

Ok, first step is mixing your flour with the salt and baking powder in one mixing bowl. Mix with a wooden spoon.

In a separate bowl, mix your four eggs, sugar, lemon juice and vegetable oil.

Next, add the egg/sugar mixture to the flour mixture, and mix well. NOTE: Although this turns into a sticky dough, do not be tempted to use a stand mixer or hand mixer. I have been instructed that this "over mixes" the dough and turns your hamentaschen into mediocre cookies.

At this point, go preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Come back to your cooking surface and lightly flour the countertop.

Pour the hamentaschen dough out on to the floured surface and begin rolling until it is approximately 1/4" thick.

Use your 3" diameter cup to make circles in the dough. Try and fit as many on the dough as you possibly can, but don't kill yourself. We'll do this several times.

My aunt sent along my very own "hamentaschen cup" for this demonstration

Remove all of the excess dough between the circles and toss it back in your mixing bowl. We're going to roll it up and roll it back out to re-circle cut after we make the first round of hamentaschen.

On each of your circles, take about 1/2 of a small spoon's worth of filling and place in the center of each dough circle.

You don't want to "overfill" because they will become runny and leaky, which does not qualify for "World's Best Hamentaschen."

Then, here comes the tricky part. You will pinch the corners of the circles together to make triangular shapes. My cousin instructed me by telling me that you don't want to "smash" them together, but rather, you just want the edges to meet. Like this:

Continue filling, squishing, and re-rolling your dough until you've gone through as much as you can, and place cookies on ungreased baking sheets.

Put in the oven for approximately 10 minutes, then switch racks so the cookies get a chance to bake evenly. Cook again for another 10 minutes, then check on them. If you have a lot of hamentaschen in the oven at once, you'll need a little more time (just a few minutes), but if there are only a few, 20 minutes can do it, depending on your particular oven. Just know that at 20 minutes, you better watch 'em like a hawk. Then, when they are lightly golden on the edges or creases, you know they are ready. Take them out of the oven, place on cooling racks with a spatula, then serve and enjoy!

Honey Stewed Fruit

With fall soon approaching (for everyone outside of the State of Florida), warm desserts are wonderful, and the smells of apples and cinnamon and honey always make you feel nice and festive. This is a nice alternative to baked cinnamon apples, and involves booze (optional, though highly encouraged). Plus, it's pareve for my kosher friends out there.

Total Prep Time: 10 minutes

Total Cook Time: 30 minutes

What you will need:

1 bag dried apples
1 bag dried apricots
1 bag dried tart cherries
1 bag prunes
1 cup raisins (gold, regular, or mixed)
3/4 cup honey
1/2 cup honey bourbon
2 tbsp sugar (white or brown)
Manischewitz, to taste (optional)
Water

You can pretty much use any dried fruits you like in any quantity you'd like. I just pick the ones that I like. The other ingredients will also be used to taste, but I gave you the approximations on how much actually made it into my pot.

Empty all of your dried fruit into a saucepan and cover with water.

Turn the heat to medium, and let the fruit start to simmer. As it heats up, the water will reduce and thicken a bit.

Stir in the honey, honey bourbon (if you choose to use it), and a bit of sugar. You can add in some other spices such as cinnamon or pumpkin pie spice if you have them around. Be very parsimonious with these spices as a little goes a long way.

Reduce the heat a bit and let it continue to gently simmer/warm. The sauce will continue to thicken and reduce. Taste and adjust spices as you see fit. Then serve and enjoy! It tastes particularly delicious with a scoop of vanilla or cinnamon ice cream.