Pecan

Deep Dish Porter Pecan Pie

27.11.2012 30 Comments

The best thing happened on Thanksgiving.

Just about 18 hours prior to Turkey Tip-Off, my small gathering of 4 people more than tripled into a 14 person party that ended in cocktails, poker, and eating pie right out of the pan. How great is that?

I was happy with the idea of a small gathering, sometimes those can be the best nights. But the fact that I have such an over abundance of food in my kitchen right now and dozens of recipes to be cooked and tested, I could not have been happier about the influx of last minute hungry visitors.

And a Thanksgiving that morphed into a Poker Night, complete with impromptu costuming and teaching my friends 8-year-old how to bluff, was one of the best Thanksgivings I have ever had. Although I was seriously caffeine deficient the next day, and zero percent productive.

I may, or may not, have consume an entire bottle of wine by myself.

I used a chocolate porter for this recipe, and of course, a stout would work well also. BUT now that I sit here staring at these photos, I wish I’d have used something that had been aged in bourbon barrels. How great would that be?

Deep Dish Porter Pecan Pie

Print Recipe

Ingredients

For the Crust:

1 ½ cups flour
½ tsp salt
1 tbs sugar
6 tbs of butter cold, cut into cubes
2 tbs shortening
2 tbs ice cold beer high ABV works best

For the filling:

1 cup porter beer can sub stout
2 cups brown sugar
2/3 cup light corn syrup
2 tbs flour
3 cups chopped pecans
½ cup heavy cream
1 stick butter cold, cut into cubes
4 eggs

Instructions

In a food processor, add 1 cup of flour (reserving the other ½ cup) salt, sugar and pulse to combine. Add the butter cubes and the shortening, process until combined. Add the remaining ½ cup of flour, process until well incorporated.
Transfer to a bowl, add the beer and mix until combined. Dough will be very soft. Form into a wide flat disk, wrap in plastic wrap and chill for at least 2 hours.
Roll out dough on a lightly floured surface, transfer to a 9-inch deep-dish pie pan, press into shape. Remove the excess. Freeze crust for 20 minutes.
Preheat oven to 350.
In a pot over medium high heat, add the beer, brown sugar and corn syrup. Allow to simmer until combined and the sugar has melted. Sprinkle with flour, whisk until well combined. Remove from heat, add pecans, heavy cream and butter. Stir until well combined and the butter has melted. Allow to cool to room temperature before adding the eggs. In a separate bowl, whisk together the eggs. Slowly add the pecan mixture to the eggs, whisking the eggs the entire time.
Pour filling into crust, bake at 350 for 50 minute to an hour or until the filling no longer jiggles when you shake the rack it sits on. Chill until the filling has set, about 2 hours.
*Note: This recipe is for a deep-dish pie pan. The filling is too much for a regular pie pan.

Beer & Bacon Pecan Bars

06.09.2012 56 Comments

Clearly, I’m ready for fall. And in Los Angeles, that just means that Dodgers games are starting to end and I get to wear a light sweater. If I feel like it. Oh, and fall produce. If I haven’t mentioned to you before my favorite part of living in Southern California, its this: Farmers Markets.

This Golden State that I live in grows half of all the produce grown in the United States (that’s a lot) and we get to have Farmers Markets nearly every day of the year. And although mid-rant I realize that this post doesn’t even contain any produce, it does contain those fabulous flavors of fall. With bacon. And beer. And fall farmers markets are my favorite. No matter what day of the week, somewhere in Los Angeles there is a Farmers Market in which I can unnecessarily bundle up and walk from stall to stall with a cup of coffee buying local vegetables in the "chilly" mid 60 degree weather.

Pecan pie will always remind me of fall and for nearly a year I’ve wondered what it would be like to add bacon. And of course, beer.

Turns out, these are the best damn pecan pie bars I’ve ever had.

Beer & Bacon Pecan Bars

Print Recipe

Ingredients

For The Crust:

1 stick plus 2 tbs 10 tbs unsalted butter
2 cups flour
1/4 cup brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
2 tbs water

For the Filling

1 cup stout
1 stick butter
2 cups chopped pecan
2 cups brown sugar
1/2 cup light corn syrup
1/4 cup heavy cream
2 eggs
5 strips of bacon cooked and chopped

Instructions

Preheat oven to 350
In a food processor add the flour, 1/4 cup brown sugar, and salt, pulse to combine. Cut the butter into cubes and add to the food processor. Process until butter is incorporated into the flour mixture. Add the water and process to combine. Add additional water, 1 tsp at a time if there is flour that still hasn't been dampened.
line a 9 x 13 inch baking pan with parchment paper (this will make it easier to remove from the pan) and dump the shortbread into the pan. Press into the bottom of the baking pan in one even layer.
Bake at 350 for 12 minutes of until a light golden brown. Allow to cool before adding the filling or the crust and filling will mesh together.
In a pot over medium high heat, add the stout, cook until reduced by half. Add the butter and stir until melted, remove from heat. Add the sugar, pecans, cream, corn syrup and stir until melted. Once the mixture has cooled to room temperature, add the eggs and stir until combined.
Pour the filling over the crust, sprinkle with cooked bacon and bake at 350 until the filling no longer jiggles when you gently shake the pan, about 25-30 minutes.

Salted Caramel Pecan Linzer Cookies

07.12.2011 14 Comments

I’m reading What Alice Forgot. It’s about a woman who has no memory of the past ten years of her life. She thinks she is a blissfully in-love newly wed, pregnant with her first child when she is really a mother of three going through a nasty divorce. And she isn’t proud of the type of woman she has become: "a point-making hussy who went to the gym and upset her beloved sister and hosted cocktail parties…"

It got me thinking. What would the 2001 version of myself think of the 2011 me? Would she be proud? I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t think of myself as a point-making hussy. So that’s a win.

What would surprise me? What would disappoint me?

I’m pretty sure I would be shocked that I make Linzer cookies and have a food blog. Ten years ago I was just trying to figure out how to cook, skipping steps and trying to cheat recipes.

Am I going to be proud of the 2021 version? That older model with the inevitably fancier techno-gadgets and an 11 year old daughter? What would she tell me? What would I remind her?

She: "Even though you want to kick people in the shins when they tell you to "enjoy the baby years, they go by fast!" They are right. ENJOY chasing your naked toddler around the house before bath time because that will end"

Me: "Don’t forget how much work it took you to get where you are an appreciate it."

Who knows what else.

Where do you want to be in 2021? Or even the end of 2012?

What is stopping you? Make yourself proud, that 2001 version, the 2008, 2010 version. 2021 is going to come whether you like it or not. Where do you want to be?

Think about those goals you have neglected, like books on a dusty shelf. Those ones you would be embarrassed to have to answer to 2006 for not having even attempted.

They seem overwhelming, but you don’t have to do it all right now, just take a step. One today, one tomorrow. Order a catalogue from a college that has the major you have been thinking about. Start a business plan for that small business you want to start. Or just buy the domain name (about $10 at godaddy.com) for inspiration.

Leave that boyfriend that treats you like crap.

Take that photography class because you know that photo is in your blood you just have to figure out what aperture means.

Take on a part-time job so you can save for that trip to Europe that you are always talking about.

Actually volunteer.

Be the person you wanted to be ten years ago.

It takes work, but it’s worth it. If was easy it wouldn’t make anyone proud.

Linzer cookies are a sign of progress in my life, I never would have tried this ten years ago. And the look so fancy!

Salted Caramel Pecan Linzer Cookies

Cookies:

1 cup (2 sticks) of Butter

3/4 cup sugar

1 egg

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 tsp baking powder

2 cups of flour

1 tsp salt

Filling:

4 tbs butter

1/2 cup brown sugar

4 tbs light corn syrup (like Karo)

2/3 cup chopped pecans

2 tbs heavy cream, brought to room temperature

1/4 tsp kosher or sea salt plus 1/8 tsp salt, divided

Plus 1/4 cup powdered sugar for topping, if desired

In the bowl of a stand mixer, cream the butter and sugar. Add the egg and the vanilla and beat until well combined. In another bowl, add the flour, baking powder and salt, mix with a fork until combined. Add the flour to the stand mixer and mix until the flour is just incorporated into the butter mixture.

Form into a disk and wrap with plastic wrap. Refrigerate until cold, about 1 hour. It is important that the sugar cookie dough is cold or the cookies will spread too much during making.

Preheat oven to 350.

Once the dough is chilled, roll out and cut into 2 1/2 inch circles. Use a small cookie cutter to cut out a small window in the middle of just half of the cookies.

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes or until the edges just barely start to brown. It will probably look as if they need another minute or too, but cookies continue to bake once they are out of the oven and you don’t want these to be too crispy.

Allow to cool. Top the window cookies with powdered sugar, if desired.

In a large sauce pan over medium high heat, combine butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently until the sugar has dissolved. Allow to boil, without stirring, for about 5-7 minutes or until the sauce has turned an amber color. Remove from heat, stir in the pecans, vanilla and the cream and stir until combined. Allow to cool until thickened, but not hardened.

You don’t want to make the caramel sauce too far in advance because it will harden in the pan once cooled, making it impossible to add to your cookies.

Add about 1 tsp of the caramel mixture to the middle of the solid cookies (the ones without the cookie cutter windows) be very careful not to touch hot caramel, it will burn the crap out of your fingers. Use two spoons to get it into place without needing to touch it. Top immediately with a cookie with a cookie cutter window. Sprinkle a few grains of salt in the window. I used a super fancy large grain salt my sister bought me for my birthday. Yes, I am now the sort of person who gets excited to receive a box of super fancy salts from all over the world as a present. Take that 2001.

Allow to chill in the fridge until the caramel has set, about 30 minutes.

Pecan Pie French Toast

09.11.2011 14 Comments

I’ve already told you all about my deep love for weekend breakfasts. But maybe I haven’t told you why.

I have this amazing husband, that I sometimes think loves me more that I deserve. And I always worry that I’m going to fall off this pedestal he’s placed me on.

And I have this daughter that is already cooler and more spectacular than I will ever be. I know I’ll always be proud of her, but I worry about her being proud of me.

And I have to leave her 5 days a week and go to an office. And help people.

And I worry. About being a good mom. About all the insane things that could happen to Tater, because it happened once to someone, somewhere, one time, 12 years ago.

I worry that I spend too much time away from her. Is she happy enough? Am I doing the right thing by working? Would I lose all sanity if I was a real life Stay At Home Mom? I want her to have all the things that I didn’t, but one of those things is lots of one on one time…

Being a mom is so hard. No matter what your situation.

And even though these scary thoughts consume my drive to and from work, and sometimes make me cry, I always know that I can count on weekend breakfast. I know that no matter what else made me feel like a failure during the rest of the week, I can feel like I did something right.

I cooked yummy food for my little family. We ate it together. And we all smiled. For a small window of my week, we were perfect…. except when Tater put eggs in her Big Girl cup, and threw toast on the ground, and cried because I was taking too long to get it all to the table, and she fed Sophia raisins that could make dogs sick…OK, perfect doesn’t exist when you are a human and being a mom makes you see that gap as a huge chasm that you will never even make it half way across. But weekend breakfast makes it feel smaller.

I know that when I get old, I won’t remember the lack of sleep. The long commutes on LA freeways. The tantrums that drive me to a crazy place. But I will remember that smiling face. The family breakfast. Even though I have less patience than I want to have, and the thought of all the responsibility that goes along with parenting makes me so overwhelmed…. I still believe that theses really are "the good 'ole days." At least that’s how I will remember them. When I live to be 100.

Pecan Pie French Toast

(Will make you feel a little bit closer to perfect.

To be made during those weeks when you need to know that you did at least one thing right)

For the Filling/Topping

1 stick of butter

1 cup of firmly packed brown sugar

1/2 cup light corn syrup (like Karo)

1 tsp vanilla extract

2 cups chopped pecans

2 lightly beaten eggs

For the Toast:

8 slices of thick cut bread

3 eggs

2 cups of milk

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp vanilla

1 tbs sugar

Preheat oven to 400.

In a large sauce pan over medium high heat, combine butter, brown sugar, and corn syrup. Bring to a boil, stirring frequently, allow to boil for about 3-5 minutes. Remove from heat, stir in the pecans and vanilla and allow to cool to about room temp.

In a large bowl, combine the 3 eggs, milk, 1 tsp vanilla, salt, and sugar and whisk to combine. One at a time, soak each slice of bread for about 30 seconds. Add to a hot pan over medium-high heat, coated with non-stick cooking spray. Cook on each side for about 2-4 minutes or until golden brown. Transfer to a baking sheet, sprayed with non stick cooking spray (slices will be stacked, two slices high, so you only need a baking sheet big enough for 4 slices.) Repeat for all slices.

In a small bowl, beat the 2 eggs until combined. Add to your cooled pecan mixture and stir until well combined (if the pecan mixture is too hot, you will make scrambled eggs, make sure it’s room temp). Return to heat and allow to boil, stirring frequently, for 2-5 minutes or until thickened. Allow to cool a bit.

On one slice of bread, add about 2-4 tbs of the pecan mixture to the center. Top with another slice of toast. Repeat until you have 4 "sandwiches " of pecan pie stuffed french toast on a baking sheet.

Bake in a 400 degree oven for 10-12 minutes.

Add to a plate and top each serving with 2-4 tbs of the remaining pecan mixture.

Enjoy.

Give yourself a break, you are a good human. You made a great breakfast, the rest of the world can wait.

Printable: Pecan Pie French Toast

Take a second to like my Facebook Page to receive info about new post in your feed.