Pecan

Deep Dish Porter Pecan Pie

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?

 

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Deep Dish Porter Pecan Pie

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

Directions

  1. 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.
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. Preheat oven to 350.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
  7. *Note: This recipe is for a deep-dish pie pan. The filling is too much for a regular pie pan.
http://thebeeroness.com/2012/11/27/deep-dish-porter-pecan-pie/

Beer & Bacon Pecan Bars

 

 

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.

 

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Beer & Bacon Pecan Bars

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

Directions

  1. Preheat oven to 350
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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.
http://thebeeroness.com/2012/09/06/beer-bacon-pecan-bars/