As soon as there is even a hint of fall in the air, I get in the mood to bake. I love making breads, cakes, cookies, etc.
Now with the new house...and new kitchen...I have been even more in the mood for testing it out.
I decided to challenge myself last week and bake my first pie...a pecan pie.
I saw this delectable recipe on an episode of Katie Brown's Workshop. It intrigued me because it had cream cheese in it, which I had never heard of in a pecan pie before.
I went to the store and picked up all of the ingredients {but did cheat and get premade pie dough...I am not that brave yet!}...
Another recipe that I saw, recommended toasting the nuts before baking, so I decided to do that.
The Katie Brown recipe called for both pecans and walnuts, so while the oven was preheating, I popped the nuts in to toast for a bit.
After letting them cool, I chopped the pecans and then put together the first batch of ingredients for the bottom layer of the pie including the cream cheese...
Next, I mixed together the nuts, dark corn syrup and remaining ingredients in another bowl...
Now, I am not an expert baker by any stretch of the imagination.
And as it usually goes...I make some huge mistakes when I cook...
The first in this recipe...I did not have pie weights, and while I did generously pierce the crust with a fork for blink baking...it still puffed up quite a bit and shrunk a little.
I was nervous that the two layers would overflow the crust...
You first fill it with the cream cheese batch and then pour the nut batch over top. Thankfully they both fit without overflowing...
Then you are supposed to bake it at 350 degrees for 40 to 50 minutes.
But...my next huge mistake...
The pie crust was supposed to prebake for 10-11 minutes at 450 degrees.
I forgot to lower the temp for the pie. Just popped it in the oven...
And then about 20 minutes later I could hear the nuts sizzling a bit, so I went to check and realized the error of my ways. It was very dark and the crust was browning.
I pulled it out immediately and lowered the temp to 300 waiting a bit...and then, since I wasn't sure if it was completely done, put it back in for about 10 minutes with foil covering the top...
I was a bit devastated at first thinking that I had completely ruined it and wasted all of these ingredients. I tried hard not to get too upset over it and just let it cool and see later if it tasted okay. It wasn't burnt so that was a good sign.
Turned out that it tasted delicious. The husband loved it as did my sister and her fiance when they came for a visit.
Just goes to prove that you can make huge mistakes sometimes, and things can still work out.
The perfect dessert with some French Vanilla tea on a crisp, autumn afternoon.
Here is the recipe {and link} from the Katie Brown site if you feel like spending some time baking a pie this season. I will definitely try this recipe again...but hopefully without the same mistakes ;)...
Pecan Pie
Ingredients:
1 package cream cheese, softened
½ + ¼ cup brown sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla
¾ teaspoon salt
4 eggs
One 10 inch deep dish pie crust
1 cup dark corn syrup
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup chopped walnuts
Get Cookin'
1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine cream cheese, 1/4 cup sugar, 1-teaspoon vanilla, and salt. Once mixture is smooth, add 1 egg and mix well.
3. Spread cream cheese mixture into the base of the pie shell. Combine remaining eggs, sugar, vanilla, corn syrup, pecans, and walnuts. Pour mixture over cream cheese.
4. Bake for 40-50 minutes or until center of the pie is set.
Makes one 10" deep dish pie, Serves 12
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I want to send a big thank you to Julie who sent Renoir his first housewarming/Halloween gifts...
It is because of Julie that Renoir thinks every package that comes is for him ;) and he got so excited when this one arrived. Oh, how she spoils him! And he loves it...
His tail was wagging and he barked at me while I took my time opening, photographing and reading the card before I let him dive in and pull out his gifts.
He was off in a flash with black and orange tissue paper flying around him...
He absolutely loves them Julie! Thank you so much for loving our little guy...
We send the love right back to you ;)
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I can't wait to share my next post with all of you. Joshua and I discovered an amazing architectural and salvage shop in the city, where I took a ton of photos of all the beauty we found there.
We even picked a little something up for the house which I will also share. I do hope you will stop by later in the week to see more of our home renovation journey...
Till next time...
