Mom's Pecan Pie

I don't really like nuts. I never have. My husband doesn't like them either which just kind of vindicated me. I've already adapted quite a few recipes to exclude them...banana nut bread becomes banana bread, cranberry nut muffins becomes cranberry muffin, etc. So why, you ask, would I even try making pecan pie? I don't know; it seemed like a good idea at the time.

My Mom has a really good recipe for pecan pie. Ironically she doesn't eat pecan pie either (although she does like nuts in general). Everyone she makes it for just raves over it though. I made it a while ago and I managed to mess it up. I misread her recipe. Well, that's not 100% accurate (and Tyler would be hugely offended if I wasn't accurate). This is actually what happened. The recipe calls for 1/4 cup butter but in parentheses it said 1 stick. I glossed over the 1/4 cup and just went with the 1 stick. After I had mixed everything up, I occurred to me that the average stick of butter is 1/2 cup and not 1/4 cup. I came up with 2 possible options for the discrepancy. Either my Mom put the wrong measurement down or she buys half sticks. While the pie was already in the oven, I called my Mom to see which it was (because I could do absolutely nothing about it then anyway). Unfortunately, it was the second option. So I stared at the pie and let it bake an extra 15 minutes and it turned out great! Really though, can you go wrong with too much butter in a dessert? So here is the adapted recipe.

Mom's Pecan Pie
with an accidental adaptation by Erin

4 beaten eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup light corn syrup
1/2 Tbsp flour
1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
2 1/2 cup pecans
pinch of salt

1. Mix eggs, sugar, syrup, flour, and salt. Add melted butter. Stir in pecans and pour into an unbaked pie crust. Bake at 350 degrees for approximately 1 hour and 15 minutes (start checking on it at 1 hour).
   

The final product: sweet, buttery and delicious. As this was my first taste of pecan pie, I don't have anything to compare it to but I thought it was ooey, gooey and wonderful. I took it to a potluck dinner and it got rave reviews from all the pecan pie connoisseurs there. And look how pretty it is! I'm a sucker for pretty and sweet so I'll probably make this frequently.

Elias' Birthday Cupcakes

It's a month and a half later and I'm finally posting about Elias' birthday cupcakes. Some might say that I should just have forgotten about them but they were so good that I can't.

I'll be honest...I don't really like cake. It's usually dry and covered in overly sweet frosting. I'd much prefer something ooey and gooey. I wanted to keep with tradition for Elias' birthday though. How can you not have cake on your first birthday?!! So I went in search of something yummy to make for him. I hit a spot of inspiration when I saw apple cake. Elias loves apples!! Although the apple cake I've had before was also dry and a bit lack luster in flavor as well. I decided to combine a couple different recipes I found to see if I could solve the too dry/too mellow problem of apple cake.

Double Apple Cupcakes

3/4 cup sugar
6 Tbsp butter
3/4 tsp vanilla extract
2 eggs
1/2 cup applesauce, unsweetened (1 jar of baby food works perfect for this)
2 cups flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 tsp cinnamon
1/4 tsp nutmeg
1/8 tsp cloves
1/2 cup buttermilk
1 apple, finely diced

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees and prepare a muffin tin with paper liners.
2. Beat the sugar and butter with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and eggs and beat to combine. Add applesauce and combine well. Set aside.
3. In a separate bowl add the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and spices and whisk together.
4. Add half of the flour mixture to the batter and then add half of the buttermilk (or soured milk: stir together 1/2 Tbsp lemon juice and 1/2 cup regular milk and let sit for 5 minutes). Combine completely and repeat.
5. Add apple chunks and scoop batter into liners until they are each 2/3 full. Bake them for 22-25 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack before frosting.

Makes 12 cupcakes.

This most certainly goes best with a cinnamon buttercream frosting. Here's my own recipe for that as well.

Cinnamon Buttercream

2 sticks butter, salted, room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar
3 Tbsp heavy cream
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 tsp cinnamon

1. Beat butter with mixer until fluffy
2. Add powdered sugar, 1/2 cup at a time, until completely mixed.
3. Add cream and mix well. (Add a splash of milk if needed to reach desired consistency).
4. Mix in vanilla and cinnamon until completely combined.

Makes enough to frost 24 cupcakes.

The final product: Elias certainly liked it. Granted he's one and that was his first taste of cake. I really liked it as well (as did the rest of the guests). The cake had good apple flavor (from the diced apples) and wasn't dry at all (from the applesauce). The frosting was really divine as well. The combination was all around good and is certainly something I'll pull out each fall when apples are especially delicious. It's a super simple recipe but add a drizzle of caramel sauce or a cute caramel candy and this is ready for even the swankiest party or dessert shop display case. Try it!

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie

Chocolate chip cookies are classic. Everybody loves them. How can you go wrong putting all that yummy goodness in pie form? You can't, that's how.

Chocolate Chip Cookie Pie
From HowSweetEats

2 whole eggs
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
1/2 cup sugar
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1 cup butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
1 cup chocolate chips
1 whole unbaked pie shell

1. Preheat oven to 325 degrees. In a large bowl, beat eggs until foamy. Beat in flour, sugar, and brown sugar until well blended. Blend in melted butter. Stir in chocolate chips. Pour into pie shell and bake for 60 minutes. Serve warm with ice cream.

You'll be pretty excited to know that I've finally found my pie crust recipe. I can credit its origins to Tyler's cousin, Denita (who can credit it to a chef friend). I'm pretty stoked because I've tried quite a few and was getting pretty frustrated. What makes this THE recipe is its forgiving nature. While I still add a bit of liquid compared with the original liquid (and I'm still tweeking a bit), it is still pretty dry. That might sound like a bad thing but in this situation it isn't. It may not be the easiest thing to roll out into a pretty sheet but it pinches back together so well that it doesn't really matter. It's pinchability (yeah, that's not a word) means no more holes and cracks that pull apart when you prebake a crust. Oh and the taste, it's far superior to all the others I've tried. Seriously good and flaky.

Pie Crust

2 cups flour
7 Tbsp shortening, cold
4 Tbsp butter, cold
1/2 tsp salt
1 tsp sugar
1/2 baking powder
1/4 cup milk
10 drops vinegar

1. Put the flour in a large bowl and cut in the COLD shortening and butter with a pastry blender. It should look like coarse crumbs (a little smaller than pea-sized) when you're down.
2. Mix in the salt, sugar, and baking powder. Mix in milk and vinegar and form a ball. It should be dry and crumbly. If you absolutely can't get the ball to stay together, add a few more drops vinegar and milk, 1 tsp at a time, until you can just get it to stay together (it normally takes at least 1 or 2 tsp to get the desired consistency).
   
3. Roll it out on a well floured surface and transfer to a pie pan. Chill for 15-20 minutes before prebaking or filling (to allow butter and shortening to cool and to help it keep it's shape).
   

The final product: decadent. I couldn't get this to bake up as much as the original recipe showed (even though I baked it longer than the recipe touts) but it was still SO good. The center was ooey, gooey and oh so chocolaty. This would be wonderful with a scoop of ice cream for sure.

Butternut Squash, Apples and Pasta

This is another Rachael Ray recipe. I actually pulled it from her 20 make-ahead meal plan and just adapted it a bit to fit my purposes. I looked at the ingredient list and thought, "I love all of those things, but will I love them together?" With all that fall flavor, I thought I should certainly find out.

Pasta with Apple and Squash
adapted from Rachael Ray

3 cups butternut squash, peeled, seeded and chopped into 3/4-inch cubes (about 1/2 a large squash)
1 Tbsp olive oil
1/4 tsp salt
1/8 tsp pepper
1 lb pasta (rigatoni, rotini, penne, etc)
8 oz bacon, thinly sliced
1/2 tsp dried thyme
2 shallots, minced
1 tart apple, sliced
1/2 cup grated parmesan

1. Preheat your oven to 450 degrees. Put the chopped squash on a large rimmed baking sheet and drizzle with oil. Add salt and pepper and toss to coat. Spread evenly in the pan and bake for until fork-tender, about 15 minutes.
   
2. While the squash is baking, cook pasta al dente. Drain, reserving 1 cup cooking water.
   
3. In the same pot, cook bacon until just crisp; transfer to paper towels. Add shallots and apple and cook for 5 minutes. Add pasta, squash, cooking water, bacon and parmesan; season with additional salt and pepper and toss.
   

Serves 4.
The final product: homey and comforting. I'm a big fan of cooked squash (zucchini is a favorite but butternut is a close second). I'm also a big fan of bacon...and of cooked apples of any sort. Honestly, I'm a big fan of this meal. All of the ingredients, while delicious in and of themselves (except parmesan...it's really not good by itself), are even more delicious paired together. It might sound a little scary (especially if you're Tyler) but it really is good (even Tyler agreed).

MTAL #9

This is a Rachael Ray recipe that I've adapted to be an Asher-friendly meal. Her original recipe calls for beer to be the braising liquid (which you could still use if you buy wheat-free beer) but I swapped that out because, as I have mentioned before, I'm scared of the liquor section of the grocery store.

Braised Chicken Thighs with veggies
adapted from Rachael Ray

2 Tbsp flour (oat, barley, gluten-free all purpose, etc)
1 tsp salt
1/2 tsp pepper
1/4 tsp ground allspice
8 bone-in chicken thighs (about 3 lbs)
4 Tbsp olive oil
1 red onion, half finely chopped and half thinly sliced
1 cup beef broth (Kitchen Basics brand is Asher-safe)
2 carrots, cut into 2-inch matchsticks
1/2 lb green beans, cut into 2-inch pieces

1. In a small bowl, combine the flour, salt, pepper, and allspice. Coat the chicken in the flour mixture. In a large skillet, heat 1 Tbsp oil over medium-high heat. Add the chicken skin side down and cook until browned, about 5 minutes. Flip and cook until browned on the other side, 3 to 5 minutes; transfer to a plate. Discard all but 1 Tbsp fat from the skillet. Add the chopped onion to the skillet and cook until softened, 3 minutes. Stir in the broth, scraping up any browned bits.
   
2. Return the chicken to the pan, lower the heat, cover and simmer until cooked through, about 20 minutes. Transfer to a platter; tent with foil. Boil the liquid in the liquid in the skillet for 2 minutes to reduce slightly. Whisk 2 Tbsp oil (or a combination of soy milk and oil whisked together if you have soy milk available).
3. Meanwhile, in a pot heat the remaining 1 Tbsp oil over medium heat. Add the sliced onion and cook until softened, about 3 minutes. Stir in the carrots, cover and cook for 5 minutes. Add the green beans and 3 Tbsp water, cover and cook until crisp-tender, about 5 minutes; season with salt and pepper. Serve the vegetables topped with chicken and sauce.

Serves 4.

The final product: homey and delicious. As Asher-friendly meals go, this is surprisingly close to the real thing, even with all the swap-outs. The sauce, while it originally called for lots of butter, is still quite good. The coating on the chicken is a tad mushier than it's wheat-flour counterparts but is still quite tasty and satisfying. The vegetables are what I really adored with this meal. They are simple but highly addictive. What Asher (and Tyler) didn't finish, I scooped right up and devoured myself. Enjoy!

Ladyfingers

Ladyfingers sound fancy to me. I had heard of them a time or two before I started making Tyler's tiramisu but had never tried one. Even after using the store bought variety for tiramisu, I still had never eaten one by itself. I thought I should change that.

Ladyfingers
from Mastering the Art of French Cooking by Julia Child

1 Tb butter, softened
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar, in a shaker or sieve
1/2 cup granulated sugar
3 egg yolks
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 egg whites
pinch of salt
1 Tb granulated sugar
1/2 cup flour (plus more for dusting)

1. Preheat oven to 300 degrees
2. Prepare baking sheets: butter lightly, dust with flour and knock off excess flour.
   
3. Gradually beat the sugar into the egg yolks, add the vanilla and continue beating for several minutes until the mixture is thick, pale yellow and forms ribbons when the beaters are removed.
4. Beat the egg whites and salt together in a separate bowl until soft peaks are formed. Sprinkle on the sugar and beat until stiff peaks are formed.
5. Scoop 1/4 of the egg whites over the top of the egg yolk mixture. Sift 1/4 of the flour and delicately fold in until partially blended. Repeat 3 more times until all is combined and partially blended. Do not attempt to blend the mixture too thoroughly or you will deflate the batter.
6. Scoop batter into a pastry bag and squeeze out even lines onto the prepared baking sheets, making finger shapes 4 inches long and 1 1/2 inches wide, spaced 1 inch apart. Sprinkle with 1/16-inch layer of powdered sugar.
7. Bake in preheated oven for about 20 minutes. They should be pale brown under the sugar layer and slightly crusty on the outside. They should be tender but dry on the inside. As soon as they are done, remove from baking sheets with a spatula and cool on wire racks.

Makes 24 to 30 cookies.The final product: light and airy. These look nothing like the foamy things I bought at the store. They are crispy on the outside but still tender on the inside with just a touch of sweetness. These are great dunked in coffee or tea and would be even better sandwiched together with jam or some sort of butter cream.
FYI: They are really great in tiramisu too as they hold their shape slightly better than the store bought variety. This recipe makes just about the perfect amount for one recipe of tiramisu. Break out the pastry bags and give it a try for yourself. It's worth the effort!

Peanut Butter Pie

I love chocolate and peanut butter. I like pie. Therefore, I should like a peanut butter pie. So should you.

Vintage Peanut Butter Pie
from Tasty Kitchen

1 whole prebaked pie crust
8 oz cream cheese, softened
3/4 cups granulated sugar
1 cup creamy peanut butter
2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup whipping cream
8 oz semi-sweet chocolate
4 Tbsp hot brewed coffee
2 Tbsp heavy cream

1. Prepare the prebaked pie crust.
   
2. Combine the cream cheese, sugar, peanut butter, and vanilla. Beat until smooth and fully incorporated. Whip the whipping cream and fold it into the peanut butter mixture. By adding 1/4 of the whipping cream to begin with, the ingredients will be easier to combine Take care not to deflate the whipping cream. Pour the filling into the cooled pie crust, smooth the top and chill in the fridge for about an hour.
3. Break up the semi-sweet chocolate and pour in the hot coffee. Let the coffee melt the chocolate before adding the heavy cream. Stir until smooth and pour evenly over the entire pie. Chill the pie for an additional 3 hours. Serve cold.

The peanut butter layer in the pie crust. I used a regular pie crust so that I could practice making pie crust. This would be just as good with a chocolate graham cracker or Oreo crust.
The chocolate layer. It's so pretty and smells delicious!
The final product: decadent and wonderful. As you can see from the picture, it doesn't cut into nice, pretty slices, but it tastes so good that it doesn't matter. I say that even after going to all the effort of making the pie crust too. This pie is really, really good. The peanut butter layer is smooth and delicious (although with peanut butter and cream cheese, how could it not be?) and the top layer adds just enough chocolate to finish it off.