Giving Pie a Try

Oddly, I tried pecan pie for the first time this Thanksgiving. We have always had it, but I never gave it a try because why would you have pie with nuts in it ("healthy choice" in my eyes), when you could have ice cream and cake? However, this year, under the influence of my grandma, I tried it. And I loved it. She introduced me to an amazing maple bourbon pecan pie recipe from Clinton Street Bakery. Later that day, my grandma suggested we make it, and give some to my boss for him to try. I will never say no to cooking, so I said of course. We planned to make it together, but plans didn't work out as hoped. I'm impatient, so I had her send me the recipe and I made it on my own. I went into it with little planning. I went to the grocery store right after school, had my mormon mom buy me bourbon at the ABC store, and then headed to a friends to make the pie. I started right off the bat with the pie crust. Many mistakes followed. Mistake #1: Since, again, I am impatient, I rushed with the crust (don't do that). I did not give the butter or shortening nearly enough time to cool. If you try this recipe, you NEED to make sure that they are both as cold as possible. Mistake #2: Don't food process the crap out of the pie dough. I was so worried about it not looking like dough that I whizzed it to death. As both my grandma and boss pointed out to me, this process needs to be done as fast as possible, so that lots of gluten strands don't start to form. My advice for this is to read over the recipe and steps carefully before you begin, so that you know what to do in the moment, instead of constantly stopping to refer to the recipe on what to do next (like I did). Mistake #3: Let the dough chill! I pulled out the crust from the fridge way too soon, so when I rolled it out it was very soft and broke easily. When you pull you crust out of the fridge it should be noticeably harder and chilled. Doing all these things right, will result in that perfect flakey crust that we all hope for. Granted, I have never made pie before, so in the moment I didn't know I was missing these crucial steps. As far as the filling goes, it tasted great. The only thing I would recommend, that I didn't do, is to mix all the ingredients, except for the pecans, until fully combined, and then add the pecans last. Other than that, its pretty straight forward. Put everything in a bowl and mix it together. Despite my mistakes, this pie wasn't half bad. The crust was still crust, and the filling was still gooey and delicious. I am glad that I messed a lot of things up, because now I know exactly what NOT to do for next time. I got all the mistakes out of the way, so that next time it should *knock on wood* turn out great! And hopefully by reading this before making the pie, you can skip the mistake pie, and move right on to the perfect one. This really is a great recipe. I strongly encourage you to try it, even if you don't think you will like pecan pie. Believe me, I didn't think I would, but this one is great. It's a fairly simple recipe for everyone to enjoy. If you give this pie a try, feel free to reach out and let me know how it went! I would love to hear about everyones experiences. 

PS: Sorry I don't have a lot of pictures for this recipe, I completely forgot to take photos. I just took a picture of what was left. At least it shows that it was a hit!

Clinton Street Bakery Maple Bourbon Pecan Pie Recipe:

Crust:

Ingredients:

6T very cold unsalted butter

1 1/2C all-purpose flour

1t kosher salt

1T sugar

1/3C very cold vegetable shortening

3-4T ice water (about 1/4C)

Directions:

1. Dice the butter and return it to the refrigerator while you prepare the flour mixture
2. Place the flour, salt and sugar in the bowl of a food processor fitted with a steel blade and pulse a few times to mix
3. Add the butter and shortening
4. Pulse 4 to 6 times, until the butter is the size of peas
5. With the machine running, pour the ice water down the feed tube and pulse the machine until the dough begins to form a ball
6. Dump out on a floured board and roll into a ball
7. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes
8. Then, roll on a well-floured board into a circle, rolling from the center to the edge, turning and flouring the dough to make sure it doesn’t stick to the board
9. Fold the dough in half, place in a pie pan, and unfold to fit - - - don’t stretch the dough! Crimp edges for a single-crust pie

Tips:

• Be sure that the shortening, butter, and water is very cold!
• The dough should form into a ball when processing
• Don't process it too many times, do it as few times as possible in order to get a solid dough (no more than 10 times)
• Roll the dough to a 10" diameter in order to fit a 9" pan
• Keep the dough outside of the fridge for as little time as possible

Filling:

Ingredients:

2C pecan pieces

1C dark corn syrup

1/2C maple syrup

1/2C sugar

½ stick (4T) unsalted butter, melted

4T bourbon (airline size bottle)

1t vanilla

Directions:

Preheat the oven at 325. In a large bowl, whisk all the ingredients, except the pecans, together until well combined. Add pecans to the mixture and stir well. Pour the mixture into the crust filled pie pan. Bake at 325 for 30 minutes, then turn down the oven to 300 and bake another 25 minutes, until the pie is set. Let cool for at least 20 mins before serving. 

Tips:

• Signs the the pie is done: When you shake the pie a bit it shouldn't giggle, it should look more firm. When you stick a knife in the center it should come out clean. If you like to go by temperature the pie should be about 200 degrees F (93 degrees C).
• It took more time than this recipe calls for, for mine to cook all the way through. If you have the same problem raise the temperature back up to 325 and cook it for additional 5 minute incriminates until the pie is set.

HAVE FUN & ENJOY :)