After a roller coaster ride through the first se
mester/quarter of college, your Pass the Cocoa chefs are back in town for the holiday season! I'm not gonna lie; college is not the stroll in the park you'd like to envision. First of all, the academic rigor is at least five times that of high school (seriously). If you're like me, it's the first time you've been away from home for such an extended amount of time. And overall, everything is just different, and you have to adjust your eat, study, and play habits accordingly. But all that aside, these first few months have been an amazing experience. I made new friends, figured out the El transportation system, competed at my first synchronized figure skating competition (we placed!), went to a college "party" (interesting, to say the least), explored the campus, and it was just a great time.
That being said, the college experience also allowed
me to gain a greater appreciation for my family at home who has constantly supported me in my every endeavor. I missed my friends, my family
,
my roo
m,
home food, ice dance...But
most of all, I
missed baking for Pass the Cocoa!
So this winter break, I have one thing to say: Never has it felt so good to be ho
me.
*
Greetings! This holiday season, your Pass the Cocoa chefs present to you a simple, classy, ooh-y-goo-y, yummilicious dessert that is a
must try
.
Ahh, pecan pie.
You're either drooling with just the thought of this drea
my dessert, or you might be
one of those poor unfortunate souls who have never tried peca
n pie. Either way, g
ive it a try. Pecan pie is just so delicious; you really shouldn't pass up this opportunity. The recipe's fro
m The Pioneer Woman, so quality assurance guaranteed.
I
made the pie crust by scratch because I felt like taking on a challenge this winter break. But if you'd like to cut some time off the prepwork, you can buy a pre-made crust from the grocery store. The main reason why I chose to make mine by scratch is that I wanted to see if it'd taste better. Keep reading for the verdict.
Gradually work vegetable shortening (or in my case, butter) into the flour until it resembles a coarse meal.
Beat egg and add to flour mixture. Add cold water, vinegar, and salt.
Incorporate ingredients and m
ake into dough.
Split into thirds and put inside plastic bags to freeze for about 15 minutes. Oh yeah, flatten the balls before putting them in the freezer. It'll make life much easier in later steps.
The brilliance of this pie crust recipe is that you can store the dough in the freezer for however long you'd like until you need it. As far as I'm aware of, you can store it forever. Just be sure to allow at least 15 minutes to thaw when you take it out of the freezer.
Roll out the dough on a floured surface, starting from the center and working your way out. Don't do the play-dough rollypolly thing. Continue rolling until it's about 1/2 inch larger in diameter than your pie pan.
Make it look pretty, like so.
Add the pecans.
Add your syrup mixture consisting of white sugar, brown sugar, salt, corn syrup, vanilla, butter, and eggs. Bake for instructed amount of time. Your slice of pecan pie should look a little something like this if you followed all the instructions correctly.
As you can tell, I spent the majority of the time making the pie crust. The verdict? It definitely tastes good with the pecan filling. But honestly, I don't know if the hand-made crust worth all that extra time and effort I put into it
. Who knows if it would've been better to just save yourself the
energy and buy the store-bought version. But then again, I did opt to ignore the part of the instructions that advised against using butter to replace vegetable shortening (I was out of stock).
But the pecan pie itself? Simply d
elicious.
Happy Holidays!
Caroline & Monica
Printer-friendly recipe of Pecan Pie
.
Pecan Pie
Sweet, custardy, sugary—almost caramely—goodness
.
From
Pie crust based
(takes about 1 hour prep time)
Prep Time: 10 minutes (with pre-made crust)
Baking Time: 50 - 70 minutes
Total Time: 1 - 1½ hours
Ingredients
pie crust (make yourself, or buy pre-made)
1 cup white sugar
3 tbsp brown sugar
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup corn syrup
3/4 tsp vanilla
1/3 cup salted butter, melted
3 eggs, beaten
1 cup chopped pecans
Directions
1. Prepare pie crust (either store-bought or hand-made). Pour chopped pecans in the bottom of the unbaked pie shell.
2. Mix sugar, brown sugar, salt, corn syrup, butter, eggs, and vanilla together in a bowl. Pour syrup mixture over the pecans on the pie crust. Cover gently with foil and place on top of a larger pan to prevent spilling.
3. Bake at 350 degrees for 30 minutes. Remove foil and continue baking for 20 minutes. Be careful not to burn crust or pecans. Cool for a couple hours or overnight. Pecan pie is one of those desserts that taste best not straight out of the oven but after it has cooled adequately.
***Note: PIE SHOULD NOT BE OVERLY JIGGLY WHEN YOU REMOVE IT FROM THE OVEN. If it shakes a lot, cover with foil and bake for an additional 20 minute or until set. Cooking time varies from oven to oven. For me, it took around 70 minutes total to bake.