I have a young daughter that is an aspiring chef.
She is only 11 but loves Martha Stewart and is always ready to help out in the kitchen. She loves to peel, chop, flip, scrape, mix... and lick the bowl. Whether it be making cucumber salad or baking a pie, my youngest is always ready.
A few weekends ago, my oldest daughter was visiting friends so B (also for Bossy) decided she wanted to bake a pie with a homemade crust. We had all the ingredients, so I loaded Martha on the laptop and took her to the kitchen with us. The pecan crop has been abundant in our area this year so we decided the pie would be Southern Pecan Pie. I discovered my glass pie dish was left at Mom's house at Thanksgiving, so we ran to the store and picked up some foil pie plates and some more sugar.
Back home we got all of our ingredients out and I did the measuring while B started putting the crust ingredients into the food processor. As the crust chilled, we put together our pie ingredients.
We couldn't wait until it cooled to cut it, so that's why it's falling apart in our first picture. ( I think it even steamed up my camera lens.) The Southern Pecan Pie was divine! The filling was light and and the crust flakey. Well done, my Valentine!
Southern Pecan Pie
3/4 cup light corn syrup
2/3 cup granulated sugar
1 cup pecan halves
3 large eggs, beaten
2 tablespoons butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 (9-inch) unbaked pie crust
Preheat the oven to 400°F. Combine corn syrup, sugar, beaten eggs, melted butter, vanilla and salt in a large bowl; mix well. Stir in pecan halves. Pour into prepared pie crust and bake for 10 minutes. Lower oven temperature to 350°F and bake an additional 35 minutes, or until a knife comes out clean when inserted into the center of pie. Cool on wire rack before slicing, if you can.
Pate Brisee (the French version of classic pie or tart pastry, courtesy of Martha Stewart)
Makes 1 double-crust or 2 single-crust 9- to 10-inch pies.
· 2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
· 1 teaspoon salt
· 1 teaspoon sugar
· 1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, chilled and cut into small pieces
· 1/4 to 1/2 cup ice water
In the bowl of a food processor, combine flour, salt, and sugar. Add butter, and process until the mixture resembles coarse meal, 8 to 10 seconds. With machine running, add ice water in a slow, steady stream through feed tube. Pulse until dough holds together without being wet or sticky; be careful not to process more than 30 seconds. To test, squeeze a small amount together: If it is crumbly, add more ice water, 1 tablespoon at a time. Divide dough into two equal balls. Flatten each ball into a disc and wrap in plastic. Transfer to the refrigerator and chill at least 1 hour. Dough may be stored, frozen, up to 1 month.
