New home. New job. New recipes.
As I logged back into my blog I couldn't help but feel embarrassed and disappointed in my lack of projects in more than four months. Yes, I did have to pack up my Hampton Roads life into way too many boxes for one person and have it trucked across the great state of Virginia to it's new home in Blacksburg. Yes, I am obnoxiously OCD so every box was unpacked within two days of being delivered so time wasn't necessarily an issue. Yes, my sewing machine went into a closet for safe keeping compared to the sewing room it once enjoyed in Portsmouth. There is just not enough room in the new place to leave all of my supplies constantly set up so into the closet they went. No, I have absolutely no excuse for not baking. Everything is right there and waiting for me in their cabinets.
After closing one chapter in the Coast Guard and moving to Blacksburg to finally (after five long years!) live with my husband, I began nannying for an amazing family in town. I thought there would need to be a drastic change in the way I approach the daily events in my new job, but it turns out the adults I used to work for threw very similar tantrums to the ones the kids all under the age of 7 throw. Anyway, adjusting to a new schedule along with a new everything else, I somehow lost track of time and before I knew it, here I am with three months of nothing to show in the way of project progress.
As the fall temperatures continue to drop and the Thanksgiving festivities near, I couldn't help but get the urge to make a pie. I love fruit pies with apple being my all-time, forever favorite. Unfortunately, my husband doesn't do anything fruit. Seriously, nothing. He does, however, consider himself a member of the pumpkin/pecan/french silk pie eating club. I have never had, let alone tried to make, a pecan pie so tonight was as good of a night as any to give it a whirl.
I was shocked at how simple of a recipe a pecan pie actually is. I started with a simple pie crust out of one of my favorite, classic cookbooks:
This single pie crust recipe is a no-muss no-fuss, limited-ingredient, all-around, great recipe made for those of us who can so easily screw one up.
After finishing the crust and placing it in my (brand-new) pie pan, I combined a stick of butter, 1 cup of light brown sugar, 3/4 cup of light corn syrup, and 1/2 tsp salt into a medium sauce-pan on medium heat and waited for it to start to boil. Once it began to boil and all of the ingredients were blended, I gave it about ten minutes to cool down before adding 2 cups of halved pecans, 2 tsp vanilla, and 2 tbs bourbon. Yes, I said bourbon. The Jim Beam kind of bourbon. Sounds amazing, right?! After all of those ingredients were combined, I slowly mixed in three beaten eggs and poured the batter into my waiting pie crust.
Knowing I love to bake, one of my sister-in-laws got me this silicon crust cover for my birthday. With the crust molded correctly, it allows the crust to cook through while preventing burning. Great invention and so much easier to use than aluminum foil.
Since I have never eaten or made a pecan pie before, I don't know what I was expecting but I really don't think this was it. For some reason it looked more glazed and ooey-gooey in my self-created, mental version. The recipe called for the pie to be baked at 400 for 40-45 minutes. My oven routinely needs more time than what is required but I didn't want to risk it and set the timer for 42 minutes. I might shave some time off the next time I make it and see if I get the results I thought I was looking for. Regardless, we cut it open and placed some vanilla ice cream on top and it was delicious. It's incredible how sweet of a pie it is from a small amount of brown sugar and corn syrup. The most important thing is that my husband gave the thumbs-up approval so I must have done something right.
Tomorrow's adventure: apple pie. Oh boy it feels good to be back at it again.
