Pecan and Chocolate Chip Mini Pies

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Sorry for the long absence from posting here. Other parts of my life have had to take precedence over blogging, as of late. As much as I love both baking and blogging, I've had to put things on hold somewhat for the time being. Hopefully life will return to some form of normalcy very soon. Until then I'll do the best I can to share as often as I can. By the way pecan pie is great comfort food!

Pecan pie ranks right near the top of my favorite desserts. I'm pretty much a pecan pie purist. I don't usually  like to mess around with the traditional pecan pie I grew up eating. I posted that recipe here, way back when I first started this blog. It will always be a favorite of mine but decided to try something different this time. I mean pecans and chocolate are a match made in heaven, so I broke with tradition and have to say I was not disappointed. These little pies are very tasty. Mini pies are the perfect single serving and would be great for entertaining.

I discovered Lyle's syrups a couple of years ago and love the flavor. The golden syrup is great in all kinds of baking and can be used a substitute for corn syrup in many recipes. I highly recommend using it for this pie but if you can't find it you can use a light corn syrup instead.

Pecan and Chocolate Chip Mini Pies
Printable recipe

Crust:
Your favorite recipe for a single crust pie, dough chilled. I like the crust from this pie. You could also use a refrigerated store bought pie crust.

For the filling:
3 large eggs
¾ cup Lyle's Golden Syrup*
1 cup sugar
3 tablespoons melted butter
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cups pecan halves, or coarsely chopped pecans
1 cup of semi-sweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

Method:
Preheat the oven to 400°F, and place a large baking sheet on the bottom rack.

Roll out the crust to ¼" thickness. Cut the crust into 6" circles using a pastry cutter, and press each circle into a mini pie pan or a jumbo muffin tin.* If you don't have a 6" round pastry cutter divide your dough into 6 equal pieces and roll out each individual piece into a 6" or larger, ¼"-thick round. Press them into the pans.

Refrigerate the pan until the filling is ready.

In a medium-sized mixing bowl, beat together the eggs, syrup, sugar, melted butter, salt, and vanilla.

Divide the chocolate chips evenly among the pies, sprinkling them  into the bottom of each pie.
Pour 1/3-1/2 cup of filling into each of the pies. Divide the pecans evenly among the cups, sprinkling them over the filling. Fill each pie or muffin tin about 3/4 to the top. Don't fill to the pies very top of the pie pan.These pies puff up a good bit while cooking and will cook out if overfilled.

Place the mini pie pans or muffin tin on the heated sheet pan, and bake for 15 minutes; then reduce the oven temperature to 300°F and bake for another 20 minutes or until the centers of the pies are set.
Remove from the oven, and cool the mini pies completely in the pan before removing them and serving.

Yield: 6 mini pies or jumbo muffin size pies. 8-10 regular muffin sized pies.

source: King Arthur Flour Recipes

*you can also make these using a regular muffin tin but will need to adjust the cooking time slightly. I baked these  for the first 10 minutes at 400 degrees and 15-17 minutes at 300 degrees.

I made a few in a regular size muffin tin. Perfect party sized pie!

“Come join Love the Pie with TidyMom  sponsored by Cherokee USA, Le Creuset, Wilton,Bags by Bloom and  Harvard Common Press”

Texas Pecan Pie

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It's getting to be pecan season again. Yeah! I've already posted my personal favorite pecan pie recipe. Tuesday was Hubs birthday. He loves pecan pie so I planned on making him a pecan pie for his birthday. He also choose lasagna for his birthday dinner. He made the pasta sheets himself! So after getting caught up making lasagna( really awesome lasagna!)I ran out of time. I remembered reading a recipe in The Pastry Queen cookbook for some pecan pie bars. Because they have a shortbread crust and didn't need to cook as long as the pie I knew they'd be done in time.
Wow are these bars great. They are basically a pecan pie on a shortbread crust that you can pick up. No fork needed. Portable pecan pie, what could be better! These bars are crunchy/gooey in all the right places.
We also thought the coconut was a great addition. The next time I make these, (and there will be a next time!) I'm going to throw in a couple handfuls of chocolate chips.
So now I have two favorite pecan pie/dessert.


Texas Pecan Pie Bars
source: Rebecca Rather, The Pastry Queen

Yield: 1 dozen

Crust:

1 1/4 cups unsalted butter, at room temperature

1 cup firmly packed golden brown sugar

4 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

Filling:

8 large eggs

6 cups firmly packed golden brown sugar

1/4 cup Bourbon (recipe says optional but you'll be missing out if you leave it out!)

6 Tbl unsalted butter, melted

2 Tbl Vanilla Extract

1 cup all purpose flour

1 tsp salt

2 cups sweetened flaked coconut

2 cups pecan halves


Crust:

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease a 12 by 17-inch baking pan with butter or cooking spray.

2. Using a mixer fitted with a paddle attachment. beat the butter and brown sugar in a large bowl on medium speed about 1 minute. Add the flour and salt; mix on low speed until evenly incorporated but still crumbly.

3. Press the mixture evenly over the bottom of the prepared pan. Bake the crust for 15 to 20 minutes, until it has darkened to a deep golden brown. Leave the oven at 350°F.

Filling:

1. Whisk the eggs and sugar in a large bowl until blended. Stir in the bourbon, butter, vanilla, flour, and salt, then the coconut and pecans.

2. Pour the filling over the cooled crust, spreading evenly. Bake until set, 25 to 30 minutes.

Cool thoroughly, at least 30 minutes, before cutting into 3-inch squares or diamonds.

Southern Comfort

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Here is my entry for the Click photo event. The subject for December is nuts. With pecans in abundance here, I decided to use them in my entry for the contest. These mini bourbon pecan pies are a real bite of southern comfort!
Go here for the recipe.
Check out all the other participants on Junglbundi. Wish me luck!!

Fall pies continued...

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I know I waxed eloquent in my last post about pumpkin pie and its fall significance and all around pumpkin perfection. All of which I stand by wholeheartedly, however, there is another pie which also evokes much of the same feelings for me. Many of my childhood memories of fall revolve around pecans. Growing up on a farm with 60-80 pecan trees, picking up pecans became a central part of fall. It's how we kids earned money for Christmas shopping and things like summer camp. I'm not saying we were always happy about it, there was plenty of grumbling, whining etc... But looking back there was a lot of laughing and good times as well. Needless to say we ate LOTS of pecans. Many in the form of pecan pie.
After marrying and moving away I really missed those fresh, organic pecans that were so plentiful on our farm. Buying pecans from the grocery store was always a disappointment. They can be anywhere from a year to two years old before you buy them. Those dried out nuts are nothing like the plump nuts we picked up, cracked out, and ate.
Hubs and I moved back near my family a couple years ago and since that time the pecan crop has been nearly non-existent. No nuts at all, so unfair! This year however things have amazingly turned around. In spite of a terrible drought though out whole southeastern US, this years pecan crop has been unbelievable. So many nuts in fact that many of the pecan trees have lost large limbs from the weight of the nuts. All the nuts on the farm are organically grown, picked up and hand shelled on the premises. For more info or to order pecans check out the farm blog http://waterberryfarm.blogspot.com/.
Hubs is not much a dessert person, he could take it or leave it. Unbelievable, I know! However pecan pie is one of the few desserts he doesn't ever pass up. Especially Bourbon Pecan Pie, a family recipe I've been making for years.

Southern Bourbon Pecan Pie

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1 1/2 cup pecans

1 cup sugar* see note

1 cup Karo Syrup (light corn syrup)

4 eggs

Pinch of salt

1 teaspoon good quality vanilla

2 TBL Bourbon (I use Jim Beam)

One 9" unbaked pie shell

Method

Preheat oven to 350

Melt butter in large skillet. I skim away any foam from the cream in the butter that rises to the top. Then toss the nuts into the butter and cook 1-2 minutes until nuts are coated with the butter and warmed. Remove from heat and cool slightly. In another large bowl, whisk together sugar, syrup, and salt. Whisk in eggs one at a time and stir in vanilla and bourbon. Stir in the butter/pecan mixture and pour into prepared unbaked pie shell and bake for 35-45 minutes until the center of the pie is set .

*You can use 1/2 a cup of brown sugar and 1/2 a cup of regular sugar for a more dense, rich pie

** Also great with cinnamon whipped cream from the last post:)