Round Dos! Pecan Pie

So Sunday was round two if the BAKE OFF!! I was a tad nervous going in this time around considering the man who has NEVER baked anything in his LIFE won the first round when we made cranberry orange scones. See, I had never baked a scone before (which was definitely fair, no doubt about that) but I wasn't going to be bitter if I lost! And in fact, I wasn't! Beginners luck! I also found out during the first round that looks ain't always the deal breaker!!! Just kidding...your scones still looked like scones! Presentation and glamor comes later on in the baking world. First, you gotta bake tasty treats THEN ya work on perfecting their looks. Anyways...ya got me the first time around! BUT NOT THIS TIME!

Round two of the ultimate bake off involved pecan pies.

Two...sticky...extremely...sweet...pecan pies! I've made a key lime pie...a...pumpkin cheese cake which could have been considered a pie because I didn't have a spring form pan at the time...and...well...that's about it! I'm pretty new to the pie world so this was going to be another challenge. After picking my recipe from Epicurious (everyone should check out this site some day), I actually felt pretty confident as it had a "special" ingredient...orange zest...ya ever heard of such a thing in pecan pie!? Not me...

I think, other than the orange zest, our recipes were both pretty similar. Martin chose a flaky crust and I chose the butter crust that was actually included in my recipe. Flour, butter, salt, and water were the only four ingredients in my crust. I've come to the conclusion that homemade crust isn't really my worst enemy. Just use your hands! Probably better than a food processor anyways! (That's on my Christmas list this year actually) I could actually use a processor for crushing nuts and other things too, so it will be a great asset to Liv's Bakery, no doubt!

Anyways, getting back on track...the crust sat in the fridge for over an hour...maybe two...and it was ready to be rolled out. I was a little nervous at first because when I took it out of the fridge, it was rather stiff. I immediately thought it was going to be tough to roll out but with a little flour and friction, it turned out fab! I always doubt myself when it comes to making enough dough or something of that sort. I always seem to want to make more because it never looks enough! When baking cupcakes, I used to put too little batter in each cupcake liner because I underestimated...I've learned that lesson though! And I now put more...this time it looked like there wasn't going to be enough dough but after rolled and pressed into the 9 inch pie pan...there was a tad left over that I could trim from the edges. Perfecto!

The filling was probably the easiest thing I've ever made in a saucepan on the stove. It took some butter, brown sugar (actually less than the recipe called for), salt, vanilla, orange zest, and light (and a little dark) corn syrup. Melt the butter, whisk in the sugar, remove from the heat and add everything else! You are literally done from there. All you have to do is pour two cups of CHOPPED pecans in the CHILLED pie crust, pour the filling over the nuts, and bake for 55 minutes!

This pie set extremely well and won round two of the ULTIMATE BAKE OFF!! 1-1 baby...tie breaker round it is!!!

Tips for this pie: After taking a look at the recipe, I would make the following recommendations:
- Definitely use chopped pecans...no one wants to break their tooth on huge pecan halves 
- The recipe calls for all 3/4 cup of LIGHT corn syrup...I used 1/2 cup light, 1/4 cup dark...it's not as sweet this way and it is just right!
- I used only 1 cup of brown sugar rather than 1 1/4 cup. Again...makes it not as sweet!
- Put foil around the edges of your crust...they don't burn and it comes out fabulous!
- I ended up putting a little extra orange zest which was definitely NOT a bad thing. Adds that little kick ;)

I HIGHLY recommend this recipe. Crust and all. Great job Epicurious!

Random fact of the week: FAT makes treats moist. That is the phrase I live by when baking. How to improve my very own cupcake recipe? IT CAN ALWAYS BE MORE MOIST! Add an extra egg yolk...use full fat sour cream...oil...half and half...use WHATEVER has a good amount of fat and you will be satisfied. Some say use some oil in place of some of the butter that the recipe calls for. I have also found that weighing flour can be a good thing when baking...this ensures that you don't use more flour than the recipe calls for which, in turn, will ensure that your product is not dry :)

CHEERS!