nuts

It turns out that I’ve acquired gestational diabetes during this whole pregnancy thing. Considering that for the first 6 months when I gave up diet coke, I took up fruit juice and sweet tea, AND that I couldn’t get enough of chocolate milkshakes (eeeep!), it doesn’t seem particularly surprising (but it is absolutely. the. pits.) I keep having these crazy sugar cravings, which I’ve kept at bay with sugar-free, fat free jello pudding, but sometimes all I can think about is a giant funfetti cupcake or an oreo blizzard.

We were having a dinner party for some people we’re aggressively pursuing as friends (my New Year’s resolution) the weekend before my 31st birthday and I just felt like I couldn’t possibly serve them PUDDING, so I decided to try my hand at a healthy-ish version of a cake I’d had my eye on since I got this cookbook for Christmas.

On top of this, the polar vortex also had me wanting something that reminded me of warmer times, so the Classic “tropical” hummingbird cake that I’ve heard about my whole life, seemed like the way to go and then I found a splenda-based recipe online. Turns out that a little splenda and applesauce can make a cake a little better for you.

Who says the pregnant diabetic lady can’t have her cake (and eat it, too?)

…

My mother in law, Shirley is an INCREDIBLE baker. A serious sweets maker. A sugar-craving away-taker.
So when she asked me to chip into the Thanksgiving preparations by making a pecan pie I felt more than a little nervous… thankfully, she was making an apple AND a pumpkin pie just in case.

She also made enough crust so I could just use the flaky pastry she’s perfected over the years…which meant that I was really just in charge of the filling. I wanted to jazz up the standard pecan pie recipe she had just a bit, so I combined a couple of recipes that looked good and ended up with a Chocolate. Bourbon. Pecan. Pie. that was the real deal for people who need a little something (or a lot of something) sweet after ALL the thanksgiving gorging.

I wanted to share the recipe here since it was really tasty AND I was able to get Shirley’s fantastic pie crust recipe with tips and notes straight from the horse’s mouth. Read on because it’s hard to find a foolproof pie crust recipe AND because I promise this pie isn’t only good in November.

Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

Serves 8-ish

What you need:

For the Pie Crust…

1 cup all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/3 Cup plus 1 Tablespoon of Crisco or other shortening
2 Tablespoons of cool water

For the filling…

2 cups pecan halves or pieces
3 large eggs, beaten
1/4 Cup butter, melted
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1 cup sugar
2-3 tablespoons good-quality bourbon

2 teaspoons vanilla

2/3 Cup semisweet chocolate chips

What you Do:

Preheat your oven to 325.

Once that’s done we’ll get started with the crust… Shirley’s favorite recipe comes from a super Classic Betty Crocker cookbook. It’s clear that this book has been used and loved and cooked from for decades, and her pies are always SO good there’s no need to fix something that isn’t broken.

To make the crust, mix your salt into the flour in a medium mixing bowl. Cut the shortening into the flour/salt mixture using a pastry cutter or a fork until the mixture is the size of peas. Shirley uses a fork, and works just right, so if you don’t have a pastry cutter, don’t fret or run out and buy one. (this is Shirley, hard at work.)

Add in the water, one Tablespoon at a time, sprinkling it around the flour/shortening mixture and stirring/working it into the flour with the fork until it’s moistened. At this point, you’ll need to get your hands in it (or WANT to… we’re making pie crust here!) Gather the dough together with your hands until it releases from the sides of the bowl.

Press it into a ball. Whatever you do, don’t overwork the dough… this means, just press the dough enough in your hands to make it a ball.. anything more than that, you’re overworking it.

Now, lightly flour your work surface and turn the ball of dough out onto it. Lightly flour the rolling pin and/or the top of the ball of dough so it won’t stick. No really… lightly flour this so you don’t work too much flour into the dough otherwise it’ll be too tough.

Flatten your dough ball just a little by hand, and then roll it out. If your dough cracks at the edges, you can work it back together with your hands.

Tip from Shirley: Roll the dough from the center of the ball OUTWARD so that your pie ends up a more uniform thickness.

You’ll need to roll the dough into a circle about 1/8″ thick. It’ll also need to be a 1″-2″ inches greater than the diameter of the pan. (so if your pan is 9″ in diameter, then you’ll want to have 10″ or 11″ circle of pie crust”

THIS IS TRICKY for the beginner, but you can do it! Make sure the top of the crust is lightly floured and fold the the dough circle in half to make a half-moon. Carefully (eeks!) lift the dough into your pie pan with the fold in the center and then unfold it to cover the entire pan. Lightly press the dough down onto the edges of the pan, and along the sides.
The dough will hang over the edge of the pan a little bit. It’s almost time to crimp the crust and make it pretty, but first you’ll want to roll the dough along the edges back under so that you have a little extra ridge of dough to work with. Then, you can take your thumbs and make an imprint with a little raised ridge between each. Continue around the pan using both thumbs. You can technically also use a fork for this if you want a different kind of edge, but Shirley crinkles her nose and shakes her head at this tactic.”Use your thumbs,” she says.

At this point you can set the pie crust aside and start on your filling. Pull all your ingredients together, since this is a dump and stir kind of deal.

Start by combining your eggs and sugar and mix well. Add in your corn syrup, vanilla, and bourbon and stir into the eggs, then add in your melted butter.

I added the pecans BEFORE the butter the first time, but I recommend adding the pecans and chocolate chips in last so that all of the liquid ingredients are able to mix and incorporate super well.

Pour the mixture into your pie crust and and bake at 325 degrees for about 45 minutes or until the filling sets. Let sit to firm up and cool for a about 10 minutes, then cut and serve (ideally with vanilla ice cream!)

Hope you like Shirley and my first cooking collaboration (the first of many!)

Hummingbird Cake with Cream Cheese and Pecan Frosting (for the health nuts & the diabetic pregnant ladies)

The real deal…Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie

Footer