Bourbon Pecan Pie

My in-laws came in from Asia for Christmas, so Will and I were in charge of Christmas dinner! This has been a year of firsts as far as hosting goes for major holidays. Whew- its a lot of work, but always worth it! We made a delicious meal and of course a dessert was completely necessary! In my CSA bag I got pecans, so of course! A pecan pie! 

I decided to go with a bourbon pecan pie and who else to turn to, but Paula Deen?! I ended up adding more bourbon than she did (which I was happy about) but it turned out perfectly and was very easy to make. Perfect for the season on any night. Enjoy!

Local Pecans

Ingredients

The unbaked pie

Finished product

Bourbon Pecan Pie

Ingredients

1 (9-inch) deep dish pie shell, unbaked

1 cup of sugar

3 tablespoons of butter, melted

1/2 cup dark corn syrup

3 large eggs, beaten

2 cups of pecan halves

3 tablespoons of good quality bourbon (I used Bulleit Bourbon)

Trader Joes French Vanilla ice cream :)

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F

2. In a medium bowl, stir together the sugar and melted butter. Add the corn syrup, eggs, pecans and bourbon and stir until all ingredients are combined. 

3. Pour mixture into the unbaked pie shell and place on a tinfoil covered cookie sheet 

4. Bake for ten minutes. Then lower the temperature of the oven to 350 degrees F and continue to bake for an additional 30-35 minutes (until the pie has set)

5. Remove from the oven and cool on a wire wrack. Serve with ice cream and enjoy!

A la mode of course! 

Side note: It will still be a little "soupy" in the center when you take it out of the oven....don't worry, it will harden as it cools!




















Recipe adapted from Paula Deen's version

Heirloom Pumpkin Pie

 My Grandmother, Domenica Battaglia, is an excellent cook. I try and cook with her often while she is in town visiting. Last year, through our CSA, I received an heirloom pumpkin and saw it as a great opportunity to spend time with her, learn from her, and cook my first homemade pumpkin pie. 

It turned out delicious! I just received another heirloom pumpkin today at the CSA pick up and I cannot wait to make this again!

As you can see (top right), Loosey thought it smelled delicious!!

The process from start to finish

The raw heirloom pumpkin. I didn't weigh it but it was big and heavy!

             The baking pumpkin, softening in the oven

Scraping the cooked pulp out, being careful to leave the seeds behind

Ready to be baked!

Heirloom Pumpkin Pie

This recipe makes 2 pies

Ingredients

1 heirloom pumpkin
1 1/3 cup of cream or half & half
12 tablespoons honey
4 beaten eggs
6 tablespoons flour
4 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

2 9-inch pie crusts (You can make your own pie crust if you would like- I decided to save time and use store bought)

Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees. Place the pumpkin in the oven for 2-3 hours until it is tender.  The length of time will heavily depend on the size of your pumpkin- just keep a close eye on the pumpkin after the 90 minute mark if your pumpkin is smaller.

2. Once the pumpkin is tender, scrape out the pulp and put it in a blender or food processor. Blend until smooth. This should yield about 1 1/2 - 2 quarts of of pulp. Divide into 2 equal parts.

3. Mix 2/3 cup of cream, 6 Tbsp of honey, 2 beaten eggs, 3 Tbsp of flour, and 2 tsp of pumpkin pie spice in with 1 serving of the pumpkin puree. Pour into the 9 inch pie crust. Repeat for the second pie.

4. Bake in the oven at 350 degrees for about an hour. Check with toothpick and cook until the toothpick comes out clean.

Enjoy and of course, serve a' la mode!




Thank you to CSA member, Sally Reynolds for sharing the delicious recipe!