The recipe on the Baked Sunday Mornings schedule this week is a Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie. I used to hate making pies because pie crust was my Achilles' heel. All of my pies from the Baked cookbooks came out with a sad, soggy, underdone crust. But then I discovered Stella Parks' pie crust recipe (the "No-Stress All-Butter Pastry Crust" from Bravetart). Stella's crust recipe has never failed me so far, and it gave me spectacular results with I used it with the gentlemen bakers' Tuscaloosa Tollhouse Pie a few months ago. So it was a no-brainer to use Stella's crust recipe for this pie as well.
According to the recipe, you're supposed to bake this pie with a frozen, raw crust. That just makes no sense to me -- I don't understand why you would ever cook a single crust pie with a frozen crust when you can easily blind bake the crust beforehand to guarantee that it is crisp and thoroughly cooked. So I made Stella's crust recipe and par-baked it before making the pie. I scattered chocolate chips on top of the crust, poured on a mixture of corn syrup, granulated sugar, dark brown sugar, melted butter, salt, vanilla, bourbon, and chopped pecans; and arranged toasted pecan halves on top. I baked the pie for 70 minutes, using aluminum foil to shield the crust about halfway through.
It was difficult to tell if the pie was done. The recipe says you should stick a knife in the center of the pie and it will come out clean if the pie is cooked. But my knife came out coated in melted chocolate because the chocolate had risen to the top of the filling while the pie was baking. I just crossed my fingers and hoped for the best.
After I sliced the pie I wished that I had fully baked the pie crust before filling it -- because even though the crust was cooked, it could have used some more color on the bottom. I was not really a fan of this pie, but I have never liked pecan pie. I don't like the very sweet but otherwise bland goo comprises pecan pie filling. With this specific pie, I thought that the filling was too boozy; I was surprised how strong the alcohol flavor was. However, my tasters loved this pie and the crust was cooked, so I'm calling it a success.
Recipes: "Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie" from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, recipe available here at Baked Sunday Mornings; "Old-Fashioned Flaky Pie Crust" by Stella Parks (aka "No-Stress All-Butter Pastry Crust" in Bravetart).
Previous Posts:
According to the recipe, you're supposed to bake this pie with a frozen, raw crust. That just makes no sense to me -- I don't understand why you would ever cook a single crust pie with a frozen crust when you can easily blind bake the crust beforehand to guarantee that it is crisp and thoroughly cooked. So I made Stella's crust recipe and par-baked it before making the pie. I scattered chocolate chips on top of the crust, poured on a mixture of corn syrup, granulated sugar, dark brown sugar, melted butter, salt, vanilla, bourbon, and chopped pecans; and arranged toasted pecan halves on top. I baked the pie for 70 minutes, using aluminum foil to shield the crust about halfway through.
Recipes: "Bourbon Chocolate Pecan Pie" from Baked: New Frontiers in Baking by Matt Lewis and Renato Poliafito, recipe available here at Baked Sunday Mornings; "Old-Fashioned Flaky Pie Crust" by Stella Parks (aka "No-Stress All-Butter Pastry Crust" in Bravetart).
Previous Posts:
- "Baked Sunday Mornings: Tuscaloosa Tollhouse Pie," June 3, 2018.
- "Baked Sunday Mornings: Classic Apple Pie," October 22, 2017.
- "Baked Sunday Mornings: Lemon Shaker Pie," March 17, 2013.
- "Baked Sunday Mornings: Sawdust Pie," August 12, 2012.
- "Baked Sunday Mornings: Peaches and Dream Pie," July 17, 2011.
- "Just Half a Slice, Please... The Top Half!: Buttermilk Pie," July 12, 2011.
- "Baked Sunday Mornings: Blackberry Pie," July 3, 2011.
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