Pies!

MORE PIE! I love Thanksgiving because I love PIE!! Even more than cake.

I also love Emile Henry pie dishes. Enough to own four of them. And their pizza stones. Two of those. Yikes. Maybe I can work out an endorsement deal of some sort.

But all week at work we've been running around like crazy bakery bees trying to get everyone ready for the holidays! Ironically enough, I don't really get to do much of the hands-on stuff anymore. Not as much as I'd like to, anyway. So that's why I've taken to NIGHTBAKING. That beautiful time in the middle of the night when it's just quiet and there's no one to bump into or work around, and no waiting for the oven or having to share a mixing bowl, so I bake. 

I make a giant mess and things usually take forever because I don't decide what to make until way late and it usually involves making pie crust from scratch or a recipe calls for graham cracker crumbs and I don't have graham crackers, so I have to make graham crackers just to smash into little pieces. Le sigh. It's as exhausting as it sounds. 

But it's still pretty glorious.

I used my mini pie dishes for this project and decided to make pecan pies. I had never made them from scratch before and decided now is as good a time as any. THANKSGIVING! YEAH! Check out the recipe I adapted from Epicurious below.

The recipe will make one 9-inch pie, or 4 mini pies.

You Will Need:

Pie Crust (I use Ina Garten's Recipe)

3/4 stick unsalted butter

1 1/4 cups packed light brown sugar

3/4 cup light corn syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

1 Tbsp bourbon

1/4 tsp salt

3 large eggs

2 cups pecan halves (1/2 pound)

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 with a baking sheet on middle rack.

Roll out pie dough and fit into pie dish(es).Trim edge and crimp decoratively. Set aside.

In a heavy saucepan, melt butter over medium heat. Add brown sugar and whisk until smooth. 

Remove from heat and whisk in corn syrup, vanilla, bourbon, and salt. Lightly beat eggs in a medium bowl, then whisk in corn syrup mixture. 

Pour pecans into pie shell and pour corn syrup mixture even over them. Bake on hot baking sheet until filling is set, 50 minutes to 1 hour. Cool completely before serving. 

YUMMERS. What pies are your favorite at Thanksgiving?

Jonesing to know more about Emile Henry? Check out the video below of my pie dish getting made!