All posts for the month November, 2012

Mom’s Pecan Pie

pecanpie_1

Back in September, I attempted to make a pecan pie for the American pie challenge on Great British Bake Off. After a miserable failure, I vowed to stick to my mother’s recipe for all future pecan endeavors.

After a few weeks of waiting for mom to finish traveling, I finally had a copy of her recipe arrive in my inbox. So I made myself some pastry and began my second attempt at this troublesome tart. I whisked up the filling and carefully laid in the pecan halves, one by one. Then I held my breath as I anxiously placed it in the oven, gently sliding it into the center and praying that disaster didn’t strike a second time.

Boy had I wished I had done it the right way the first time around! Beautifully dark golden brown and crisp – I’d call this pie a success as well as true American classic!

Ingredients

  • 1 batch of sweet shortcrust pastry
  • 3/4 cup sugar
  • 3/4 cup light corn syrup (UK people, you can order this on Amazon!)
  • 1/4 cup (57.5 grams) unsalted butter
  • 3 eggs, lightly beaten
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup pecan halves

pecanpie_2Directions

1. Preheat your oven to 450°F (230°C). Line your pie dish (preferably one with a removable bottom, it’ll make your life easier) with the shortcrust pastry, then gently prick the base and sides with a fork. Lay a sheet of aluminum foil over your pastry, then fill with baking beans and place in the oven to bake for 5 minutes. Carefully remove your baking beans and foil, then return to the oven for another 2 minutes.

2. In a saucepan over medium heat, combine the sugar, corn syrup, and butter. Stir the mixture constantly until the sugar dissolves and the butter melts. Once everything dissolves, remove the pan from the heat.

3. Once the mixture is slightly cooled, whisk in the eggs, vanilla, and salt. Once everything is mixed together, pour into your blind-baked pie crust.

4. Gently arrange the pecan halves on the top of your mixture, arranging in concentric circles – starting from the outside and working towards the center.

5. Reduce the heat of your oven down to 325°F (160°C). Carefully place your pie in the oven and bake for 55 minutes until set.

For an added touch, try drizzling over some melted chocolate or make a praline whipped cream using 1 cup whipping cream, 2 teaspoons praline liqueur, 1 teaspoon vanilla, and 1/4 cup icing sugar – mix them all together and beat with an electric mixer until you have your whipped cream.

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by Ashley on November 26, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in GBBO Challenges, Pies
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Posted by Ashley on November 26, 2012

https://pajamabaker.com/2012/11/26/moms-pecan-pie/

Basic White Bread

 

When talking to my coworkers this week about what I should bake next, we all kind of agreed that I needed to try something savory. I have a serious sweet tooth, and I think baking with sugar is the best kind of baking. But, they were right, sometimes you just need to do something a bit more everyday.

This week I tried my hand at baking sandwich bread. Plain ol’ white bread. I’d made bread before, but never anything in a loaf pan. And with so few ingredients, white bread is a true test of bread-making. It’s pretty easy, but you just have to make sure you knead it correctly.

The Kitchn has a great recipe and a great tutorial on how to shape a bread loaf so that it turns out beautifully. I’d recommend following their technique if you want a uniform loaf.

Ingredients

  • 2 teaspoons (1 packet) active dry yeast
  • 1 cup warm water
  • 2 Tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 Tablespoons sugar
  • 1 Tablespoon salt
  • 5 1/2 cups flour (plus extra for kneading)

Directions

1. Pour the warm water into the bowl of your mixture. Make sure it’s warm, not hot. Sprinkle the yeast over the top of the water and let it sit for 5 minutes, until the yeast dissolves.

2. In a small bowl, mix together the melted butter, sugar, salt, and milk. Add this mixture along with 1 cup flour into the bowl with your yeast and stir until it comes together in a loose, lumpy batter.

3. Gradually add in another 4 1/2 cups flour as you are mixing sot that the dough begins to form. At this point, switch to the dough hook on your mixture to knead for 6-8 minutes. Or, if you’d prefer, knead it by hand until the dough is smooth, yet slightly tacky. If you poke it, the dough should spring back a bit. If the dough is too sticky as you’re kneading, just add a dusting of flour.

4. Coat a large bowl with a bit of oil, then place in your dough. Cover the dough with plastic wrap and place it in a warm place to rise for about an hour until it doubles in size.

5. Dust your countertop with a bit of flour and turn out your dough. Divide this into two even balls and let them rest for 10 minutes.

6. Grease two loaf pans, then shape each ball into a loaf and place in the pans, making sure the tops are taught to help them rise. Let them rise a second time for 30-40 minutes, until the dough starts to dome up over the edges of the pan.

7. Preheat your oven to 425°F (215°C) halfway through the second rise. Once you’re ready to bake your loaves, slice the top of the loaf down the length, then place into the oven. Immediately turn the oven down to 375°F (190°C).

8. Bake for 30-35 minutes until golden brown. The loaves are done when they sound hollow when tapped on the bottom. Remove them from their loaf pans and let them cool completely on wire racks.

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by Ashley on November 18, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Breads and Rolls

Posted by Ashley on November 18, 2012

https://pajamabaker.com/2012/11/18/basic-white-bread/

Eclairs

Towards the end of Bake Off, one of the challenges included baking with choux pastry, which instantly reminded me of the eclairs my mom used to make when I was little.

There’s seriously something magical about watching these tiny tubes of dough literally explode into crisp, airy pastry. They instantly triple in size due to the rapid heating of the water within the dough.

My mom’s recipe for the pistachio filling involves using Jell-o instant pudding, which I had to order from Amazon. For a few of my recipes there are some ingredients that are difficult to find in stores here in the UK, but Amazon is seriously a life saver in these situations, as many American ingredients and foods are sold there.

On Bake Off, they made choux cakes, but I decided to stick to basics and make mom’s eclairs instead.

Ingredients

For the choux pastry (makes about 12-15 large eclairs):

  • 1 cup water
  • 1/2 cup (115 grams) butter
  • 1/4 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup flour
  • 4 eggs
For the pistachio cream filling:
  • 1 3.5-ounce package of Jell-o pistachio pudding
  • 1 cup milk
  • 2 cups whipping cream
For the chocolate glaze:
  • 1 ounce unsweetened chocolate
  • 1 cup icing sugar
  • milk

Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 450°F (230°C).

2. Bring the water to a boil in a medium pan. Once boiling, add in the butter and gently stir until it melts. Add in the flour and salt and stir vigorously until the mixture forms a doughy ball. Remove from the heat and allow to cool slightly.

3. Add the eggs to the dough mixture, one at a time, and stir until smooth in between each addition. Place the pastry dough into a large piping bag with a 3/4-inch tip. Pipe the dough into 4-inch long tubes onto greased baking sheets.

4. Bake the eclairs for 15 minutes at 450°F (230°C), then reduce the heat to 325°F (160°C) and continue to bake for another 25 minutes.

5. Once they are baked, remove from the oven and split the eclairs in half lengthwise (like a sandwich), turn the oven off and place the sliced pastries back in the oven to dry for about 20 minutes as the oven cools. Finally, place onto a wire rack to cool completely.

6. To make the pistachio filling, first whip the whipping cream until it is nice and frothy. Next, mix together the milk and instant pudding in a separate bowl, then gently fold in the whipped cream. Spoon or pipe the filling into the cooled eclair shells.

7. Finally, make the chocolate glaze by mixing melted chocolate, powdered sugar and enough milk to thin glaze.  Coat the tops of the eclairs with the chocolate mixture.

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by Ashley on November 11, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in GBBO Challenges, Sweets
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Posted by Ashley on November 11, 2012

https://pajamabaker.com/2012/11/11/eclairs/

Pumpkin Cookies

Don’t say I didn’t warn you! I am seriously on a pumpkin spree. This week I made pumpkin cookies, which came out really puffy and soft, like fresh gingerbread. I think they’d be perfect drizzled with chocolate or, even better, in a pumpkin whoopie pie with a maple and pecan filling. Hmmmm, I may actually have to make those soon!

These cookies were delicious, and addictive. I think I ate about five of them! Big thanks to Diamonds for Dessert for the recipe!

Ingredients

  • 2 1/2 cups flour, sifted
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon cinnamon
  • 1/2 teaspoon nutmeg
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/2 cup (115 grams) butter, softened
  • 1 1/2 cups sugar
  • 1 cup canned pumpkin (or cooked and mashed up)
  • 1 egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350° F (approx 1750°C). Line a few cookie sheets with baking paper and set aside.

2. In a large bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and nutmeg.

3. In the bowl of your mixer, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, then beat in the eggs and vanilla. Once everything is incorporated, add in the pumpkin.

4. Stir in the sifted dry ingredients and mix until the dough forms. Spoon out even portions of the dough in about 2-Tablespoon sized portions (or you can use my favorite gadget, the cookie dough baller!).  Take a fork and dip it in a bowl of water and gently press the top of the ball down to form a criss-cross pattern and to form the dough into a slight oval.

5. Bake for 10-15 minutes until firm. They will get nice and puffy. Let them cool on the cookie sheet for about 2 minutes before moving to a cooling rack.

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by Ashley on November 4, 2012  •  Permalink
Posted in Cookies
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Posted by Ashley on November 4, 2012

https://pajamabaker.com/2012/11/04/pumpkin-cookies/