For our Relief Society activity last month we had an "Iron Chef" competition where we had to create a dish with a secret ingredient, depending our on birth month. My secret ingredient happened to be nuts. I was a bit disappointed since I've never really been a big fan of nuts and I had no idea what kind of food to make using my ingredient. I finally decided to attempt making a pecan pie.
I looked for recipes online, but every single one I found called for corn syrup, which is something I've been trying to stay away from lately. And then, at last I stumbled upon a recipe that didn't call for corn syrup, so I was pretty excited and got to work. I used the recipe as a foundation and then made adjustments as I saw fit (like adding chocolate chips, for example.) Unfortunately I overbaked the pie, so it didn't turn out at lovely as I would've liked. It was still good, just not GREAT.
Then yesterday I attempted to make another pecan pie since I still had an unused pie crust in my freezer. I promised myself I wouldn't over bake this time.
Here is a picture of the beautiful toasted pecans. I have found that pecan pie turns out MUCH better if you slightly toast the nuts until they are nice and aromatic. It brings out the flavor more.
Here is the finished pie. It developed a crack in it towards the end of baking, so still not perfect.
To be honest, I went a little crazy with the nuts and added more than I should've. The last time it didn't seem like one cup of nuts was enough and I really wanted those pecans to steal the show I guess, so I used 2 cups this go around. It turned out to be a bit much, but at least I'll know for next time. Plus, I didn't over bake it and despite the excessively nutty texture, the flavor was incredible. Don't underestimate the deliciousness a little chocolate will add to just about anything.
Homemade pecan chocolate pie with fresh whipped cream
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