Pecan Pie*

We . LIKED . this . PECAN . PIE

Before yesterday, I had made only ONE pecan pie in my entire life and thought it was just too much of "something(?) I didn't care for"-- so, ... I gave up the idea of making any more.   Things are a changin'-- I will be making pecan pies in the future!  Why?

It is all because my free Fall 2013 issue of Living The Country Life came in Saturday's mail with this recipe in it.  After reading the description preceding the simple recipe, I knew I had to give this "fast 'n easy" recipe a go for our family gathering yesterday afternoon.  In fact, I made TWO of these!   I'm so happy I did.  Three trusted "food judges" asked for the recipe before going home--  so, here it is for anyone else who wants it:

Above:  With my sister having cut each pie into eight pieces, this is what was left of the second pie.   Usually, I'd take a picture of the WHOLE pie (yes,...the UNcut pie) when it's hot from the oven.  Not this time, though, because...  when my two pies came out of the oven, it was time to hurry off to church.  Then, when we got home, I didn't take a picture of 'em because there were finishing touches to be put on our dinner meal.  (Along with how I was raised right here on this same farm, we still eat "dinner" at noon...and "supper" in the evening.  Not that it's any kind of a bad thing, but,...to me, "lunch" seems so very city-like.)

INGREDIENTS:

• 1 single unbaked pastry shell (pie crust) for 9" pie plate.  Can be homemade, or store bought

.................................

• 4 tablespoons butter, softened to room temperature
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup dark corn syrup -- I used Karo brand, with 0% (ZERO %!) high fructose corn syrup in it.
• 3 large eggs
• 1 and 1/4 cups broken pecans (Fleet Farm usually has the "best price" for these, unless another store is running a sale on them.)
• 1 teaspoon Vanilla.

DIRECTIONS:
Preheat oven to 425-degrees.  

1. Cream the butter. 
2. Add the sugar and corn syrup and stir all to combine.
3. Beat in the eggs, one at a time.   Mix everything well.
4. Add the pecans and vanilla.  Stir to blend in.
5. Pour the mixture into a 9-inch unbaked pastry shell.
6. Bake for 15 minutes at 425-degrees, then reduce the heat to 325-degrees and bake for another 30 minutes.  Enjoy!  (Since only you know your own oven and any "quirks" it might have, bake accordingly.)

(????) I did NOT try this "different way" of baking this kind of pie, but,... one pecan pie baker said he bakes his pecan pies at 350-degrees for 15 minutes, and then at 300-degrees for another 50-55 minutes, taking them out of the oven when their internal temperature reaches 200-degrees.  (????)

Personally, I think THIS recipe is BETTER than the one used to make the regular  "Karo Syrup - Classic Pecan Pie" because it has 2 extra tablespoons butter in it, and calls for 1/2 cup LESS white sugar.  (I do not need nor want a piece of pie so sweet that it practically CURLS my teeth!)

*Betsy Freese, the editor of Living the Country Life, Fall 2013, wrote this about the above pie recipe:   "Mom placed two of her pecan pies on the kitchen table to cool when I was visiting last fall.  I was not allowed to touch them, as they were for a church fund-raiser.  They sold for $30 each!  Money well spent.  Here is her recipe."  She then added, next to a picture of the two pies, "My mother, Ruth Ann Johnson of Elkton, Maryland, makes the best pecan pies in all the land."   As of yesterday, I'll second that!!!!

As is so usual, I often do a google search to find out more about people who are an inspiration in one way or another.  In doing so, I found that Betsy's mother Ruth Ann just celebrated her 53rd wedding anniversary with her hubby Phil.  http://www.livingthecountrylife.com/blogs/betsys-backyard/2013/09/10/farmer-and-his-wife/

Or, if you want to read even more about Betsy and what she and her family spend time with/on, go here:
http://www.livingthecountrylife.com/blogs/betsys-backyard/  In particular, one of her husband's sayings grabbed my attention:  "The family that HAYS together, STAYS together!"  (Our own family has sure put that to the test!!!  And, ...a cleaned-off  hayfield along with a barnful of hay bales is a most beautiful sight to behold.)  Also, on her web blog, I saw her "different" kind of recipe for making pickled beets.  I may have to give THAT recipe a try next time "beet season" comes around.

Carrot and Zucchini Bars* w/Cream Cheese Frosting

This recipe is a KEEEEEEEEPER!!  
I think this is more like a snack cake than a bar.
It is moist AND ... SO good!

INGREDIENTS for the Bars:
1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
2 small pinches of salt
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger (some may prefer to use cinnamon in place of the ginger)
...
3/4 cup light brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used Smart Balance blend of oils)
1/4 cup honey
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
...
1 and 1/2 cups finely shredded  carrots (I used a "fine grate" disc on my food processor to get this done.)
1 cup finely shredded zucchini (If using larger zucchini, cut in half and remove seeds/dry stuff.  I do not peel it.)
1/2 cups chopped walnuts (or pecans?), optional

INGREDIENTS for the Cream Cheese Icing:
8 oz. cream cheese, at room temperature
1 cup sifted powdered sugar
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

..........................................................................................

DIRECTIONS for making the bars:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Lightly spray a 9x13 baking dish with non-stick spray.  Set aside.

In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and ground ginger).  Set aside.

In a "quite large" mixing bowl, whisk together the brown sugar, oil, honey, eggs, and vanilla extract.  Whisk until well mixed.  Set aside so the sugar granules can better dissolve while you grate the carrots and zucchini.

Grate the carrots and the zucchini.

Dump the well-whisked dry ingredients AND the grated carrots AND the grated zucchini AND the chopped nuts to the "wet ingredients" in the large mixing bowl.  Using a wide spatula or wooden spoon, GENTLY stir or fold these ingredients evenly into the wet ingredients-- to have the finished product end up lighter, do NOT over-mix/stir.

Dump finished batter into the prepared pan/dish, like this... 

Bake until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, which is about 25 minutes.  Coming out of the oven, mine looked like this... 

Place the pan on a wire rack and cool completely.

DIRECTIONS for making the icing:
Using an electric mixer, beat the softened cream cheese until it's smooth.  Add the powdered sugar and vanilla extract.  Beat together until all is VERY smooth and creamy-like (2-3 minutes?).  Spread evenly over the cooled bars.  

The bars can be kept in an airtight container at room temperature OR in the refrigerator for up to 3 days.  These also FREEZE very well!

*Recipe, with a different kind of icing, was adapted from website of 
http://realmomkitchen.com  And, before that, it came from  the
Better Homes and Gardens website at
 http://www.bhg.com/recipe/bars/carrot-and-zucchini-bars/

Double Chocolate Zucchini Bread* (actually, it's more cake-like!)

If you are "into" CHOCOLATE, 
you will probably like this.  

If you are NOT, ...do NOT make this!!!

"Double Chocolate" =  very CHOCOLATE'Y!!

In addition to cocoa, each loaf 

has a whole cup of semi-sweet 

chocolate chips in it! (To make it with "less of strong chocolate", use milk chocolate chips, or leave 'em out altogether.)

INGREDIENTS:

The following ingredients make just ONE of the 8x4-inch loaves.  Double all ingredients to make two as shown above.

1 and 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/3 cup Dutch-process cocoa powder (I used Hershey's cocoa)

1 teaspoon salt

1/2 teaspoon baking powder (I use aluminum-free)

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

...

2 large eggs

1/2 cup vegetable oil (I used Smart Balance blend)

1/2 cup light brown sugar, packed

1/3 cup honey (I used honey fresh from our son's beehives)

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

....

2 cups shredded zucchini (If using larger zucchini, cut in half and remove seeds along with its "drier stuff"-- I don't peel it.)

2 cups semi-sweet chocolate chips.  (Use milk chocolate chips IF you would rather have a more mild chocolate flavor!, or leave the chips out altogether.)

 I love nuts! and I would like to have put some in here, ...but not every family member likes them as much as I do!  Besides, my pan was FULL ENOUGH without anything else being added.

DIRECTIONS:

• Preheat oven to 350-degrees.  Spray an 8x4-inch loaf pan with non-stick spray.  I also cut a long/thin piece of parchment paper that will go down the end, along the bottom, and up the other end.  I spray that, too.   It seems to take the "hope" out of removing the loaf when it's done.

• In a medium bowl, whisk together the dry ingredients (flour, cocoa, salt, baking powder and baking soda).  Make sure everything is very evenly mixed together. (It's not necessary, but I also ran this dry mixture through a strainer-type sieve to get rid of any small lumps that could be in the cocoa,)  Set aside.

• In quite a LARGE bowl, whisk together the eggs, oil, brown sugar, honey and vanilla extract.  Once this is mixed together, I like to let this stand for a few minutes so that the liquid (eggs and vanilla) can sort of "melt" the granules of brown sugar.   Maybe five minutes, ...and then I whisk it for a little bit, again.

• NOW, I dump the bowl of whisked together "dry ingredients" into the large bowl  of the whisked together "wet" ingredients.  Before stirring, I also dump the grated zucchini and the chocolate chips on the top of all.   At this point, I start stirring/blending/folding with a wide spatula or wooden spoon.  I just want to make sure things are blended together-- over-stirring may cause a drier/tougher loaf than I want.

• Pour the batter into the prepared loaf pan.  When I saw how much batter I had in comparison to the size of the smaller loaf pan, I thought I would surely be in "trouble" because the batter came to 1/2" from the top of the pan.  I was picturing a serious kind of "bake-over" in the oven, but,... it didn't happen.  All was well.  

• Bake for 65-75 minutes, or until a toothpick (or thin sharp knife) inserted into the center comes out with just a few moist crumbs attached.  Depending on your own oven, and especially if you will be using a DARK kind of loaf pan, you might want to put a baking sheet on the rack that's below the rack you're using-- this may keep the bottom of your loaf from getting too dark before it's done.  My pans were "light colored", so I didn't have to do that.  Some bakers say the baking time may also have to be decreased a little if you are using a dark pan (a glass loaf dish, too?).  You know your oven better than anyone else-- bake accordingly.

• Allow to cool in the pan for 15 minutes, then turn out onto a cooling rack to cool completely before slicing-- sometimes, it's hard to wait for that!!!  Store leftovers at room temperature, tightly wrapped in plastic wrap.  (I'm one who likes "cold cake" and I will also eat other things in their "cold state", also, so,... I like to store this in the refrigerator.)

*This recipe came from the website of King Arthur Flour.