First things first, I have gone on and on about this, but I am beyond happy with my blog redesign. My amazing and amazingly talented husband and robot surprised me with the new blog yesterday. It is BEAUTIFUL!
I’ll probably keep gushing about this on FB and Twitter for days and weeks to come, so be warned.
This post may get a bit lengthy, but I just wanted to share.
Every thanksgiving for the past couple of years, I’ve been trying to look up and try different dessert recipes to torture surprise my guinea pigs family with. This year was no different.
After sifting through countless recipes on some of my favorite cooking websites, I settled on 159 2 to try. Since I usually make wildly different pies for both of our families, I usually end up hearing how everyone wanted to try the other pie. So, this year, we did the same thing. Two pecan pies, yes, but one cheesecake and one apple. Very different, different looking and different results.
To make things a little easier, I purchased the pie crusts. Honestly, I felt BAD about this! I love making my own. But, work and life and I get in the way sometimes, so pre made it was. Thankfully, they weren’t bad.
First choice? Caramelized Apple and Pecan Pie
I wanted to make something with fruit, but didn’t want to stray from the Pecan Pie theme. The recipe looked interesting, even if I didn’t much care for the presentation in the picture found on the recipe website. Since I didn’t much care for the quartered apples, I decided to slice the apples and go for a different presentation. If you’d like, go to the original recipe for the crust recipe and pictures of their version…
Here’s the ingredient list and directions:
Apples:
- 1 1/2 cups (packed) golden brown sugar
- 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, diced
- 3 Albemarle Pippin apples or Fuji apples (1 1/2 to 1 3/4 pounds), peeled,quartered, cored
Filling:
- 3/4 cup sugar
- 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 4 large eggs
- 1/4 cup light corn syrup
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 1 1/2 cup coursely chopped pecans, toasted
For apples:
Preheat oven to 350°F. Whisk brown sugar and butter in large ovenproof skillet over medium heat until butter melts, sugar dissolves, and mixture comes to boil. Boil 1 minute, whisking constantly. Remove from heat. Arrange apples, rounded side down, in syrup. Bake 15 minutes; turn over. Bake until just tender, about 20 minutes longer. Transfer apples to paper towels to cool slightly. Whisk syrup in skillet until smooth. Cool slightly and reserve. Maintain oven temperature.
For filling:
Mix sugar, flour, and salt in small bowl. Place eggs in medium bowl. Gradually whisk in reserved syrup from apples. Add corn syrup, vanilla, and sugar mixture; whisk until smooth. Stir in pecans. Pour filling into crust. Arrange apples, rounded side up, atop filling.
Bake pie until filling is set in center, covering edges with foil if browning too quickly, about 1 hour 20 minutes. Transfer to rack and cool completely. DO AHEAD: Can be made 1 day ahead. Cover loosely with foil and let stand at room temperature.
½ (15 oz.) package refrigerated pie crusts
1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, softened
4 large eggs, divided
¾ cup sugar, divided
2 tsp. vanilla extract, divided
¼ tsp. salt
1 ¼ cups chopped pecans
1 cup light corn syrup
Pre-heat oven to 350. Fit pie crust into a 9-inch pie plate according to package directions. Fold edges under and crimp.
Beat cream cheese, 1 egg, ½ cup sugar, 1 tsp. vanilla, and salt at medium speed with electric mixer until smooth. Pour cream cheese mixture into pie crust; sprinkle with pecans.
Whisk together corn syrup and remaining 3 eggs, ¼ cup sugar, and 1 tsp. vanilla; pour mixture over pecans. Place pie on a baking sheet.
Bake at 350 on lowest oven rack for 50 to 55 minutes or until pie is set. Cool completely on a wire rack (about 1 hour). Serve immediately, or cover and chill up to 2 days.
Dec 03, 2010 @ 12:19:03
So glad you enjoyed the Pecan Cheesecake Pie! Thanks for giving a link to my blog for the recipe 🙂
Dec 04, 2010 @ 12:12:19
Lovely blog, interesting recipes (which I’ll probably never try) due to time issues. But considering the importance of trying new things, and enjoying the good things in life, I might be able to convince my beautiful, intelligent, handy big sister to bake the pie for me!!!
I Love you and we love you!!
=0)
Us 4
Dec 04, 2010 @ 13:17:55
I love you all too! And you just *might* convince her… 🙂
Sent from my iPhone