Hunky Husband must have his dessert after most lunches and dinners; so, I try to keep him supplied. Some years, I've made him a gift of home-made goodies, promising to make him a batch of cookies or a pie each month for one year. In parallel, I've been trying to sneak better nutrition into his foods - especially since he is prone to making breakfast bars his staple, consuming at least two each day. (I consider breakfast bars to be disguised candy bars.) Sneaking the nutritional ingredients into HH's foods has become easier over the past couple of years. HH is no longer a picky eater. If I put the food in front of him, he will eat it - wow! For instance, the other day, I made macaroni and cheese where the sauce for a 6-serving casserole contained one cup of a chopped salad (much kale and broccoli stems) and mushrooms. He liked it.
The idea I thought to push, today, is the addition I made to HH's pecan pie that I baked yesterday. HH prefers pecan to any other pie and prefers pecan pie to any cake in the world.
Prior to pouring the filling of the pecan pie, I put a layer of plumped raisins down on the crust. This comes under the heading of sneaking in nutritional value. As one can see in the photo, above, the raisins re-distributed themselves - floating up in the filling. The big surprise, though, was the taste of the filling after I baked the pie. My recipe calls for 1 teaspoonful of vanilla extract. I had absent-mindedly used orange extract, instead. It added a bit of extra tang.
I would love to have a slice of HH's pie; but, I just get to lick the knife. Too much sugar makes me ill. (HH says that there is no such thing as too sweet - that "too sweet" is an oxymoron.) Of course, it did not occur to me to photograph the pie while it was still whole and pretty. (Before you ask: I don't "do" pie crusts. The above crust is one put out by Marie Callender's, sold in the frozen foods section of food markets.)
I don't think I've ever had pecan pie but I think I would enjoy it.
Posted by: Liz Hinds | November 23, 2020 at 02:42 PM
Liz--Not that I expect anyone to use it, but I posted the recipe just below the original posting about my pie adventures. Sometimes, I add a dollop or glug of brandy to the batter.
Posted by: Cop Car | November 23, 2020 at 04:06 PM
That looks yummy!
Posted by: bogie | November 28, 2020 at 04:47 AM
Bogie--It was. For Thanksgiving, I said to heck with adding nutritional value and covered the bottom of the pie shell with milk chocolate chips before pouring in the batter & topping it with the pecans. Talk about yummy.
Posted by: Cop Car | November 28, 2020 at 08:58 AM
Long ago I made Chocolate, Bourbon Pecan Pie and it was the best I have ever made. Chocolate makes EVERYTHING better :)
Posted by: bogie | November 29, 2020 at 04:42 AM
Bourbon isn't fit to drink, but it certainly adds to pecan pies, I'm guessing. I'll match you with my brandy. Dudette's pecan pie sometimes tastes as though she's used a liquor/liqueur of some type; but, she swears that she just follows the same basic recipe that I use. Regardless, her pies beat mine with a stick! (And...it can't be that she makes her own crust because I, habitually, leave the crust on my plate.)
Posted by: Cop Car | November 29, 2020 at 09:03 AM