Recipe #87 - Memphis Bell Pecan Pie

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I thought I'd give our traditional Thanksgiving dessert a little spin this year. This is a recipe that they use at Flight as one of their gourmet desserts. The pecans where all hand picked from the pecan trees in my parents' back yard and hand shelled by yours truly. 

Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.

Mix all of the ingredients except the pecans and chocolate in a medium sized bowl. 

Place the pecans in a zip lock baggy (save a few back for decorating the top of the pie) and crush however you like. My mom uses a rolling pin. I used a hammer ;)

Place the chocolate and crushed pecans in the bottom of the pie crust. I recommend putting the chocolate down first, because I didn't and it tried to float to the top of the mixture after I poured it in. 

Pour mixture into the crust. 

Decorate the top with the left over whole pecans. Wrap the crust with aluminum foil to keep the crust from burning. Place the pie in the oven for 1 hour or until golden brown. Remove the aluminum foil about ten minutes before the pie is done. 

I didn't get a finished picture of this unfortunately. Just picture the one above, but perfectly golden and amazing :) Because that is how it turned out. Perfect. I served it, like they do at Flight, with a scoop of vanilla ice cream. 

I've never been a fan of pecan pie until now. The sweetness of the chocolate took the edge off the bitterness that the pecans usually have naturally.

Rating: 10 (I'll def make this again next year.)

Time: 1 hour 20 minutes

Serves: 6-8 

Ingredients:

1/2 cup dark corn syrup

1/2 cup light corn syrup

3 eggs

1 cup sugar

1 ounce melted butter

2 tablespoons vanilla extract

8 ounces pecans

3 ounces chocolate

Recipe #48 - Italian Sausage Spinach Pie

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This one was a suggestion from my little sister TJ. She had it at a friends house and wanted me to give it a go. So here it goes...

In a skillet, cook sausage over medium heat until no longer pink; drain. Separate one egg and set the yolk aside. In a mixing bowl, beat the egg white and remaining eggs. Add spinach, mozzarella cheese, ricotta cheese, salt, garlic powder, pepper and sausage; mix well.

Line a 10-inch pie plate with bottom pastry. Add filling. Roll out remaining pastry to fit top of pie; place over filling. Trim, seal and flute edges. Cute slits in pastry. If desired, make your own design from the pastry scraps; place on top crust. Beat water and remaining egg yolk; brush over top of pie.

Bake at 375 degrees F for 50-60 minutes or until crust is golden brown and filling is bubbly. Let stand for 10 minutes before cutting.

And it's finished! Although TJ said it wasn't as good as the one she had before, I think it turned out pretty well. Two things I would have done differently: 

1. After I thawed the spinach, I squeezed out a lot of the juice with a paper towel. It made the mixture a little dryer than I would have liked. 

2. There was a lot of mixture left over. Almost enough to make another pie. Also, I think the spinach to sausage ration was pretty off. It was very spinachy. To solve both problems I would add an extra half pound of sausage to the mix. It would balance out the mixture and add enough to be able to make a second pie.  

Rating: 7

Time: 1 hour 30 minutes

Servings: 2 pies - about 6 servings per pie

Ingredients:

1.5 pounds bulk Italian sausage

6 eggs

2 (10 ounce) packages frozen chopped spinach, thawed and slightly squeezed dry

4 cups shredded mozzarella cheese

1/2 teaspoon salt

1/8 teaspoon garlic powder

1/8 teaspoon pepper

1 (10 inch) pastry for a double crust pie

1 tablespoon water