Pecan Pie!

A very late post, sorry. Christmas is a great time to make pecan pie too though!

What you need:

FILLING:

1 1/2 - 2 cups of pecans (whole, chopped, pieces, any work)*

1 cup of clear Karo syrup

1 cup of brown sugar

3 eggs

2 tbsp vanilla

pinch of salt

1/3 cup melted (cooled) butter

*You can use any type of nuts really, walnuts or hazelnuts should also be nice.

CRUST:

1 3/4 cup Butter Flavored Crisco + 2 tbsp*

2 cups Flour

1 tsp salt

2 tbsp ice water

*you can substitute half and half butter and Crisco if you like.

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F

First you make the crust.

Mix the flour and salt then start mixing in the Crisco and ice water until well mixed and resembling dough. Sometimes I add a little extra flour if needed. When everything is well mixed roll it up into a ball and wrap in plastic and put it in the fridge while you make the pie filling.

While you crust is getting cold melt your butter in the microwave or on the stove and let it sit until luke warm or cool. Mix the sugar, syrup, salt and vanilla with your melted butter in a bowl. In a separate bowl beat your eggs and then add them to the sugar mix. Set this aside and take your pie crust dough out of the fridge.

You need a big clean, clear counter space to roll out your dough. I usually put down cutting mats or wax paper. Use a lot of flour on your surface and on your rolling pin, you do not want your crust to stick to either. Place your ball of dough on your floured surface and pat it down a bit. Then use your rolling pin to roll it out to about 1/8 of an inch thinkness (about 1/3 cm). The easiest way to get your dough from the table to the pie pan in one piece is to wrap it around your rolling pin and roll it gently off onto your pan. Gently press it down into the pan and remove the excess crust leaving about an inch around the edge. Make sure any holes or perforations are covered well! The press this outer edge into a scallop pattern. (I'm not so great at that. :) )

Pour in your filling mix and add your nuts on top. OR mix your nuts into the filling and pour into the crust. Don't worry, either way the nuts will float to the top of the pie while it cooks. Place your pie in the oven for an hour. If you check your pie and see that the crust is becoming brown you can cover it (just the edge of the pie) with foil for the last portion of your cooking time. (Mine was fine w/o this step) Don't worry if your pie raises some in the middle, it will settle as it cools!

Serve cool. And this is what your pie should look like:

Lots of love and Happy Holidays. Весела Коледа! ~ Samantha

Amerikanska Banitza

Elena is kind enough to let me post in her food blog. I'm an American girl who is married to a Bulgarian. I will post many things, but I'd say for now it will predominantly be my attempts at recreating Bulgarian dishes my husband and I will miss here in America. :) I'm doing my best to learn to cook them for us, from memory and with some help from his mom and Elena. This is MY version of TIKVENIK or Pumpkin Banitza. This is NOT the traditional recipe, though the idea is similar.

Amerikanska Banitza (Tikvenik)

What you will need:

Small circular baking pan
1 package of phyllo dough (Make sure it is completely thawed before you unroll it or it will break!)
1 pie pumpkin
1-1.5 cup brown sugar
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 - 1 cup vegetable oil
cooking spray or melted butter
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (cinnamon, nutmeg, allspice)

First you will want to take your phyllo dough out of the freezer. It takes 2 hours to thaw. In the mean-time you can peel and shred your pumpkin. Or you can bake the damn thing and save yourself an hour of shredding! If you bake it, cut the pumpkin in half, scoop out the seeds, and cover each side with foil. I bake at 350 for 1-1.5 hours. Then scoop out the cooked pumpkin with a spoon once it cools. If you shred it raw, you probably will not need to shred it all. A few cups will be more than enough for 2 small banitzas. I used the small side of the grater, which is fairly masochistic but I'll try it shredded larger next time and tell you how it does. When you have the pumpkin in one form or another then, you should mix the brown sugar and vegetable oil in a saucepan over low heat. Mix until the sugar is thoroughly wet but not melted, then add the pumpkin and mix well. Mostly the heat is just to help the sugar melt, you are not cooking the pumpkin. Then sprinkle in the pumpkin pie spice and pecans and mix again. Remove from the heat and let cool.

Preheat the oven to 350.

Then you can very slowly unwrap your phyllo. I messed this up and my phyllo ended up broken, so I used what I had. You take your first sheet and put it on a flat surface. You will need to cover your other sheets with plastic wrap with a moist towel on top like the package says or it will dry out and be useless. Spray your phyllo sheet thoroughly with cooking spray or brush carefully with melted butter according to the directions. Then use about 2 tablespoons of the pumpkin mixture and spread randomly around the sheet. Carefully roll up the sheet lengthwise so you have a long roll. Spray your pan with cooking spray and lay the sheet along the edge and work your way in with more rolls until you fill the pan.

Then just for good measure I brushed the top with more butter.

Bake until the top is golden brown. Then sprinkle with water and cover with a towel to cool.

Pictures from top to bottom:
*Cleaned pumpking waiting to be peeled and shredded
*Pumpkin, sugar, oil, pecan and spice filling for the banitza.
*Phyllo sheet with pumpkin filling spread on it, waiting to be rolled and placed in pan.
*Pan filled with phyllo rolls, ready to be baked (Notice that some of my rolls are breaking...this is because I did NOT let my phyllo dough thaw properly! Don't make my mistake, lol.)