Be Thankful, Eat Pie

 

My husband's favorite holiday is almost here! 

Thanksgiving is always celebrated before any Christmas decor can be displayed - this year included. So many homes are decking the halls early this year because we all can use all the festive feels. We, too, are weary of the heavy load this world bears right now. We pray daily for relief and safety and peace. Not just next week on Thursday at dinner, but every day, we are thankful that we have each other and a home and meals on the table. That we are able to share what we have with those who might have a need or could use a helping hand. That we have the means and brains to follow CDC guidelines and our current DHMs to keep ourselves and others safe. That we are able to reach our extended family for virtual celebrations and games and stories and cooking together. That is something good that has come from this time.

Something good that comes from Thanksgiving at our house is pie! We keep a very traditional menu for Thanksgiving with the usual turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, etcetera, and I always make three kinds of pie. Of course, we have pumpkin, a favorite of the grandchildren. Simple, flavored with quality pumpkin pie spice from Penzey's (it's easy on the nutmeg - yea!), then slathered with the whipped cream. Sometimes it's more like whipped cream with a bit of pumpkin pie. I shall not apologize for that, nor for teaching that to my grandchildren. It's once a year. We need something to look forward to.

Then there's pecan. I love pecan pie. The recipe I use is from the Centennial cookbook put out by the community association of our little village. It was submitted by a sweet elderly lady named Mercedes. Everyone called her Merc (Merse). Merc was kind and funny and generous. She lived alone in a little house a few blocks down the street. Whenever it snowed, my husband and his brother and father would clean sidewalks and driveways for those in town who couldn't do it themselves. A few days later, Merc would deliver a couple of pecan pies to their house as payment. This continued into Greg's and Randy's adulthood - they'd go clean Merc's sidewalks and driveway, then a couple of days later, she'd drop off a pie at their dad's house... Something we'd find out about a few days later...  😉

My husband was very happy when her recipe was in the cookbook, and it's the only one I've ever used to make pecan pie. I also use it for another offering in the pie category, and that's chocolate pecan pie. It's been several years now, but I remember hearing about or reading about CHOCOLATE pecan pie, and that just sounded so perfect. I did a little research and with just one tweak, was able to produce a new family favorite.

Let's make a chocolate pecan pie:

Here's the page of the cookbook with her recipe. You can see it's been well-used. First of all I melt the butter so it has a chance to cool a bit before adding it to the eggs. The one tweak to make it chocolate, is that I add about a quarter cup of chocolate chips to the butter, and melt them together. 

Then proceed with the recipe just as written. 

I use a deep dish 9" pie plate and that holds the batter perfectly. After 50-55 minutes in the oven, and our Precious is ready.

Let it cool completely before cutting. Serve with whipped cream or not. Enjoy for dessert and/or breakfast. Enjoy and be thankful. 

Our new pie server is actually a piece of vintage silver acquired from The Sassy Barn shop. Each one is hand-stamped, and are available in her shop for about a minute and a half each Sunday. Not even kidding. Her stuff sells out quick, but it's full of charm and vintage vibes.

Let's talk just a sec about the corn syrup. In case you're worried about it, here's an excerpt of an article I found: 

"According to an FAQ published by leading corn syrup manufacturer Karo, both the light and dark varieties of their product, which have been around for over 100 years, have never contained high-fructose corn syrup. At some point in the 1970s, HFCS was added to the reduced-calorie Karo Lite as well as to Karo Pancake Syrup. Due to consumer requests, the HFCS has now been removed from the Lite product, although it is still included in Karo Pancake Syrup."

Let us go forth into this next week and give thanks - wear a mask, celebrate virtually if that's the safest way for your family so you can all be together next year, and eat pie!