Maple Pecan Pie with Butter Pecan Ice Cream

My brother-in-law mentioned craving pecan pie since Thanksgiving so I decided to make a treat for him last weekend complete with homemade butter pecan ice cream. We all agreed that the pie was so sweet that vanilla ice cream would probably be more refreshing. But, the butter pecan ice cream turned out amazing and has been nice treat all on its own.

 I chose this recipe for pecan pie because it had maple syrup in it.  I thought it would add a little more flavor to the pie vs. just the normal corn syrup and brown sugar base. My family used to make maple syrup every spring .  I have fond memories of spending time in the maple woods, running sap lines and then waiting (rather impatiently) in the "sugar shanty" for the maple syrup to cook in the big boiler and be ready for us to test.  We would sip maple syrup from little paper cone cups and sometimes my dad or grandfather would boil hot dogs in the maple syrup for us. I know it sounds strange, but it was so yummy! 

I started out toasting the pecans for the ice cream. Even my little nephew commented how nice it smelled with the pecans toasting in the oven.  When they came out, I tossed them with the butter and salt and here we are...butter pecans.

The ice cream was made with a custard base, but first you cook the sugar and butter together and then mix it in with the whipping cream and whole milk.  There was nothing non-fat about this ice cream!

I monitored the temperature and brought it to right around 175 degrees.

It cooked until it coated the back of the spoon and was a nice thick custard base for our ice cream.

I ran it through the sieve to get a nice smooth base for the ice cream and then it was chilled for a while before it went in the ice cream machine.

Now, onto the pie...sugar, corn syrup and more butter!

I love it when the butter melts and looks all swirly.

The wheat crust was easy to make and work with.  It's nice and easy to wrap the dough around the rolling pin and roll it out into the pie dish.

I didn't do anything too fancy with the crust.  I just crimped it with a fork with the help of my 2-year-old niece.

The sugar/butter mixture is all mixed in with the pecans.

Then added to the chilled pie crust.

The pie isn't my favorite and while I LOVE sweet things, I do have to admit that this is a bit sweet for me.  But, we enjoyed it, my brother-in-law got his fix and now we have lots of yummy butter pecan ice cream to enjoy too.

Recipe for Maple Pecan Pie

From Bon Appétit

Pie filling:

Ingredients:

3/4 C. real maple syrup

3/4 C. (packed) golden brown sugar

1/2 C. light corn syrup

1/4 cup (1/2 stick) unsalted butter

3 large eggs

1 t. vanilla extract

1/4 t. salt

1 1/2 C. pecan halves

Crust:

Ingredients:

1 1/4 C. all purpose flour

1/4 C. whole wheat flour

1 T. sugar

1/2 t. salt

1/2 cup (1 stick) chilled unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces

1 large egg yolk

3 T. (or more) ice water

Directions:

Pie filling:

Stir syrup, brown sugar, corn syrup and butter in medium saucepan over medium heat until sugar dissolves and butter melts. Increase heat and boil 1 minute. Cool to lukewarm, about 45 minutes.

Position rack in bottom third of oven and preheat to 350°F. Roll out crust dough on lightly floured surface to 13-inch round. Transfer to 9-inch-diameter glass pie dish. Trim dough overhang to 1 inch. Fold edge under, forming high-standing rim; crimp decoratively. Freeze crust until firm, about 20 minutes.

Whisk eggs, vanilla and salt in a bowl to blend. Gradually whisk maple syrup mixture into egg mixture. Stir in pecan halves.

Pour filling into crust. Bake pie until filling is slightly puffed around edges and center is set, about 55 minutes. Cool pie completely on rack. (Can be prepared 8 hours ahead. Let stand at room temperature.) Cut pie into wedges and serve.

Crust:

Blend first 4 ingredients in processor. Add chilled butter and cut in using on/off turns until mixture resembles coarse meal. Whisk egg yolk and 3 tablespoons ice water in small bowl to blend. Add egg yolk mixture to processor and blend until moist clumps form, adding more water by teaspoonfuls if dry. Gather dough into ball; flatten dough into disk. Wrap dough in plastic and chill 1 hour. (Can be prepared 2 days ahead. Keep refrigerated. Let dough soften slightly at room temperature before rolling out.)

Recipe for Butter Pecan Ice Cream

Ingredients:

2 C. pecans (1/2 lb), finely chopped

3 T. unsalted butter, softened

1/4 t. salt

1 1/2 C. packed light brown sugar

2 t. cornstarch

4 large eggs

2 C. whole milk

2 C. heavy cream

3/4 t. vanilla

Directions:

Toast pecans in a shallow baking pan in middle of oven until fragrant and a shade darker, 7 to 8 minutes. Add butter and salt to hot pecans and toss until butter is melted, then cool pecans completely (they will absorb butter).

Whisk together brown sugar and cornstarch, then add eggs, whisking until combined. Bring milk and cream just to a boil in a 3- to 4-quart heavy saucepan over moderately high heat, then add to egg mixture in a stream, whisking constantly, and transfer custard to saucepan.

Cook custard over moderately low heat, stirring constantly with a wooden spoon, until thick enough to coat back of spoon and registers 170 to 175°F on an instant-read thermometer, 2 to 3 minutes (do not let boil).

Immediately pour custard through a fine-mesh sieve into a bowl and stir in vanilla, then cool, stirring occasionally. Chill custard, its surface covered with wax paper, until cold, at least 3 hours.

Freeze custard in ice cream maker until almost firm. Stir together ice cream and pecans in a bowl, then transfer to an airtight container and put in freezer to harden.

Apple-Blackberry Crisp

This past summer, my mum and I stopped at an Amish farm stand and bought some gorgeous blackberries. We waited for quite some time for someone to come out and help us and this little girl was sitting on their porch quietly the entire time just looking at us and barely making a noise.  She couldn't have been more than a year old and I was surprised to find her out there on her own. She has the sweetest face and looked so cute in her little Amish outfit.  I almost thought she was a baby doll!

Their farm was immaculate and the wheat fields were bright gold and swaying in the wind making the most calm de-stressing sound. I could've taken a nap laying in that field after eating our blackberries!

 We brought the blackberries home and my mum was reminiscing about how her grandmother used to make apple blackberry pie. Well, we didn't make it then as it wasn't apple season.  But, it is now!  I have tons of honey crisp apples left from our last trip to the orchard...the ones that Audrey is munching on in this photo we recently had taken up at the family farm. I also found blackberries on sale at the local market and thought I'd make an apple-blackberry creation as my mum was coming over to visit. 

I didn't feel like making a traditional pie, so I went with a crisp. I cooked the apples slices first with butter, brown sugar, cinnamon and nutmeg to cook them down.  It's nice to just throw everything in together to bake, but if you do that with the blackberries, I suppose they would be complete mush.  The apples cooking on the stove top smelled amazing!  And, they looked so pretty when you tossed them in with the blackberries.

The blackberries cooked down and bubbled up making an amazing blackberry apple jam with soft chunks of fruit and a crispy oatmeal crust on top.  It was amazing served warm with vanilla bean ice cream in the company of my wonderful family. Mum really enjoyed it too!  I still have some of the blackberries left and may have to come up with another treat to make as mum is visiting me this week.

Recipe for Apple-Blackberry Crisp

(Adapted from Williams-Sonoma recipe for Apple-Blackberry Cobbler)

Ingredients:

Fruit mixture:

• 2-3 lbs. peeled and cored apples cut into slices (I used honey crisp)
• 1 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1 tsp. ground cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp. salt
• 1/4 tsp. freshly grated nutmeg
• 3 Tbs. cornstarch
• Zest of 1 lemon
• 2 Tbs. fresh lemon juice
• 2 pints blackberries

Crisp:

• 1 cup rolled oats (regular or quick cooking)
• 1 cup brown sugar
• 1/2 cup flour
• 1/2 tsp. cinnamon
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter (room temperature)

Directions:
In a large stock pot, stir together the apples, brown sugar, granulated sugar, cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, cornstarch, lemon zest and lemon juice. Transfer to stove, cover and set over medium heat. Cook the apples, stirring occasionally, until almost tender. Fold in the blackberries and transfer to an oven safe baking dish.

Preheat an oven to 350°F.

For the crisp topping, combine the oats, brown sugar, flour and cinnamon in a medium bowl. Cut in the butter until it resembles coarse crumbs. Sprinkle crisp topping over fruit filling until covered completely.

Bake the cobbler, uncovered, until the topping is golden brown and crisp, about 35-45 minutes. Let cool for at least 15 minutes before serving.  Serve with vanilla ice cream!

Chai Teacupcakes

I got these adorable little silicone cupcake molds for my birthday and just couldn't wait to try them. Of course, since they are shaped like teacups, I wanted to make a cupcake that was reminiscent of tea and thought chai would be perfect. I researched several recipes and ended up using the Martha Stewart one from her Cupcakes book.  It was meant for mini cupcakes, but adapted well to making regular sized ones with just a little more baking time.  However, her recipe included a condensed milk icing and I wanted to swirl some buttercream on top, so I came up with this yummy cardamom-cinnamon buttercream and sprinkled just a little cinnamon on top.  Just like they would when you order a chai latte from the local cafe, right?

This is the box of the cupcake molds that are made by Fred.  They make all kinds of fun stuff! 

I even used my matching pink Reiss milkpot to warm the milk and make the black tea infused milk to use for the recipe. I just wanted to drink that, but resisted and used it for the cupcakes.

The batter had LOTS of spices in it and I've never smelled such a fragrant flour mixture!  I liked the Martha recipe as it called for using each and every spice that is in Indian chai vs. cheating and using one of the pre-made chai mixes. This has cardamom, cinnamon, ginger, clove, and freshly ground nutmeg.  It smelled like fall or like I was ready to make a pumpkin pie. 

I was hoping I didn't put too much batter in the cupcake molds and since I have just these four, there was lots more batter to make other cupcakes.  It felt so boring just putting the batter in cupcake papers!

Here are my chai teacupcakes fresh out of the oven. I probably could have used a little less batter in the molds, but they rose nicely and I was so exciting to frost them!

The buttercream came together so nicely and was easy to pipe on. It had these pretty little specks of cardamom and cinnamon in it and I sprinkled them with a bit more cinnamon as well.  I thought the bright white buttercream looked so pretty with the white molds as well.  Almost too adorable to eat!  I shared them with four very special friends and showed off the fun cupcake molds.

I had lots more cupcakes and lots more buttercream so I sampled one to make sure they were good and sent the rest off to be enjoyed by others.

Recipe for Cardamom-Cinnamon Buttercream

2 sticks unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 tablespoon real vanilla extract
1 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
5 cups powdered sugar
1/4 cup milk

Cream the butter in an electric mixer until light and fluffy.  Add the vanilla, cardamom and cinnamon and mix thoroughly.  Continue beating on low speed while adding the sugar a cup at a time and alternating with a little milk, beating smooth between each addition and scraping the bowl as needed.

Ice Cream Cookie Sandwiches

I wanted to make some fun and easy to make ahead treats for this past weekend when I had family visiting, so I made a few different kinds of ice cream sandwiches. I've made plenty of cookies and I always try to make homemade ice cream, but this is the first time I've combined the two to make ice cream cookie sandwiches.

I tried a new recipe for a chocolate sugar cookie that I found on one of my favorite food blogs, Smitten Kitchen. I made homemade vanilla bean ice cream to make sandwiches with the chocolate cookies. While I thought the cookies were great out of the oven, I don't know if I cared for them as much when they were cold and frozen as ice cream sandwiches, but they were still yummy. It might have been because the other one I made was just so much better. I made my traditional oatmeal cookies and paired them with homemade cinnamon ice cream. This was the perfect combination and by far the favorite of the two. The cookies just have more texture and the ice cream was more creamy and flavorful with the cinnamon.



I baked the cookies a day in advance, let them cool and then stored them in air tight containers to keep them fresh. I made my ice creams in advance as well and let them harden more in the freezer. When I was ready to put together the ice cream sandwiches, I took the ice creams out of the freezer for about 10-15 minutes to let the ice cream soften so you could spread it. The vanilla ice cream I made was not a custard based ice cream though and it softened too much where it squished out of the cookies a bit when we wrapped them.

After we made the sandwiches, we wrapped them individually in aluminum foil and put them in the freezer to harden. It's nice that they can be made in advance and you can just pop them out of the freezer when you're ready for a treat. There are so many fun combinations you can try with different cookies and ice creams. The other thing I did not do that would be yummy is to roll the edges of the ice cream sandwich in nuts, chopped candy or mini chips before freezing them. You could also make chocolate fudge or caramel dipping sauce for even more indulgence.