Friday is Pieday or Pecan Pie & Golden Gate Bridge...A Love Story

Ok..I know it's only 7pm on Thursday...but it's Friday in Australia!!! 

                                      

Hello friends...guess what day it is???? You all are so darn smart, you make a blog mama proud! Yes friends it is Pieday and today I have a southern sweet treat for you. We are going to bake a rich, satisfying and nutty Chocolate Chip Pecan Pie with Honey Glazed Pecan topping.... now say that ten times fast ;-)

I have a little story to go along with this recipe.."of course she does" you say. Back in the 90's when I lived in Houston, I worked for Continental Airlines. Our Reservations office was home to what seemed like millions of women.. talk about raging hormones! At any given time you could identify at least 78 women PMS-ing and making plans to do away with their husbands and runaway with the pool boy. I also.. left many, many wonderful friends behind when I moved to Virginia (hello Steph, Judy, Veronica...). Ok, back to the pie... we were always having contest in the office and the typical prizes were things like: trips to Mexico, Europe, California and pretty much anywhere Continental flew. Yes we had many travel perks ;-)  Well one 4th of July, they announced a pie baking contest. Of course I had to enter.. that is my kind of challenge. I looked through my many cookbooks and found three pies I liked and could not decide between. I ended up taking the best part of each one and creating a whole new pie. I only baked the one pie and never even got to taste it. Well guess what?............ there you go being smart again! I Won first place! My prize was a trip to San Fransisco w/ accommodations at the beautiful St. Regis Hotel. It was a fabulous trip. Enough talking... let's bake!

                                                  ******click on pic's to enlarge******

For the filling of this pie you will need:

• 4 eggs
• 1 cup granulated sugar
• 1 cup light corn syrup
• 3 Tbl melted butter
• 1 tsp vanilla(real..don't you dare use imitation!)
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1 cup pecan chopped
• 1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips (I used minis, but any will work)
• 
• Prepare pie crust according to Feb. 4th 2010 posting. I thought I would do something a little special with this pie. After I placed my dough into my pie pan, I used a small circle cutter to make little round discs. I moistened the crust edge with beaten egg white and gently pressed them into place all around the pie edge. Brushed again with the egg white and sprinkled with sugar. Now doesn't that look so very Martha Stewart?
•          
• Next I beat the eggs in a large bowl at low speed until they were blended. With a spoon, stir in your sugar, corn syrup, butter, vanilla and salt, until blended.
• Stir in chips and chopped nuts
• At this point you can embellish the pie with 1 Tbl of good Bourbon or just embellish yourself with the Bourbon... whatever!
•    
• For your nut topping you will need
• 1/3 cup firmly packed brown sugar
• 3 Tbl butter.. please use real butter... don't make me come over there!
• 3 Tbl honey
• 1 1/2 cups pecan halves
• In a medium saucepan, combine b. sugar, butter and honey.
• Cook about 2 minutes or until the sugar dissolves, then add the pecans and stir until coated
• Pour your egg mixture into you pie crust  and bake at 350 degree for 35 min. Cover edge with foil if needed to prevent over browning.
• Now remove the pie from the oven and carefully spoon the pecan topping over the pie. You can arrange the nut halves to look pretty if you like. 
• Back in the oven she goes for about 10- 20 minutes or until bubbly and crust is golden
• 
• See how pretty and professional your crust looks. It makes you look like you know what your doing..they don't need to know the truth ;-)
• <<<<< does any one know how to get rid of these stupid bullets once you no longer need them!!!
• Oh Darn..they are following me... go away!
• <<< Just ignore him like a pesky little brother. I'll put the kettle on, you get out the vanilla bean ice cream and we'll enjoy our pie. Warning: This is a very rich dessert, so little slices are recommended .... do as I say, not as I do!
• Until next time.. be kind and stay creative and I'll see you back here next week for Pieday! Next week I will be baking a wonderful savory pie, so do come back.