Sweetie Pies

When I was making the pecan pie for our New Year's Eve dinner with Sari, I had a little extra crust so I made two little tarts, one each for me and My Beloved, to enjoy the next day.  Tiny replicas of the larger tart, they were lightly sweet and loaded with pecans.

I made the pie from the same recipe that Naomi used a few months ago when she and Sam made us a marvelous dinner but, not being a huge fan of Karo syrup and having some real maple syrup on hand, I opted for the lighter sweetness and distinctive taste of the maple and I added another cup of nuts to the two cups called for in the recipe.  Oh, yes.  Oh, yes, please!  No nasty thick layer of too-sweet gel under the pecans, the big pie and the two tiny tarts were really perfect, lightly sweet, rich with nuts and barely hinted with hooch.  Truly sweetie pies, just right for welcoming a brand new year.

Pecan Pie Perfection

If you love pecans as much as I do, pecan pie can be a bit of a trial. My problem is that I don't really like the gooey, too-sweet gel on which the pecans rest in most pecan pies. I only really enjoy the crust and the pecans.

We had dinner this week with the delightful Naomi and her beau Sam, a couple of students it has been my pleasure to befriend; they gave up a precious afternoon and evening to cook for and entertain us two old fogies despite the fact that Sam is only here for a few days before he has to head back to "pahk his cah in the Hahvahd Yahd" - he's doing a post-doc at Harvard and they let him off the leash only briefly and infrequently.

Sam and Naomi put on quite a spread - roasted sweet potato rounds as an appetizer, pork roast with homemade wheat yeast rolls and roasted acorn squash - and, hallelujah! a bourbon pecan tart for dessert. They said they got the recipe from epicurious.com and the closest one I can find there is this, only Naomi subbed out the bourbon with brandy instead (good choice!), and added a dollop of spiked whipped cream. The crust she used was seriously buttery and the tart was mostly pecans, with just enough sweet stuff to hold the nuts together - just the way I like it. If you're looking for a great recipe for a Thanksgiving pie, give this one a try - it's as close to pecan pie perfection as a pecan lover could wish for.