recipe box Wednesday

So Thanksgiving may be all about the turkey, but I think it may be more about the pie.

Last week I had shared that I was going to make an apple pie, since Charlie had declared his dislike of both pumpkin and pecan pie.  But when Thanksgiving eve arrived, I was swamped with work and trying to decide how to fit in pie baking along with everything else.

My friend Tracy (yup, the sellabitmum one) had called from La Patisserie, and I got all spontaneous and joined her and Astrid for a very quick cup of coffee.  Luckily Deb, the amazing owner of La Patisserie, had made extra pies, so I decided to give her my business and brought home an incredible Dutch Apple pie.  So Charlie was covered.

With a pie crust in my fridge just crying out to be baked, that night I dug through my recipe box and pulled out my mother's Pecan Pie recipe.  I decided to get really wild and make miniature pecan tarts, that way Mike and I could still have our pecan fix, and I could freeze the rest for another day.

As with many heirloom recipes handed down, this one had the ingredients, but not much for directions.  Here is exactly what was on the recipe card:

Mom's Pecan Pie


1/2 stick of butter, melted
3 eggs
1/2 c. sugar
1/2 c. white corn syrup
1 tsp. vanilla
1 c. pecan pieces


Bake at 400 degrees for 10 minutes, 350 degrees for 30 minutes until knife in center comes out clean.

So I took a deep breath, and rolled out the pie crust  (I didn't even do homemade).  I pulled out my mini muffin tin, and cut out 24 circles with my largest biscuit cutter.  I filled each tin with the little rounds of dough, and melted my butter.  I beat the eggs and added the sugar (I used packed brown), corn syrup, and vanilla, and slowly added the melted butter.   Then I stirred in the pecan pieces.  Using a small ice cream scoop, I filled the little pie crusts.  I had saved the pie dough scraps, and cut them into little leaves, and placed on the pecans, then I brushed them with the remaining syrup in the bottom of my bowl.   I popped them in the oven at 350 degrees, and started checking them at 15 minutes.  They took about 22 minutes total, and looked delicious coming out.  (Of course your oven timing may vary...)

After the turkey, the dressing, the mashed potatoes and gravy, the green bean casserole, the sweet potatoes, lefse, and cranberry sauce, those little tarts were just calling out to us.  So of course we had to try them, with a dash of whipped cream.

And guess what?  Charlie LOVED them, so a few days later there were none left to put in the freezer.