I helped out a friend at work, he had baseball tickets with this son but was scheduled to work and they were really disappointed. So, I picked it up for them. We are a small group and try to help each other out with stuff like this. The next time I saw him he brought me a lovely bottle of bourbon, but my husband and I aren’t big drinkers so I didn’t really know what to do with it.
While driving home - and its a long drive from WV - I was chatting with a friend and she suggested making a bourbon Pecan pie. Brilliant, although the last time we had one our friend had made it and she was Mormon and wasn’t sure when to add the bourbon- so it was "potent." This recipe ensures that you cook the bourbon, so its safe to have more than one slice.
Chocolate Bourbon Pecan Pie
- 1 9-inch pie crust (store-bought or homemade)
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 1 cup light corn syrup
- 1/2 cup butter (1 stick)
- 4 large eggs, beaten
- 1/4 cup bourbon
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 6 ozs semi-sweet chocolate chips (approximately 1 cup)
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Preparation: Preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Next, line a deep dish pie plate with the pie crust, set aside. Combine sugar, corn syrup and butter in a saucepan. Stirring constantly, cook over medium heat until butter melts and sugar completely dissolves. Remove from heat and cool to just above room temperature.
In a large (metal, if possible) bowl, combine egg, bourbon, vanilla and salt and mix thoroughly. Place the bowl on a damp towel on the counter, this keeps it steady for the next step. Very slowly pour cooled sugar mixture into egg mixture, whisking constantly so that the heat from the sugar mixture doesn’t cook the egg mixture, I like to actually do this in a metal bowl that is pretty tall and pour it down the side of the bowl while whisking- which helps cool it.
Make sure the mixture is not hot enough to melt the chocolate too much then add the chocolate chips and pecans and stir to mix well. Pour mixture into pie shell. Bake in preheated oven for 50 to 55 minutes or until set and golden on top. Serve warm or chilled and with whipped cream if you have it!
It’s stone fruit season and it would be remiss if we didn’t crumble something. This crumble can also be a plum, apricot or cherry - whatever you enjoy most.
Peach Crumble
Ingredients:
Crust and Crumbles
- 140 grams (1 cup) all-purpose flour
- 130 grams (1 cup and a cup) rolled oats
- 155 grams (¾ cup) granulated sugar
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- ¼ tsp salt (optional)
- 150 g (2/3 cup) unsalted butter, melted and cooled
Peach Filling
- 450 grams (2 cups) peaches, peeled and cut into small pieces
- 30 grams (2 tbsp) granulated sugar
- 2 tsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp fresh lemon juice
- 1 tsp almond extract
Preparation: Preheat the oven to 350EF. Grease 8 inch square oven-proof dish and line the bottom and sides with parchment paper, about 2 inches of overhang on each side. Chop the peaches into almost ½-1 inch pieces. First, mix the peaches with lemon juice and then with the almond extract. Next, toss with cornstarch and sugar. Set aside. Mix the flour, rolled oats, sugar, cinnamon, salt in a medium bowl. Then add the melted butter and stir with a spoon or spatula. Place b of the mixture into an oven-proof dish that is lined with parchment paper. Use your hands or a spoon to spread the mixture evenly.
Next, cover the crust with the peach mixture but leave the excess liquid in the bowl. You may want to use this liquid later if there a lot left as a drizzle. Sprinkle the remaining dough over the peaches. If you like you can make some big crumble pieces by squeezing crumble mixture in your hand before sprinkling. Use your fingertips to press to the crumbles so they can stick to peaches.
Bake for 33-35 minutes until the top becomes golden brown and the crumbles are crunchy. Let it cool at room temperature for almost 1 hour. Then keep in the fridge for extra 1.5 hours until it is completely cool so you can have nicely cut bars. Using the parchment paper you can lift it out of the pan and cut it into squares with a sharp knife.
To use the left over peach liquid as a drizzle for the bars once they are cooled. You can place that liquid into a small pan and heat it up to thicken it as the water evaporates. Or if it is a large amount, make a slurry of 1TBSP of cold water and 1TBSP of cornstarch and add it to the pot and bring to a boil, stirring continuously which will thicken it.
The Best Slow Cooker Pulled Pork
Every night people want dinner. If I have enough forethought, I love to use the crockpot to make a full dinner, usually have left overs and also not heat up the house in the summer. This is my favorite go to pork shoulder, and then after shredding - put in the oven for a few minutes for "burnt ends."
Ingredients:
- 4 pound pork shoulder
- 2 tbsp smoked paprika
- 2 tbsp brown sugar
- 1 tsp pepper
- 1 tsp cayenne pepper
- 1 tsp garlic powder
- 1 tsp onion powder
- 1 tsp kosher salt
- 1/4 cup apple cider vinegar
- 3/4 cup water
Preparation: Mix together all of the dried spices and rub into all sides of the pork. Place vinegar and water in bottom of slow cooker. Carefully add pork (so you don't wash off spices). Cover and cook on low for about 8 hours. Remove pork and shred (remove any large fatty pieces and discard). Add juices from slow cooker as desired.
You can also strain some of the juices through a fine mesh strainer into a sauce pan, and then make a slurry with 2 tbsp of water and 2 tbsp of cornstarch and add to the pan, then bring to a boil to thicken into a gravy for the meat or mashed potatoes. For brown, crispy ends, put shredded meat on foil lined baking sheet and broil for a couple of minutes in the oven (watch carefully!)
