Who Doesn’t Love Pecan and Cherry Pie?

In a previous blog post I mentioned cherry pie and thought I would follow it up with another interest of mine, which is cooking.

I am sure most people keep their own personal cookbook with all the alterations they’ve made to their recipes. I started entering my recipes in 1991 and now my book is falling apart but I continue to use my book until I have filled all the pages up.

When I am gone, my family will have all the recipes I have worked on over the years. They will even have all my recipe ratings: “Very Good”, “Bad”, “Don’t Make Again”, or “Too salty”, etc.

Some recipes that are entered in my book with tweaks are old family recipes from either my family or from my husband’s family. This again is another way to preserve family history or family traditions. For example, my mother-in-law’s recipes were mainly in her head and when she would give me the recipe she would say “the amounts are not exact”. Another favorite cooking term she used was “Whomp-it”, meaning just do it till the food comes together and tastes good.

Recently while we were reorganizing our attic, I found a box of my mother-in-law’s cookbooks in our attic. While I was thumbing through all the cookbooks, I found her Kentucky Pecan pie recipe in two books: a 1964 grade school class project my husband gave to her as a Christmas present and the other was in her own handwriting in her personal cookbook.

What is interesting about the 1964 classroom cookbook is that you can tell the pages were mimeographed. How many schools still use mimeographs today? For the younger ones reading this blog you might not know what a mimeograph is. For your homework, Google it. 😊

I do not remember her making this pie, but because the recipe was in two places amongst her books, I decided to make this pie as part of our 4th of July celebration. I believe the significance of the recipe probably has to do with her being born in Kentucky and, even though she no longer lived there after she was married, she was still a proud “Kentuckian”. Maybe this Kentucky pie recipe was her mom’s recipe. All I know is it was hard to find a recipe to compare for preparing and baking as all the ones I kept finding were with sugar and corn syrup. This recipe only has dark brown sugar and white sugar.

To make the pies you want to start out with making a flaky pie crust. The secret to making a flaky pie crust is cold Crisco, vinegar and refrigerating the pie discs in saran wrap for 30 minutes or longer before rolling.

Pie Crust Recipes:

One Crust to be used for 10” Kentucky Pecan Pie

• 1 1/2 Cups all-purpose flour
• 3/4 Teaspoons salt
• 1/2 Cup Shortening – Crisco
• 4-5 Tablespoons cold water
• 3/4 Teaspoon vinegar

Two Crust Recipe for 10” Cherry Pie

• 3 Cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/2 Teaspoons salt
• 1 Cup Shortening – Crisco
• 8-10 Tablespoons cold water
• 1/2 Tablespoon vinegar

The directions are the same for either pie:

Combine flour and salt in a large bowl. Cut in Shortening (Crisco) until mixture resembles coarse meal. Sprinkle in the vinegar. Then sprinkle cold water one tablespoon at a time and toss until dough just comes together in clumps. Shape into discs. Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 30 minutes or put in the freezer for 10 minutes.

Using a floured rolling pin, roll one round of pastry on lightly floured surface (I use a pastry cloth frame) into a round circle 2 inches larger than upside-down 10 inch pie plate. Roll pastry loosely around rolling pin and transfer to pie plate, pressing firmly against bottom and side and being careful not to stretch pastry, which will cause it to shrink when baked.

For cherry pie: add cherry pie filling. Trim overhanging edge of bottom crust to 1/2 inch from the rim of the plate.

Roll a second round pastry circle and place over filling.

Trim overhanging edge of top pastry 1 inch from rim of plate. Fold edge of top crust under bottom crust, pressing on rim to seal; flute edges. Cut slits in pastry so steam can escape.

Brush top of crust with milk and then sprinkle with sugar.

For pecan pie: do the same as above to roll the crust for just a bottom crust. Since there is only one crust, trim the crust 1 inch from the rim then crimp or flute edge. Add the pecan filling.

Fillings:

For Cherry Pie:

10 inch cherry pie filling: I had to adapt my recipe because where I live, the grocery store does not carry frozen tart cherries. When making pies I usually make two.  One I put in our standing freezer for later.  The recipe in this blog is for one 10 inch cherry pie.

• 1 1/2 Cups of sugar
• 1/2 Cup cornstarch
• 5 Cans of tart cherries (14.5 Ounces), drained (save juice)
• 1/4 Teaspoon + 1/8 Teaspoon almond extract
• 1 1/2 Tablespoons butter
• 1 1/2 Cups of cherry juice (Use some of the juice from the 5 cans of tart cherries above)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Drain the cherries and reserve 1 1/2 cups of cherry juice. In a saucepan, add cornstarch and sugar. Stir in 1 1/2 cups cherry juice. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly until thickened. Remove from heat.

Gently stir in cherries and almond extract. Pour into pastry-lined pie pan. Dot with butter. Add top crust (see instructions above)

Bake about 50-60 minutes or until crust browns and filling begins to bubble.

If necessary, cover the edges with aluminum foil during the last 15 minutes to prevent over-browning. Cool pie several hours to allow filling to thicken before slicing.

For Pecan Pie:

• 2 Cups dark brown sugar
• 1 Cup white sugar
• 2 Tablespoons flour
• 4 Eggs
• 1/4 Cup milk
• 1 Cup butter, melted
• 1 Teaspoon vanilla
• 2 Cups pecans

Preheat oven 350 degrees Fahrenheit.

Beat eggs slightly. Add brown sugar, white sugar, flour, melted butter, milk and vanilla. Stir until well mixed. Next pour the mixture in the pastry-lined pie pan.

I decided to try putting the pecans on the top as I have read in other recipes. I found I had too many left, so I poked them into the filling. I think next time I will put one cup of pecans on the bottom of the pie shell and use the rest of the pecans on top to make it “pretty”.

Bake: 50-70 minutes.

Since my pie was truly a double batch of the original recipe in a 10 inch pie shell it took longer to bake.

Some things to look for when it is done:

• The top of the pecan pie should be crunchy and golden.
• It should be set where it jiggles very slightly when you move the pie pan.

Some Notes:

• Since this was my first time making a pecan pie, I wasn’t sure when it was done.  Maybe 70 minutes is too long and could be shortened next time now that I know what to look for.
• The pie has a golden top and a gooey center.
• Some tricks I use when making pies are to make more pies or have an extra crust that is all ready to go for another pie.
• I wrap the full pie or pie crust that is already in the pie plate and stick in my standing freezer for another time. 
• The pie shell I used in the pecan pie was one I previously made that I had extra when I made my lemon méringue pie. 
• Usually, if there is something leftover like pie crusts, I will roll the bits.  On the scrap of pie dough, I would spread soft butter then sprinkle with cinnamon and sugar or, alternatively, I would scrape the cherry filling from the pan. Bake the scraps on a paper lined cookie sheet for about 8-10 minutes after the pie and you get a little snack, like pastry cookies.  Yummy!
• I like to add a bit of the leftover cherry juice to my lemonade and it makes a nice pink lemonade.

My mother-in-law’s recipe was entered in my personal cookbook with only one ingredient tweak of one teaspoon of vanilla and one method change with the pecans.  

The pie was very easy to make, but it was a little hard knowing when it was done as I had never made this type of pie before.  I am glad I researched other pecan pie recipes, so I had a better understanding of the indications for doneness.  I will definitely use the crisp golden top and slight jiggling as my guide for the next time.

The Kentucky Pecan Pie was a hit with the family.  This pie can be served warm or cold.  My son had several slices and he and my son-in-law preferred it cold, whereas my husband and I prefer to warm our slices in the microwave for 15-20 seconds depending the size of the slice. 

My rating that will be entered in my book for pecan pie is “very good”!