Alpha Bakers -- "The Dutch" Pecan Sandies

 

Buttery sables are my favorite kind of cookies, and these fragile pecan sandies are a perfect example of the type. Made with crumbly pecans, cinnamon sugar, and browned butter, they have a rich lightness that mirrors their eponymous sandiness. My sister says, "I kind of get dry mouth looking at the words "pecan sandies," but I think if she had one of these, especially with black coffee, she might find it suitably moist. Just kidding, she's hard to please and doesn't drink coffee.

Alpha Bakers -- Pecan Pumpkin Pie

I've never hosted a Thanksgiving dinner, and for the first 20 or so years of my life, I wasn't even present at the creation of one, arriving as a guest just in time for appetizers. Nonetheless, every November my general predilections combine with the larger media input to prompt an almost subconsciously motivated flood of sympathy cooking. My usual dinner is a quesadilla with a cucumber nearby, or a few handfuls of whatever is lying around, but suddenly and suspiciously I start roasting chickens and root vegetables, over-buying butter, and tripling my oven output. This makes Thanksgiving more of a seasonal eating fad than a single meal, but seems to work out for everyone involved. I like pumpkins, puddings, panades, and roasted things, and at least it means more variety in the fridge.

I've given up on the notion of ever truly cooking for one. Even when I can manage food that will feed only me, or at least be appealing over a week of leftovers, I simply can't manage shopping for one. Abundance is my natural state, and as long as it's abundance of reasonably cheap ingredients, the Yiddishe mama in me surrenders to it. Yesterday, I tried immersion therapy, buying two pounds of butter and a pile of dried fruits and telling myself that the day's only task was to stay in and bake whatever I wanted from the piles of books in the living room. I'm particularly taken with The Violet Bakery Cookbook, by Claire Ptak, this month, and will be messing about with it some more soon.

On the list, though not at the top, was this week's Alpha Bake, Rose's Pecan Pumpkin pie. Essentially two fillings baked on top of one another in the same crust, a classic pumpkin pie on top of a classic pecan pie. Not entirely necessary, but why not? This week I played it straight, making the recipe more or less as written. Rose's flaky cream cheese pie crust, rolled out with a heavy lip to prevent early shrinkage (no par-baking in this one). The pecan filling is a simple treacle-y custard, made with corn syrup as I couldn't find the golden syrup that I thought was in my cabinet. It's probably in there somewhere. After that, a classic pumpkin filling is layered on top. I used an organic pumpkin puree, frozen and drained, mixed with some not very flavorful but nicely textured cubes of roasted cheese pumpkin. I baked the pie for a few minutes over the recommended baking time, which I worried was going to be too much for the pumpkin custard, but I really wanted to see some browning on the bottom crust. What's the point of a bottom crust if it's just going to be a layer of cardboard wax?

In the event, the pecan underlayer lent moisture to the pumpkin and there was no harm done, although it was a bit firmer than I might have cooked a plain pumpkin pie. The one co-worker who has tried it so far ate a slice very quickly and announced 'That was great!' Hopefully he and everybody else will take some home, as my freezer is filling up and I have tomorrow off as well...
although I'm already out of butter.

Alpha Bakers -- Frozen Pecan Tart

I don't do pecan pies. I just do not. Despite my love of caramel and nuts and pie crust, pecan pie is one of those things that people are yes or no on, and I am no. Why exactly? Can't say. But I don't make them and I don't eat them. There are so many good pies out there, why play around? Also, pecans are expensive.

It's just too early to bail on a bake-through now, though, so I made that Frozen Pecan Tart and now it is frozen and it is awaiting the first day of the new year, when it will be consumed with (presumptive) joy by the assembled crowd at my house. Here's how it went.

The crust: a food processor cookie-style dough, with turbinado sugar (I used raw). The dough was easy to work with, so easy that I didn't go through the elaborate pan-lining strategy outlined by the book, but just lined my tart pan as I always do, and was very satisfied with the results, especially the lack of puffing up in the par-baking. This may be my new go-to tart crust for sweet tarts. I'll probably stick with Dorie Greenspan's savory tart crust, but they're not that different.

The filling is a quick custard with egg yolks, sugar, butter, and golden syrup. I was glad to strain it because there were definitely a few egg bits, but the final product came out delicious. Can't I just eat that with a spoon and skip the whole dreaded pecan pie thing? Whatever.

My pecans were on the small side, so they didn't line up into the prettiest patterns, but otherwise the bake was uneventful. My only quarrel was with the instruction to un-mold the tart then slip it into a freezer bag once cooled. I had left the bottom round on instead of switching to a serving plate, and was glad I did, because the outer crust was too fragile to bag unsupported, and started crumbling off right away as I tried to get it in (cook's treat). I re-molded the tart into the tart ring and froze it that way. If I need the tart ring before we eat it it will come off easily, and the tart will be much sturdier now that it is frozen.

No comments on taste at this time, will update once we sample it on New Year's Day. 
UPDATE: The tart sliced beautifully, as promised. The filling had more stability to it than I expected, though, and remained reasonably firm even at a warm room temperature, rather than becoming a mess of goo, making it a perfect party dessert.

The pecan pie aficionados were loud in this tart's praise. 'Special,' 'good texture,' and 'delicious' were bandied about, and in general it was popular. I tasted it for authenticity's sake, and while I didn't love it, I think if the filling had been taken to a slightly deeper caramel stage and made into chewy caramels, I would have. Perhaps my pecan pie issue is more of a texture issue, in the end. It was a complete success of its kind.