A dessert which has been on many Thanksgiving and Christmas menus is a classic American recipe, pecan pie. Pecans are rich in the south, and the advent of the pecan pie is generally attributed to French settlers in the Louisiana region, who were initially introduced to pecans by the Native Americans. A choice on many holiday tables across the states since the makers of Karo syrup made popular the tasty dessert in the 1930s.
Basic recipes for pecan pie require eggs, butter, vanilla flavoring, sugar, salt, corn syrup, and pecans. Ingredients are gathered, properly combined, put into a prepared pie shell and baked in a preheated oven. To identify when the pie is cooking, carefully moving the pan, the center should no longer be loose. If the center moves a bit, the dessert is done. The completed result is a sweet and delightful dessert with a custard consistency and a flaky crust. While the surface is likely to be covered with a thick dollop of whipped cream or vanilla ice cream, many cooks will place a single layer of pecan pieces on the top surface of the dessert before baking to present a beautiful presentation, while many others leave it as-is.
Pecan pie has been a popular dessert to modify over the years, with numerous variations for example Chocolate Pecan Pie. In some recipes vanilla is left out, light or dark corn syrup can be used, and dark brown sugar can substitute for the white sugar. To provide the pie an extra boost of taste in the southern United States, a bit of bourbon is frequently included. Fruity additions such as lemon juice or pineapple can offset the sweet taste, while spices like nutmeg or ginger can be sprinkled into the mixture to make a subtle variation that makes people happy.
In recent years, delicious chocolate pecan pies have gained in appeal. To bring a whole new element to a pecan pie, blending pieces of semi sweet morsels, milk chocolate chunks or unsweetened chocolate to the basic ingredients. A chocolate pecan pie turns into a divine dessert suitable for more formal adult gatherings with a quarter cup of bourbon or a tablespoon of instant espresso.
To make the texture smoother, some classic recipes require boiling the nuts in whole milk and draining them before adding to the other ingredients. Other classic variations call for meringue toppings, which are lovely but makes baking a bit trickier. There is also a more modern day recipe for pecan pie perfect for folks with nut hypersensitivity or those on a tight budget. This recipe replaces the nuts with oats to imitate the nutty flavor. These pies are great tasting, but an authentic, full-flavored pecan pie just cannot be beat.
Article Directory : http://www.articlecube.com