Decadance at its finest: Southern Pecan Pie

I have mentioned before that we are hosting Thanksgiving for the first time this year. I am so excited, but being a bit of a perfectionist can prove to be challenging when hosting twelve people. So I have been testing out various recipes in order to perfect some staple dishes for the dinner.

I have made several different Pecan Pies over the last few years, some too moist, too dry and one that had WAY too many pecans- hard to believe, but seriously overloaded. After a few failures I have landed on the recipe with a little tweaking of my own!

This version is the perfect mix of pecan, filling and just a little kick of Bourbon!

Southern Pecan Pie Ingredients:

1 pie crust (Oliver makes the pie crust, but you can buy refrigerated ones as well)

4 large eggs

1 1/2 cups firmly packed light brown sugar

1/2 cup melted butter cooled to room temperature

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup chopped pecans

1 1/2 cups of pecan halves

2 tablespoons all- purpose flour

2 tablespoons milk (I used 1%)

1 teaspoon of bourbon

1/2 teaspoon of vanilla 

Preheat your oven to 325

 

Whisk eggs until foamy, then add in brown sugar, butter, granulated sugar, chopped pecans, flour, milk, bourbon & vanilla. Pour into pan with pie crust and add pecan halves on top. Bake for 30 minutes at 325 degrees, then reduce temperature 300 degrees and bake for an additional thirty minutes. Turn oven off and let pie stand in oven for two hours to allow pie to settle.

I hope you enjoy this recipe and incorporate it into your next gathering :)

Fall Fun Activities

I sounds like a broken record about things to do/eat/see & wear in the fall,  however it really is such a beautiful time of year that I feel compelled to get out there and enjoy it! Not to mention what follows is several cold, harsh months of being indoors. So here are a list of a few things I think should be on everyone's fall to do list!

1. Apple Picking- two of my favorite places are Honey Pot Hill which is great as a family activity or with friends. I also love Nashoba Valley Winery how can you go wrong when you can apple pick and stop in for a quick wine tasting as well? We are actually headed apple picking on Saturday so keep an eye out for some photos! :)

This was from yesterday we did the Charles River walk- the leaves are starting to turn!

2. Check out the leaves on longer stroll, you can do a day trip for the Newport Cliff walk or check out Castle Island (both of which are great for pets!) Of course no list would be complete without my favorite which is the Charles River walk. My Husband and I will park in Watertown and walk along the river passing by the various city, town and university boat houses, continuing on overlooking Harvard's campus and on from there.


3. Baking is another favorite, I have a few staple recipes, (see my post on pumpkin cookies) apple pie, pecan pie. Keep an eye out for more fall recipes, or check out my "Fall Fun" board on Pinterest! I will be trialing some recipes for our first Thanksgiving hosting the family. We are hosting twelve people for dinner so for my family pretty small- but I can't wait to plan the menu and decorate!

Pecan pie from an impromptu dinner party yesterday!

4. In my mind no fall is complete without a trip to Salem, MA. I am not a big Halloween fan, in fact I hate it. Even as a kid I didn't like getting dressed up (except for the year I went as Belle!) There is just something about the holiday I can't get on board with. However there are many other things to do in Salem other than Halloween things. Including a Walking Tour of the Trees, and  Harvest Day. This year we have friends coming up from DC over Halloween so we will have lots to do that is not Halloween related!  

5. Another favorite activity is heading to a football game. While we were living in DC we went to a fair few Ravens games (not my by choice!) However now that we are back home we plan to head to a Pats game. College games can be really fun as well! Oliver is a Maryland Alum so he's headed down for  a game this season as well- unfourtuantely I am working that weekend so I don't get to partake in the fun.

As always, thanks for reading! Please make sure to subscribe in the bottom right corner, I have recieved a few emails that people with Apple computers are having difficulty using the widget to subscribe so I have added the email option as well!

Happy Thursday! :)