Pie 101 - Derby Pie

"Derby" Pie or  Pecan-Chocolate-Bourbon Pie.  Can you say decadent?

When someone needs something baked, I do it if I can.  If I have the time.  Not everyone bakes.  I love to bake and need an excuse now that there are only two of us in the house.  If I bake for an event, I somehow always manage to make enough so that we can share a sample or even have a tiny sweetness for ourselves.  (If it's pie, it's usually for Dave; I eat a bite, that's it.  He loves pie too much for me to eat much.)

(Aside:  After I saw how many people read my basic Pie 101 post, I thought I'd begin a series (quite intermittent) on pies.  I hope  you like them.  Anywho, read on.)

Trading Granola for Eggs - My Urban Barter Tale

I was on the road a couple of weeks ago and checking my computer when my I-Spy Radar saw an email with a subject line that had something to do with too many fresh eggs and trading cookies for them.  I try and stay off email a lot when I'm away seeing my kids or on vacation, but I couldn't NOT look at this one.  Backyard eggs just hook me right in.  And, of course, cookies fall right out of my oven.

My siblings and I grew up with fresh eggs; my dad either traded produce for them or shelled out a little cash to his Swedish farmer friend Munson.  When our  parents retired and took it (ha!) easy on a little "hobby" farm,  they had their own chickens and, hence, their own eggs, to say nothing of a garden that produced tomatoes the likes of which I've never again tasted.  When Dave and I visited as newlyweds, we had fresh eggs (fried in bacon or sausage grease) every morning early.  Why would you want anything else?  And why not at 6am?  There, of course, were also biscuits.  With sour cream and honey or molasses.  Unending pots of coffee.

Ah, nuts or Go Nuts! or Alyce and Helen's Spicy Nuts

 It's snowing here.  I've been waiting forever.. or it seems like.
This week, it's been one thing after another; do you have weeks like that?
When you have an agenda only to have it thwarted by work, illness, spouses traveling, or whatever?
Promises, however, are promises.  And the promise to  give you the recipes from this tray:

Go Nuts!  Today's recipe is at center.

is being kept.

Today's entry is one I may have posted before, but it's worth repeating if I have.   Surely it's gone into the Holiday Cookbook  for 2010 on examiner.com.   This is a spiced nut recipe that I originally received from my sister Helen.  I have since called it Go Nuts!  But, having changed it from her recipe to mine, I've also called it Alyce and Helen's Spicy Nuts.  I'm baking five kinds of cookies today and, while looking at an old Betty Crocker Cookbook from the early '70s, I saw a very similar recipe there!  I'm big on provenance.  If something is original (or I have every reason to believe it is), I want the credit.  If it's a riff on something, I want the other cook to have the credit; I want to be a honest recipe person.  Sometimes I know there's nothing new under the sun and, when I really think I've done something new (for instance, I grilled pizza in the '80s) I wish I'd put it somewhere.

They really taste this good.

Well, here's your recipe for the day.  People adore this stuff.  It does store ok, but is best during the first day or so.

P.S.  I know how pedestrian this post is...   See bottom.

Go Nuts!  Or whatever you want to call it----------------

Ingredients:

• 3 egg whites, beaten well
• 1.5 pounds nuts (pecans, cashews and almonds are a good mix; just pecans are scrumptious)
• 3/4 c white, granulated sugar
• 1/2 t kosher salt
• 1 t cinnamon (I like Vietnamese)
• 1/4 t ground cayenne pepper (or more to taste)

Instructions:

1. Preheat oven to 250 degrees F.
2. Mix together all ingredients well in a large bowl.
3. On a well-greased half-sheet cake pan (or a large, rimmed baking sheet), spread out nuts evenly.
4. Bake for an hour.  Check for crispy brown doneness.  If just chewy, separate out nuts a bit with a fork or fingers (careful!), and bake five minutes longer.
5. When nuts are crispy, remove pan from oven, cool briefly and break nuts apart.  Remove to another pan for cooling or nuts may stick. (If they do, reheat them for 5 minutes and then remove to another pan.)  For crispiest nuts, let sit at room temperature for several hours.
6. Store, cooled,  in gallon plastic bags or well-sealing containers at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.  For longer storage, refrigerate. 

In Memoriam

Our share cat Skippy Jon Jones had to be euthanized today.  Miss him already.  No words.

Skippy--Luvya!  See you later.