A birthday pie

A love a good pie.  And when you don't feel like a birthday cake, a pie is a great replacement desert.  I had been wanting to try this new recipe for pecan pie anyway, so I gave it a go and my is it delicious.  My only complaint is that I should have covered it with foil mid-baking time as it got a little too brown around the edges for my liking.

Pecan Pie

from Martha Stewart

4 cups pecan halves

4 large eggs, lightly beaten

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, melted and cooled

2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 pie crust (I used a store-bought dough since I was on a time crunch...)

Fit your pie crust in a 9-inch pie plate. Flute edge and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.

Preheat oven to 325 F.  Set aside 1 1/4 cups of the pecan halves; coarsely chop remaining 2 3/4 cups pecans.  Stir together eggs, sugar, corn syrup, butter, vanilla and salt until well combined.  Add chopped pecans.  Pour into prepared pie shell and arrange the reserved pecans halves on top in concentric circles until completely covered.

Bake until filling is just set and crust is golden brown, about 70 minutes (recipe says 90 but mine was definitely done by 70). Let cool completely before serving.

And in addition to the birthday pie, I made some birthday creme brule tartlettes!  I got mini-tartlette rings for Christmas and needed to try them out. They work wonderfully and look adorable.  Mini things are just so cute.

 Happy Monday!