Starting Over ~ Life in the Day Camp

EASY AS PIE???           

Pecan pie–this one’s too nice to be mine!

i’m writing this blog on Sunday afternoon while waiting for my home-made pecan pie to come out of the oven. You heard right. This New York born gal, who can do justice to an apple or blueberry pie, is trying her hand at the quintessential Southern pecan pie for the very first time. It wasn’t my idea. I don’t even like pecan pies  But preparing one was my assignment.

Tonight, my golfer guy and I are going to the neighborhood Dine-In. On the first Sunday evening of every other month, the neighbors get together in each other’s homes with a pre-determined dinner menu.  There is usually a theme, and each couple brings an assigned dish—enough to serve about eight people. There are usually about six dinner hosts.  Afterwards between 36-48 participants gather at the dessert host’s house for coffee and….whatever.

Tonight my pecan pie is on that dessert menu. Oy.

I’m calling it an experiment because right from the beginning, the instructions puzzled me. The recipe called for one  9-inch pie shell, unbaked.  So I walked down the supermarket’s baking aisle and bought a graham cracker crust pie shell.

“No, no, no,” my friend and neighbor said when I met her on the street. “Not graham cracker. Not that I’ve ever made a pecan pie before either. But I think you’re supposed to buy a shell from the frozen food department.”

“What?”

She laughed.  “Don’t worry. I’ll give you one of mine. They come two in a package.”

Problem solved. Neither of us really knew about this, but Maggie sounded a lot more confident than I felt.

The next ingredient:  4 tablespoons butter, softened.  Why couldn’t I just use Smart Balance, my already softened buttery spread? The canister said it was good for baking.  But my golfer guy said, “Better not. I’ll run to the store again. What should I buy?”   

“I don’t think butter is sold in single sticks.”  Now I’m picturing 3 ½ sticks of real butter going to waste.

But that was nothing compared to: ½ cup cane syrup (no substitute).  I didn’t even know what cane syrup was. In my pantry, I had molasses and Caro light corn syrup. But wait! Light corn syrup was another ingredient on the recipe list. So, on our initial trip to the supermarket, when we bought the wrong crust, Mike and I searched for cane syrup. We found a jar of 35% cane syrup. That was the highest percentage among the brand selection. We bought it because I was scared of the no substitution order.

We also bought a pint of heavy whipping cream because it was on the list. I thought it had to be blended into the bowl with the other ingredients. Wrong!  I was supposed to whip it and serve alongside the pie. But the dessert was to be delivered to the hostess at 6 p.m.  The guests wouldn’t arrive until 9. That just didn’t seem right to me. What would happen to whipped cream during those three hours? What if the hostess had no room in her fridge?

So, along with the graham cracker crust, Mike returned the heavy cream to the store.  I told him to buy a container of Cool Whip instead. Yes, substitution! It could go in either a freezer or fridge.

Not finished yet. Directions: add eggs to softened butter and sugar one at a time, beating until light and fluffy, but not foamy.

Give me a break! Fluffy? Foamy? In my mind, they’re pretty close.

And finally, after adding the syrups and the other ingredients including chopped pecans, the directions said to “mix until well blended.”  Does that mean to use the electric mixer which I’d used to get to “fluffy”? Or blend by hand?  I thought the pecans would become mush with the beaters, so I did it by hand.

When I learned to bake with my grandma, everything she did made sense. I was able to understand a little of this and a little of that. I was there! Why are there so many guessing games with what should be a straight-forward recipe? One printed out from a recipe website? Am I overthinking? Or am I just dumb  inexperienced?

Hold on a minute…the timer is ringing. I’ll be right back.

This one’s mine!

Hi again. Good news! It smells right. The middle is swollen, but I think it’s going down. Mike’s betting on a winner.  I’ll let you know what happens.

I’m back again with the morning after report: my pie disappeared in the first five minutes. Everyone commented on the slight orange-y flavor. The recipe called for orange peel. I didn’t know how to make that, so I decided two teaspoons of orange zest would do (I know what that is), And they loved it.  Phew!  So, anyone for pie?

I think there has to be an art in writing clear directions for recipes. What do you think? Can you follow a recipe easily? Or have you had similar experiences to mine? Please share if you have tips!

ANNOUNCEMENT!!  WE HAVE A WINNER OF JULY’S CONTEST. Congratulations to Beth Reimer who chose Material Witness by Lisa Mondello and my Family Interrupted as her two book selection. She has also won a $25 gift certificate to Amazon.  I hope she enjoys shopping for more books!

NEW CONTEST FOR AUGUST:  Leave a comment and your name will be entered into this month’s contest. Prizes are one of the three selections below, all written by the authors of On Fire Fiction, as well as a $25 gift certificate to Amazon or BN. Your choice!