So... "Pecan Passion" by way of Pam Wright, originally from: Maida Heatter's Brand-New Book of Great Cookies
Toasting the "Pecans" (I used walnuts, so sue me, they were a lot cheaper at the shoprite)
"First, toast the pecans for the top layer. Place them in a shallow pan in a 350-degree oven for about 10 minutes, siring once or twice, until they have a strong smell of toasted pecans when you open the oven door. Set them aside." mmm... nothing like the smell of toasting nuts "when you open the oven door"
Making the bottom layer:
3 oz unsalted butter - 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- 1/8 tsp. salt
- 1/2 tsp. vanilla
- 1 egg
- 1/4 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
- 1/4 cup flour
Sean loves to help!
Preheat the oven to 375, line the "9x9" (or 11 x 7 in this case) pan with tin foil, and grease it...mmmm pam
Melt the 3/4 stick of butter and add the sugar, salt, vanilla and egg. Mix it up! Use your pretend electric mixer, it makes it a lot easier.
Beat in the cocoa and flour... Maida sez: "Place this thick chocolate mixture in a ribbon or in several mounds all over the bottom of the lined pan. With the bottom of a metal sppon, spread the mixture in an even layer. It will be a thin layer. It will level itself while baking. Bake for about 15 minutes, until the shallow cake springs back when gently pressed with a fingertip.Remove the pan from the oven and let stand."
Look ma, two hands!
Put that baby in the oven, and get ready for the stressful part....
PECAN TOPPING
- 1 Tablespoon dark rum or cognac
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 3 oz unsalted butter
- 1 1/2 cup firmly packed light brown sugar
- scant 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/4 dark corn syrup
- 7oz (2 cups) toasted pecan halves
"Add the rum or cognac to the cream, set aside." - I was ready to stop here, this was probably the best thing I've ever smelled.... boot leg egg nog anyone?
Melt the butter in a saucepan. Stir in the sugar, salt, and corn syrup. Stir this until it begins to "BOIL ALL OVER THE SURFACE"
Get ready, because this is where things start to get dicey:
"Place a sugar thermometer in the pan and cook, stiring occassionally, until the temperature reaches 250 degrees (this takes about two minutes of boiling). Watch it carefully - do not let it cook even a bit too long."
Luckily Sean was there to hold the candy thermometer. We did our own New-Years style count up, 175, 200, 225, 250! Take it off the heat OR ELSE! "Remove from the heat and quickly stir in the cream mixture and then the pecans. Immediately pour the hot mixture over the bottom layer. Bake at 375 degrees for 25 minutes. Time this very carefully. If yu bake it the least bit too long, it will become hard."
At this point, I started having a really hard time judging whether Maida was just trying to be helpful or if she was undermining me....all is well that ends well however...SIKE
25 minutes later:
WOW LOOK HOW GOOD THIS LOOKS!!!!!!!!!!
MMMMMM!!!!!!!
PECAN PASSION!!!!!!!
Oh wait! It didn't work out. At all....
Bye bye!!
After all that, I was left with a very pleasant caramel and nut combo on top of an impenetrable crust of burnt chocolate. Bummer! I scraped off as much of the top as I could and was left with this....
I'm not sure if my oven was too hot, if I cooked it for too long, made too many substitutions or if my immortal corn syrup is to blame....
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| I can't wait to eat this in 20130 after the apocalypse. |
Anyway, I was pretty disappointed because these should have been SO FUCKING GOOD. But, Sean was nice enough to point out the top part came out alright, so I think up next will be caramels... maybe with sea salt. mmmmmmm!
p.s. if anyone wants a coherent version of this recipe to try their hand at email me: kaydetto at gmail dot com
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