Food With Friends:Pie Crust, Pecan Pie Filling, and Crock Pot BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

Every time my friend, Naomi Chance, writes for Passionate With a Purpose, I go on and on about how much I love her and what a great cook she is!  I will try not to get carried away today, so without further ado, enjoy these awesome, my family approved, recipes!

 

Dale and Naomi Chance! 
(Courtesy of Kayla Buckner Photography!)

 

I remember baking bread in the 6^th grade by myself.  Not with a bread machine or frozen bread dough. It was the real old fashioned way.  Knead, knead, knead…. rise, punch down, rise, punch down, rise and punch down yet again.  It was an all day ordeal.  I love, love, love to bake.  Seriously, if there was only one favorite pastime I could choose, it would be cooking in my kitchen with my praise music going, an apron around my waist, measuring out ingredients.  It relaxes me and brings me joy.  My friend and sister in Christ, Tiffany Kilpatrick, put it best “You love with food.”  And that is the honest truth.  I extend my love with what I cook.  If I cook for you, then I love ya!

 

I attribute my love of cooking to my mother and her sisters.  Some of the very best memories I have from my childhood are ones around the kitchen and then the dinner table with my parents, grandparents, aunts and cousins.  Dinners brought our family together.  This pie crust recipe is from my aunt (who has gone on to be with the Lord).  Every time I make it I think of her.  She was one of a kind and I feel privileged to have learned from her.  I hope the recipes shared on this blog will be ones that bring fond memories for you and for your children when they are grown.  Cherish every minute you have with them. I  am always reminded of this scripture when I share a recipe for Tera:

 

The aged women likewise, that they be in behaviour as becometh holiness, not false accusers, not given to much wine, TEACHERS OF GOOD THINGS; That they may teach the young women to be sober, to love their husbands, to love their children, To be discreet, chaste, keepers at home, good, obedient to their own husbands, that the word of God be not blasphemed.      ~Titus 2:3-5

 

What a responsibility!!!!  I pray that I am a living example of this scripture to my daughters daily. Although, I hate to admit I MAY fall into the category of  “aged women”!  Gasp!!

 

Nana’s Pie Crust

 

2 c flour (plus extra to roll out crust)

½ tsp salt

¾ c. Crisco

¾ c. water

 

Mix flour, salt and sugar together. Add Crisco and cut in with pastry cutter or fork (I use a fork) until crumbly looking. Slowly mix in water. Roll out on floured surface to fit pie plate. 

 

*This recipe will make 2- 9inch pie crusts.

 

1. Combine flour and salt in medium sized bowl. The recipe doesn’t call for it, but I add 1 Tbsp. of sugar with it. Add your Crisco. Cut in with a fork. Until it looks similar to this:

 2.  Mix in water. It’s gonna be sticky. It will look like this:

 

 

3.  Turn half of your dough out onto a floured surface. I got my handy dandy dough mat from Tupperware. It saves a lot of cleanup. I know a lot of women that keep a floured pillowcase in their freezer to roll our crust and dumplins. Even your table or counter will do the trick as long as you have it floured adequately. Be sure to flour your hands and rolling pin as well.

 

4.  Cover dough with flour and form into a ball. Just as Jane shows you. Before rolling flatten your dough a little then roll out your dough large enough to fit into your pie plate.

 

 

 

 

 

5.  I then fold my dough in half to easier transfer it into my pie plate. It tears fairly easy so you want to be sure not to pull on it when laying it in your pie plate.

 

 

6.  I then begin to pinch around the edges. Be sure your fingers are well floured. Jenna demonstrates this here for you:

 

 

7.  Then with a floured knife, cut the remaining dough from around the edges.

 

Southern Pecan Pie

 

1 c. sugar

1 ½ c. Karo corn syrup

4 eggs

¼ c. butter

1 ½ tsp. vanilla

1 ½ c. pecan halves

 

In saucepan bring sugar and corn syrup to a boil for 2-3 minutes. Set aside to cool slightly. In a large bowl beat eggs. Temper your eggs with the corn syrup. Stir in butter and vanilla. Finally add your pecans. Pour into prepared crust. Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes.

 

 

1. Bring sugar and corn syrup to a boil. This supersaturates your syrup and keeps the pie filling from being sugary/grainy. It is extremely HOT. And will be clear like this:

 

2.  Tempering your eggs is just a fancy word meaning to increase the temperature of your egg slowly without cooking them. So you will need to SLOWLY add your corn syrup mixture otherwise you will end up with scrambled eggs and corn syrup YUCK! (please note that yours may not look exactly like this. I was making 4 pies!)

 

 

3.  Stir in your butter and vanilla. Finally add your pecans. Then pour into prepared pie crust.

 4.  Bake at 350 for 50-60 minutes. Your pie should NOT be firm but a bit jiggly when you remove it from the oven. (That is one lesson my husband can attest to from the first pecan pie I made 15 years ago. It was not edible and went into the trash. Fellow Texans please forgive me, I was raised in Vermont. A Yankee doesn’t eat many pecan pies.)

 

5.  And voila!

 

 

Crock Pot BBQ Chicken Sandwiches

 

4 boneless skinless chicken breasts (frozen or thawed)

1 ½ c. ketchup

1 ½ c. bbq sauce

6 Tbsp. brown sugar

2 Tbsp. Worcestershire sauce

2 Tbsp. soy sauce

2 Tbsp. cider vinegar

1-2 tsp red pepper flakes

1 tsp garlic powder

 

 

 

1.  Mix all sauce ingredients in crock pot.   Add chicken and coat with sauce.  Cook on high for 4 hours.

 

2.  Remove chicken and shred with forks.

 

3.  Return to sauce and serve over toasted buns.  This is one of our favorite Sunday lunches. It cooks perfectly while we are at church. (For buns: butter and sprinkle lightly with garlic salt. Put under broiler in oven until golden brown)