Pecan Pie Truffles (Vegan)

Pecan Pie Truffles

This recipe* from the NY Times is quite fun to make and is absolutely delicious.  The truffle features the best part of a pecan pie but with a chocolate coating.  I'm not vegan, but this recipe is.  I loved it anyway.  No eggs, no milk, no butter. No cooking except for melting the chocolate.

My friend Virginia from Greensboro was here for a visit and we made these.  It's always fun to cook with a friend.  These will freeze nicely, so I have some stashed away in the freezer ready for the holidays.

Ingredients

• 2½cups pecans, toasted and finely chopped
• 1cup graham cracker crumbs
• 1cup dark brown sugar, packed
• ½teaspoon salt
• 2tablespoons maple syrup
• ¼cup bourbon
• 1teaspoon vanilla
• 7ounces dark chocolate

Preparation

• 1 In a medium bowl, stir together pecans, graham cracker crumbs, brown sugar and salt until well combined. Add maple syrup, bourbon and vanilla, stirring thoroughly. Use your hands to make sure the mixture becomes fully incorporated.
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• 2 Form mixture into walnut-sized balls, then place on a cookie sheet and freeze for 2 hours.
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• 3 In the top of a double boiler or in a medium stainless steel bowl set over a pot of gently simmering water, melt chocolate. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Dip the frozen balls into the melted chocolate, then place onto prepared baking sheet. Let sit for 15 minutes or until firm.

All ingredients mixed together.

Walnut-sized balls ready for the freezer.

Melt dark chocolate in double boiler. 

Chocolate coated and ready to eat or ready to freeze for the holidays. 

A bite out reveals the pecan pie center. 

I will serve these in a candy dish that was a wedding gift to Mama,  I remember it holding candy every Christmas. 

Yes, I think I will add this recipe to my holiday recipes book.  

*Check out this website.

It's Pi Day

Plantation Pecan Pie.

March 14 is Pi Day (3.14) and in honor of the Day and to honor the dessert that recently won the Our State magazine contest as the best dessert in North Carolina, I made a Pecan Pie.  Dan and I are certainly going to enjoy Pi Day.  (We'll be sharing with family too.)


I used my favorite pecan pie recipe from the Southern Living, Southern Hospitality Cookbook. 

Plantation Pecan Pie

1/4 cup butter (not margarine)

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 cup light corn syrup

1 tablespoon of cream or milk

1/4 teaspoon salt

3 large eggs at room temperature

2 tablespoons pure vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups broken pecans

1 9 inch unbaked pie shell

Directions:

Cream butter, add sugar gradually, then add syrup and cream or milk.  In another bowl add salt to eggs and beat until light.  Stir well into first mixture; add vanilla and pecans. 

Cream butter and brown sugar.

Add syrup.

Add eggs.

 

Add pecans and vanilla extract.

Pour mixture into a 9-inch unbaked pie shell. 

In unbaked pie shell and ready for the oven.

Bake pie in a preheated 400F oven for 10 minutes.  Lower heat to 350F and bake for 35 to 40 minutes longer or until a silver knife inserted in filling comes out clean. 
Makes 6 to 8 servings.

Pie is out of oven.

Ready to enjoy. Yummy.

Why don't you try this recipe so you too can enjoy Pi Day? 

Pie versus Cake--- State Champion: Pecan Pie!

Photo from Our State Magazine web page. 

Our State magazine recently had a contest to decide if North Carolina is a pie state or a cake state with voting to determine the results.  The February issue of Our State has a lot of information about and some great recipes for pies and cakes of North Carolina.

From Our State Magazine website.

 By February 14th the contest was down to the Elite Eight:  Four pies and four cakes.

Only eight desserts remained in Our State’s Pie versus Cake competition.

In the second round, top-seeded pecan pie continued its domination by easily routing peach pie, 70.4% to 29.6%. It now faced lemon meringue pie, which defeated sweet potato pie in a surprising upset.  And chocolate chess pie faced apple pie.

On the cake side, chocolate layer cake narrowly beat carrot cake, garnering 51.2% of votes to carrot’s 48.8%. Chocolate layer cake faced red velvet cake. And pound cake faced pineapple upside down cake.

I chose pecan over lemon meringue, but that was a close call for me.  It was easy for me to choose chocolate chess pie over apple pie.  In the cake category I voted for chocolate layer cake and pound cake. 

Now it's down to the final four: two pies and two cakes. It was Pecan Pie vs. Apple Pie and Pound Cake vs. Chocolate Layer Cake.  I voted for Pecan Pie and Pound Cake.

Pecan Pie.

Pound Cake.

In the final round it was Pecan Pie vs. Pound Cake.  Oh it was hard to choose between these two. Both are mighty good, but I voted for Pecan Pie. 

A person could vote each day for their favorite in each bracket (reminds me of the NCAA basketball brackets).  I voted on many days, and I was pulling for pecan pie to be the winner.

State Champion: Pecan Pie!

Pecan Pie, The Winner!!!!

And indeed the Pecan Pie did win.  I am making one this weekend in honor of its being the favorite pie in North Carolina.

Zach and the Aussies (Part Two): The Aussies in Raleigh

Claire's relatives in Australia were such wonderful hosts to Zach that it was a pleasure to be able to host them recently during their visit to Raleigh.  Michael and Meredith (Zach's Mom and Dad)  hosted a dinner for them---Southern fare: BBQ and hushpuppies with all the trimmings, Jeanette (Claire's Mom) made Smithfield ham rolls, and I baked pies: pumpkin and pecan.

BBQ, hushpuppies and trimmings, real Southern fare.

Jeanette's sister Diane and husband Bob, Diane and Bob's daughter Claire and husband Daniel and their seven-month-old son Lachlan made up the Aussie contingent,  Zach's Claire was named after her cousin Claire.

Back row left to right: Daniel and Uncle Bob  Front row left to right.: Jeanette, Claire, Lachlan, Cousin Claire, Aunt Diane. 

Everyone enjoyed Lachlan who was a good little traveler on this trip.  Grace even brought Briggs, their cat, down from upstairs to meet Lachlan who was fascinated with the feline.  I must say Briggs was pretty patient too.Check out this video of Lachlan meeting Briggs :    Briggs and Lachlan

Zach and Claire with Lachlan.

Michael seemed to be enjoying the evening.

Michael enjoying the party.

Jeanette chatting with Dan

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Uncle Bob and Claire ready for dessert.

Pound cake, pumpkin pie, pecan pie.

Brooks and Aunt Di; Dan and Jeanette in background.

Brooks got home late because of basketball practice, but he got there in time to visit with Aunt Di and to have some dinner---there were plenty of leftovers.

 It was a great party and fun for everyone. And it was especially nice to meet Claire's Aussie relatives.