PECAN COBBLER

Yesterday we bid a fond farewell to one of my hubby’s co-workers who is going home after a secondment here for a few brief years. My hubby thought it would be a nice idea to invite him over for a barbecue and to have a few laughs. Well, what began as a small intimate gathering of friends soon turned into a little larger gathering with a few more colleagues joining the guest list each day. It almost seemed like every evening hubby would say to me, “oh, is it okay if ‘blankety-blank’ comes too???, because he/she also wanted to see Simon off…” Soon I was wondering once again if we would have enough seating for all of these people.

As it turned out though, we ended up with the perfect group of people, not too many and just enough to eat most of the food. To my surprise, one of the veggie hors de'oeuvres actually disappeared first and I even went back and made more! Our guest of honour was “fashionably late” so he missed out on the crostinis I duplicated from my night as a caterer for another friend’s party, and I thought I had enough of those to last quite a while, but there was more food to come...

I had skewered some veggies as well as some lamb and some chicken that I had in separate marinades overnight (mmm, mmm, mmmm…that’s another post altogether!), and I made this fabulously amazing pecan cobbler to-die-for as a post-BBQ treat. I must give credit where it is due though, as this recipe was only slightly altered from another fellow food blogger’s site at 3 GIRLS, ME, AND A RECIPE a fellow Texan, as Texas was one of five states I grew up in. I nearly used kahlua in it as my Oregonian friend does with her pecan pie, but this was my first attempt at this recipe and I didn’t want to screw it up on my first go! I did double the vanilla extract/essence though and it was fabulous.

It is very difficult to get corn syrup here, but Davis Trading Co. in Petone does sell a similar product as “glucose – Corn Syrup”, although I had a couple of bottles of good old fashioned Karo left over from Thanksgiving...whew! I have also not been successful in locating any oat flour here, but I made my own with oats in a food processor and processed the heck out of them until they were a fairly finely ground flour/powder. In any case – here you go! Just look at that chewy, gooey goodness!!!

FILLING:

½ Cup Butter, melted
2½ Cups Light Corn Syrup
2½ Cups Sugar
1-2 Tbsp Vanilla Extract (I used 2 Tbsp)
5 Eggs, slightly beaten
3 Cups Pecans, coarsely chopped

CRUST:

1 Cup Oat Flour (1¼ Cups oatmeal processed to a fine powder)
1 Cup All Purpose Flour
½ Cup Butter
¼ Tsp Salt
¼ to ½ Cup Water


DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 180 degrees C/350 F.

Spray 13 x 9 inch glass baking dish with non stick spray.

In a large bowl, mix together, butter, syrup, sugar, vanilla and eggs until well combined.
(If you measure and pour the butter in first, the syrup comes out of the measuring jug much easier because the sides of the jug are pre-lubricated.)

Next, pour approximately 2-2½ Cups of this filling mixture into the bottom of the prepared pan.

Now, add the pecans to remaining mixture and set aside.

In a separate bowl mix the flours and salt, then carefully cut in small pieces of the cold butter and combine well with a fork or pastry cutter until it’s about the consistency of coarse breadcrumbs.

Very slowly, add just a little cold water a at a time until dough forms a non-sticky ball and holds well together.

Now place the dough on a lightly floured surface, knead it only slightly and proceed to roll it out into approximately a 13 x 9 inch rectangle.

Gently place this crust on top of the filling mixture in the pan, and then carefully pour the remaining filling (with pecans) on top of dough.

Bake this for about 50 minutes until centre starts to set, but take care to protect your oven from spillage by placing your dish on top of some foil or on a baking sheet, as the filling may just overflow a bit whilst cooking.

Cool a minimum of 20 minutes before serving.

I served this delightful cobbler with whipped cream, however I imagine while it’s warm it would also be brilliant with ice cream.

Au revoir Simon, vous serez manqué. Restez en contact et veuillez ayez un bon voyage.