I am still full and buzzing from the little dinner party I threw last night. I adore entertaining guests in my home. Although, my mind sometimes does this crazy, neurotic thinking thing sometimes: “Wonder if I have enough food?” (there are always tons of left-overs every time); “I probably should wipe down the bathroom one more time before they arrive. (I’ve done that twice now already); and “How long since I have cleaned under the washing machine?” (well, if someone actually gets down on their hands and knees and looks under there, I guess they are just going to see what’s there).

Am I the only one who has silly thoughts like this? It’s an acceptance thing, for sure. We want people to like who we are, what we do for them and what we have, but sometimes we can ruin all the fun by overthinking the whole thing. Right?

Last night, I kept it simple: simple menu (with plenty of left-overs still to be found), adequate housekeeping touch-ups, and I only had 10 minutes of cooking to complete once they arrived so I actually sat DOWN AT THE TABLE and talked and laughed and enjoyed my evening along with everyone else in the room. It was fairly stress-free…and it was GREAT!

Ladies, overthinking is over-rated. Don’t do it. It wears you out…or at least it does me when I do it.

Anyway, as part of my simple menu, my husband requested that I make a pecan pie. He loves pecan pie and had never, ever, in all of his life, ever eaten pecan pie before he met me. What? For the longest time I could not get my head around that fact.

I wanted to fulfil his request but I also didn’t want to complicate my plan for a stress free evening so I chose a recipe that I read on Pinterest from Cocina Adicto for pecan pie bars.

Pecan Pie Bars

Crust: Combine the following in a bowl until well mixed and then spread on the bottom of a 9×13 baking pan. Bake at 350 degrees for 15 minutes.

1 cup of butter
2 cups of flour
1/2 cup of icing sugar

Filling: Cream together:

3 eggs
1/2 cup sugar

Then Add:
2 cups of pecans
1 cup light corn syrup (glucose syrup in NZ)
a pinch of salt
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 stick of butter (melted)

When well mixed, pour over the baked crust and put back in the oven at 350 degrees for 30 minutes.

Now, getting ready for my dinner guests was virtually stress-free until I began to prepare the pie crust. We all know that a pie crust can make or break a pie. Am I right? I have watched the baking gurus stress the importance of the well-made flakey crust. I read the instructions: “Combine the crust ingredients and press them into a pan”. I stopped and thought, “No way. These instructions can’t be right” I hesitated but finally followed the instructions as they were given above. I baked the crust for 15 minutes and then filled it with the pie filling and baked for the final 30 minutes.

Once it was prepared, I actually cut the pecan pie bars into little squares because I was not confident. I expected that I would be making another pie (and I didn’t want to do that at $54 per kilo for pecans-gulp). To my surprise, the crust was light and flakey…no one could tell that I had dumped three ingredients in a bowl, mixed them together and dumped them (uh-ummm, neatly pressed them 😉 ) into a pan. It took no time at all to do a lovely little crust. And the dessert was a huge success.

As was the evening.

If you have a party, family get-together or potluck coming up in the near future, you should definitely give this recipe a try…you won’t be disappointed.

Here’s to pecan pie lovers every where!

D