Baking Friday - 5th Friday Pies

"Spirited" Father's Day Pies!  Please allow me to introduce you to Grand Marnier Pecan.

This unassuming little gem isn't your ordinary pecan pie.  This beauty is not only full of pecans and sweetness, it has an extra layer of flavor from orange zest, orange oil and that Piece de Resistance" (insert your French accent here) of orange liqueurs, the one all the rest try to be,  Grand Marnier itself.  I flat out love this pie.  I think it can't be as good as I remember, but alas, each time I taste it, I think, "Oh yea, it is THAT good."

Grand Marnier Pecan: meet our readers.

Readers: meet Grand Marnier Pecan.  He really isn't as sophisticated as his name would indicate.  Don't let him fool you.

Next, I would like to introduce you to our second "spirited" Father's Day pie - Kentucky Bourbon Derby.

This one may look quite similar to his cousin above, but they are quite different in personality.  This cousin is laced with not only pecans, but also semi-sweet chocolate chips and, of course, Kentucky Bourbon.  While some in my circle would ask if I had used 10-year Russell Reserve, alas the truthful answer would be "No" for I had Jim Beam with Honey on hand.  Sigh.  Plus I would never tell you that I was a Kentucky Bourbon snob.  I, on the other hand, simply observe and listen in as the Kentucky Bourbon oficianados talk among themselves and hope against hope that one will deign to toss me a crumb of knowledge.  Sigh again.  BUT, please do not allow such sayings from a Bourbon commoner deter you from trying our Derby friend here.

Kentucky Bourbon Derby: meet our readers.

Readers:  meet Kentucky Bourbon Derby.  His name doesn't even try to be sophisticated like his cousin.  He hails from the simpler side of the family, ya understand.

And finally, please let me introduce you to our last "spirited" Father's Day pies - the Bailey's Irish Cream Mousse Pie.

If you are one who loves to sip on a glass of Bailey's after a good dinner with family and friends or lace your after dinner coffee with a finger of Bailey's, this pie may be right up your alley.  Light in texture, mellow in its Bailey's-ness, as Bailey's should be, this more feminine cousin flirts with your taste buds for sweet and Irish Creamy goodness before she melts away into oblivion, making you want her all the more.

(Does anyone else need a cigarette about now?  Ahem...)

Bailey's Irish Cream Mousse Pie:  meet our readers.

Readers: meet Bailey's Irish Cream Mousse Pie.  Please forgive her shyness as she twirls a bit.  She isn't used to taking center stage.

So what do you think of our line up?  Do you think that these are special enough pies to be part of our 5th Friday of the Month "Extra" Baking Friday Pie Edition?  Could they help to make any Father's Day just that much sweeter and more "spirited" and better?  I hope so!

I won't walk you through the pictures of making all of them, but I will share the recipes for all.  I've made the "male" cousins above, Mr. Grand Marnier and Mr. Derby before, but I'd never made their more genteel cousin, Miss Bailey's, before so that is the one I am featuring below.  Despite their somewhat pretentious names, all three pies are truly quite simple to execute.  And if you have an aversion to using alcohol in your baking, you can still make the pecan (substitute some orange extract) and the derby (substitute some rum extract perhaps).  They won't be the same, but they will be close.  As for making the Bailey's without alcohol, I would suggest mixing about 1 T. of coffee with 4 T. of cream for the 1/3 cup of Bailey's called for in the recipe.  I'm not sure that will work, but that seems like it could come close.

Ok, so here is the link for the Grand Marnier Pecan http://bakedbree.com/grand-marnier-pecan-pie  I make no changes to what Bree puts forth except a few drops of orange oil.  Sometimes you just don't mess with perfection!

And here is the link for the Kentucky Bourbon Derby Pie http://allrecipes.com/recipe/heides-kentucky-derby-dessert/  I don't always have miniature chocolate chips on hand, so I used regular, and people seemed to really love the chocolate goodness, so I don't think miniature vs. regular is a deal breaker here!

So now for the Bailey's Irish Cream Mousse Pie recipe.  I found this on Saving Room for Dessert, a blog I enjoy where the writer, Tricia, spent 2011 baking 1 pie a week, and this was her # 9 that year.  Mine didn't make as pretty a piece picture as hers, but I think it still tasted pretty wonderful!  It probably needs to be served right from the fridge, and the longer you chill it the better.  I served it after a drive into work, so it had been at room temperature for about a half hour before cutting...so the first piece looked like this...

See...I share my fails as well as my successes here....sigh...

On to the recipe!

Graham Cracker Crust
1 1/4 cups graham crackers
1/4 c. sugar
5 T. melted butter

Mix the above together (a food processor makes this a snap!) and press into a 9" pie pan.  Bake at 350 for 8 minutes.

Ta-da!  (I know, really Deb?  It's a graham cracker crust.  Alas, you are right.  This could also be a vanilla wafer crust if you don't have graham crackers on hand.)

Filling:
1 1/3 c. white chocolate, roughly chopped
1/3 c. Bailey's Irish Cream
Dash espresso powder
1/2 c. egg whites
1/4 c. sugar
1 c. cream

Tricia says to melt the chopped white chocolate with the Bailey's in a double boiler, but I simply melted on a low setting in the microwave.  And then when I tasted it, I felt like I needed to boost the coffee flavor ever so slightly so I sprinkled the slightest dash of espresso powder on top and stirred it in.

Next I whipped my egg whites and sugar until stiff.  I used the standard technique of whipping to soft peaks and then sprinkling in the sugar gradually while beating until stiff.

Look at that peak!  That's right pretty right there!

I took these whites out of my mixer bowl and then beat the cream until fairly stiff.  Another pretty peak!

Now Tricia says to fold the egg whites and cream together, which I did, and then fold in the Bailey's mixture.  I prefer to mix in a small amount of my whipped ingredients to my non-whipped ingredients to lighten the non-whipped before I fold everything together, so that is what I did.

That lead to this.

And then that lead to this.

Which then lead to this.

And this.  Which may or may not have included some yummy bowl licking!

After chilling overnight, I whipped up some additional sweetened whipped cream and piped that over the top plus grated some additional white chocolate as a garnish.

And it was done!  I chilled it again, but like I said above.  I really do think this one needs to be served as cold as possible.

I remembered to get shots of each cut piece, but those pics didn't turn out so pretty.  Here they are anyway.

I added some orange zest and the tiniest dash of orange extract to the last of the whipped cream to serve with our Grand Marnier Pecan.  I really liked this touch!  But then I tend to land in the camp that says, "Do I want whipped cream?  Why yes, of course!"

Here is our cut Kentucky Bourbon Derby.  He cooperated much better for his pic.

And I'm sorry.  What can I say about Miss Bailey's pic?  Perhaps she was still feeling a bit melty and in need of that cigarette from above?

Yes, you're right.  It is definitely time for me to stop right here.  Ahem.

Hope you enjoy!  Thank you again for stopping by!  I have two bake sales this weekend, so I gotta run, but I will do my best to post pics of those items by Monday!

Have a great weekend!