renay's baby shower

it's not often that i am rendered speechless, but when i walked into my friend renay's baby shower today, i certainly was. i had been asked to attend and assist with the desserts a few weeks back, but then covid threw a spanner in the works and the shower was cancelled. yet as luck would be on our side, not a single further case was reported during our week of lockdown, so renay's family decided they would make the shower happen. oh and did they make it happen.

an entry hall full of dried and strung citrus, along with huge while helium balloons and lights... 

and then exquisite decorations throughout the house

no detail was left untouched, with beautiful florals

greenery and wooden pieces

and crisp whites to set it off

renay herself was a vision, also in white, absolutely glowing. she is so deserving of a beautiful day like today and i felt truly blessed to be a part of it and to be able to capture some memories for her.

i'd been asked to make all the desserts for the party, banoffee pie, carrot cake,

brownies

chocolate chip cookies and lemon pie bars.

plus the drinks, watermelon & mint water and strawberry, cucumber & lemon water

honestly, check out these details, so simple, but effective. glass bottles with greenery, water and a long white candle to complete the look

and the foodwas amazing. renay's mother and sisters had spent hours setting up a grazing style feast for the guests. delicious!

we had a diy pamper section, where guests were able to make themselves a soak/scrub to use at home, led by the lovely dom

and a few games that left guests roaring with laughter

before renay settled in underneath her little arbor to open her gifts. baby honda is definitely very loved already!

the rouse girls

and one with their mum. truly a wonderful family. so lucky to know them. ❤

and this girl? she is going to be the best mum. 

she's amazing.

and for once i actually appeared in a photo. ❤

today was a good day!

 

birthday pecan pie

well, i finally did it! i made a pecan pie! everytime i make pumpkin and banoffee pies, i always have someone ask if i can make a pecan, so i have made one to see how it went. i even got pie weights for my birthday on monday after telling joseph for months on end that's what i wanted. my friend sophie and i share a birthday (she is beth's younger sister - the beth from madeline beth) and seeing as she and her husband have been in perth for a while now and we still haven't had them over for dinner, i thought out joint birthday was a good occasion, so yesterday we had them over for dinner and pecan pie seemed like a wonderful idea! 

 i found the recipe online (as always - thank heavens for the internet!) on recipetin eats website and it was actually not too hard at all. fiddly, but not terrible. it was delicious and worth the effort though.

PECAN PIE 

CRUST:

1 ¼ cups plain flour

¼ tsp salt

2 tsp white sugar

115g cold butter cut into cubes

2 ½ tbsp. ice cold water

PECANS:

1 ¼ cups pecans - enough to decorate top

1 ¼ cups pecans for filling

FILLING:

3 eggs

1 cup brown sugar

60g melted butter

¾ cup golden syrup

1 tsp vanilla extract

¼ tsp salt 

Instructions

PIE CRUST:

Place flour, salt and sugar in a food processor. Pulse twice.

Scatter over butter. Pulse 5 times or until the largest pieces are the size of peas.

Turn food processor on low and add 2.5 tbsp water, keep blitzing for 7 to 10 seconds until it forms crumbly clumps. Pinch with your fingers - it should come together - if not, add 1/2 tbsp water until it does. Don't blitz longer than 20 seconds.

Turn out crumbs onto work surface, use hands to bring together into a ball then pat into a 1.5cm thick disc. Wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

PECANS:

Preheat oven to 160C fan forced

Scatter 1 1/4 cups pecans on baking tray and bake for 3 to 5 minutes or until you smell them.

Remove from oven and roughly chop. Set aside.

Remaining 1 1/4 cups don't need toasting - they are for the top.

PIE CRUST ROLLLING OUT:

Dust work surface with flour.

Place dough on work surface, dust top with flour. Roll out into 25cm circle, patching up cracks as required.

Roll the pastry onto your rolling pin, then roll it out onto a 22cm  pie tin. Press in, then trim edges with scissors with a 1cm overhang.

Turn the edges under and press down neatly. Crimp if desired.

Place 2 large pieces of baking paper over the pie crust then fill with pie weights or dried beans or rice. Weight is essential to avoid shrinking pastry.

Bake 20 minutes, then remove pie weights and let the pastry cool for 5 minutes before filling.

FILLING:

Whisk eggs in a large bowl. Add remaining Filling ingredients and whisk until smooth.

Stir through chopped pecans.

Pour into crust - it should fill it about 1 cm from the top (you may have excess if your pastry shrank).

Top with whole pecans in desired pattern.

BAKING:

Place pie in oven. Bake for 50 minutes, checking at 40 minutes, until it doesn't jiggle much when you shake it but the centre is still soft when you touch it

It will be puffed and cracks will look extreme, but it will deflate as it cools.

feedback - the pastry was just horrendous. maybe if it wasn't the middle of summer and melting it would have been doable, but i had exactly zero luck with it. it was also so insanely sweet that it was ridiculous and i am a massive sweet tooth! if i do end up making it again, i think i'll use the pastry from my pumpkin pie, because at least i know that works and is reliable... or i could try making it in winter haha. definitely adding it to the list though. pecan pie? check!