Camptown Races

Unless you live under a rock, you know Saturday was Kentucky Derby Day. Who doesn’t love the idea of the Kentucky Derby?* Who doesn’t love an excuse to dress up, wear a hat, and partake in delicious cocktails while watching beautiful horses and some jockeys wearing awesome silks?? (Did anyone else notice this guy?) L and I had had grand plans to go to Gold Cup this year, but it didn’t happen for reasons too boring to discuss here. Instead, we had a low-key Saturday and watched the KY Derby from the comfort of our home and made a feast.

Our day started with L donning his favorite seersucker shorts and announcing he was off to get bourbon for the mint juleps we intended to make. I’ve tried to teach him no linen or seersucker til after Memorial Day, but he loves him some seersucker and felt it appropriate for a horse race, so he was off and out the door before I could stop him. I opted for a pink silk dress and headed into the kitchen to start on our Derby Pie. If I had a fun hat, you better believe I would have worn it while baking, but sadly, all I have are baseball caps and visors, so no fun hat for me. My grandmother apparently used to wear hats all the time. I really wish is that when mom cleaned out my grandmother’s house that she’d saved some of the hats because seriously, how fun would it be to have a bevy of fun, fancy hats at your beckon call these days?

While I was baking, L returned and brought me a surprise:

Blue Moon is one of my favorites to have on hand at home, and who doesn't love a sampler pack??

And then he made me the aforementioned Bour-blueberry Delight.

I know, it doesn't look like much.  The lighting was off so it really looks lame.  But if you'd like to make your own, here’s how:

Muddle some blueberries in your glass. Add ice and 4 ounces of bourbon. Garnish with a few extra blueberries.

If you’re like me, that will be WAY. TOO. STRONG. You can dilute it with water (still very tasty) or ginger ale (also good, but I thought the water was better).


So those were fun to sip on. Hooray for crafty husbands! I recommend that you make one the next time you have bourbon and blueberries on hand.

Now let’s turn our attention to Derby Pies, shall we?  If you've never had one, Derby Pie is basically a brownie in a pie crust.  Hard to hate that.  The recipe I used was adapted from Paula Dean's Kentucky Pie recipe.  Pictures are limited.  Sorry.

Ingredients:

4 large eggs, lightly beaten
2 cups sugar
12 oz. semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted
1 cup sifted self-rising flour**
2 sticks butter, melted
2 tsp vanilla extract
1/4 cup bourbon
2 cups pecans, chopped (optional - I left these out)
Refrigerated pie crust
Ice cream
Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350.  Roll out your pie crust and place in a pie dish.  Combine eggs, sugar, and melted chocolate in large bowl.

Add flour and mix well, stirring in remaining ingredients.

Fill pie shell about 1/3 of the way (note that mine is a bit too full at this point, but I leveled it out).

Use the rest of your batter to make a second pie (pie shells come in packages of 2) or grease and flour ramekins and bake personal "pies."  Again, only fill each container about 1/3 of the way full. 

This is important, because your pie WILL rise and if you fill it too full, your pie will look like this:

I mean tell me you don't want to eat that.  Just kidding.  Those went in the trash.  Luckily I had my ramekins on a parchment-lined cookie sheet, so between that and the fact that I'd greased and floured each ramekin, the clean up was very minimal and very fast.  Anyway, bake the pie for 45-50 minutes.  Pie is done when a toothpick inserted into the middle of the pie comes out clean. Serve your pie with a scoop of ice cream.

I got distracted by the ramekin mess so I neglected to take a picture of the actual pie.  Just know that it is: good and really easy to make.  What it is not: healthy.  That's where the gym comes in.



*Actually, in a twist of irony, the wife of the couple we know who actually attended the derby this year has said in years past that she does not love the derby for reasons that revolve around the age of the horses and humane treatment of animals. Obviously it didn’t stop her from attending, so who knows.

**If you don't have self-rising flour and you don't want to buy any, you can make your own. For every cup of flour, add 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt and mix to combine.