There are a couple of great things happening this weekend: I’m going to keep my promise to assault my friends’ eyes with my latest hopeless attempt at “fashion” [a jumpsuit that’s now in month eight fits perfectly enough to only give me a slightly snake-that-licked-a-goat vibe — Google it. I’ll just wait here and laugh my ass off] a party that both celebrates a fight that I think should be a big deal or something and as if that weren’t enough the Kentucky Derby. Needless to say any excuses to celebrate bourbon mints big hats and horses are being taken seriously here especially since it’s finally given me a chance to talk about the deliciousness that is Not Derby Pie.
| Channel | Publish Date | Thumbnail & View Count | Actions |
|---|---|---|---|
 America's Test Kitchen | 2019-04-14 21:00:03 |  175,930 Views |
How to Make Ultranutty Pecan Bars
Have you ever had a real Derby Pie? Created in 1950 at the Melrose Inn in Prospect Kentucky this pie is studded with chocolate walnuts and a dash of bourbon* sort of like a pecan pie without the heaping corn syrup. I was in Louisville for a short while a few years ago and as expected I tried all the bourbon (oops) and at least one slice of this pie. But—forgive me Kentucky—I was disappointed. It was so sweet and gooey that I wondered if I could make it thinner at home with a little crunchy salt and a little more depth of flavor (deeply toasted nuts brown sugar brown butter and vanilla perhaps?). Aren't Yankees the worst?
I felt less bad about my desire to revamp a revered classic when I learned about the legal issues surrounding the name which has been a registered trademark of Kern's Kitchen since 1968. While the desire to protect a secret recipe (still mixed today by the only employee who knows the recipe) is perfectly understandable the trademark holders have filed so many lawsuits against restaurants large and small that share new and different recipes for so-called Derby-style pies that the name today is less a symbol of buttery chocolatey goodness and more of the most controversial candy in the most controversial country. [See also: mean censored pie and the Electronic Frontier Foundation's “Takedown Hall of Shame”] Am I asking for trouble? Maybe a little. I've always wanted to be an outlaw!
Ahem and today we have Not Derby Pie Bars which are similar in taste and concept to the original pie but in a way that we find dreamy: sweet but not too sweet. Every ingredient is chosen for its depth of flavor. Ridiculously easy to make and perfectly scalable and portable for all your weekend parties whether they involve goats snakes horses boxers or sunshine.
