Tuesdays with Dorie DC: Ms. Corbitt’s Pecan Cake Fingers

March 2, 2021 at 3:35 pm | Posted in cookies & bars, DC, groups, sweet things, tuesdays with dorie | 5 Comments
Tags: baking, nuts

Ms. Corbitt’s Pecan Cake Fingers has a name that makes me giggle and is a vintage recipe straight out of the late 50s. A pecan-loaded brown sugar meringue bakes up into something that I guess could be called cake-like, although still recognizable to me as a chewy meringue, and is topped with a thick brown sugar and vanilla-speckled icing.

When I took my baked meringue out of the oven, it had formed a shell that was a bit souffléd with a hollow gap above the rest of the base. This maybe…probably…had to with my mixing, but I knew that wouldn’t cut or ice easily. I decided to dampen the raised shell slightly, press it down onto the rest of the base and pop it back into the low oven for ten minutes to dry and fuse. Success! It seemed fine.

Dorie and Ms. Corbitt make a stiff, moldable icing that is hand-formed onto the tops of the individually sliced cookies. Boy, that sounds time-consuming, even for the 1/3 sized batch I made. I also didn’t want to handle my cookies quite so much (after I’d already had to squash them into submission once), so I altered the icing a bit to be a spreadable frosting that I could more gently apply to the whole slab before cutting. I let my browned butter set to a soft room temp before stirring in the powdered sugar and vanilla. Then I added just a few drops of milk to get it moving. I frosted the slab, let it set up in the fridge for a few and it was good to slice.

These are sweet, for sure, and it’s no wonder our friend Ms. Corbitt cuts them into slim “fingers,” but they are excellent with a cup of strong coffee. The browned butter icing, whichever way you choose to get it on top, is not to be skipped.

For the recipe, see Dorie’s Cookies by Dorie Greenspan (it’s also here). Don’t forget to check out the rest of the TWD Blogroll!

5 Comments »

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These bars look delicious!

Comment by Cakelaw— March 3, 2021 #

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Some great tips here Steph! Yours look gorgeous, despite the manhandling 😉

Comment by Mardi (eat. live. travel. write.)— March 3, 2021 #

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Perfect with afternoon tea!

Comment by Dorothy's New Vintage Kitchen— March 3, 2021 #

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Great idea on adding a little milk…that icing was stiff haha! I think we all ended up icing a slab…it would have taken forever to do each cookie with the icing I had made haha. Love your decorations on top…so cute!

Comment by isthisakeeper— March 3, 2021 #

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A cookie that makes you giggle, alright. I pushed the icing on like playdough. The brown butter in the icing was delightful. These were a hit with us.

Comment by Diane Zwang— March 6, 2021 #

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