Interested to see what works and what doesn't work when Freeze Drying Pecan Pie Bites? Then check out our various pie mixtures and experiments using water and milk.
Here's what we did: First, we picked up a huge 3.5 pound Pecan Pie at Sam's Club, and cut it in half (each pie half was 28 oz). The first half was prepped for mixing, and we set the other half aside for the second batch.
Experiment Batch #1: We took the first half, cut it into pieces, and loaded them into our food processor. We poured in 2 Cups of cold milk (we used Lactaid), and blended for about 30 seconds.
The mixture was then easier to pour into the food molds. Earlier, when we made our Freeze Dried Pumpkin Pie Bites, we got these amazing Fall-Themed Food Molds and the pieces came out very well. We decided to use them again for the Pecan Pie Bites, but this time skip the pumpkin shapes and just fill the other ones.
We also used our Gingerbread House Silicone Molds - these are the same ones we used to make our 2-Layered Raspberry Cheesecake Gingerbread Houses and they turned out so pretty!
We found the flower-shaped molds at JoAnn's Fabric & Crafts store - it's always fun to catch a great sale!
These molds also work very well for making FD Cinnamon Applesauce Cookie-Style Treats.
When you blend a whole pie (crust and all) to make FD Pie Bites, they are easier to bite into if you thin the mixture. Some FDers choose to use cool whip, but we chose not to because of the extra oil this would add to the mixture. Some FDers choose to use whipped cream and fold that into the blended pie mixture. This works well if you're just adding dollops of pie bites onto trays, but since we're using food molds to create cute shapes we opted to just go with the milk and water mixtures. This worked really well when we made our various batches of Pumpkin Pie Bites!
You can see in the photos that the consistency of the milk mixture is a lot like oatmeal. They were very difficult to remove from the gingerbread house molds as well as the Fall-themed molds. We had to handle them very carefully, and some didn't make it out of the molds at all. The details were not sharp either, unlike with other mixtures and foods we've had in them. The flower-shaped molds would not release at all which was very disappointing - the mixture was too soft and flexible and the pieces would not come out. We didn't want to waste the pie mixture so we scooped it out of the flower molds and put into a container back in the fridge for later.
Once all the shapes were removed from the food molds, and placed onto Trays 1 & 2, we then placed them into the downstairs zero degree freezer to stay frozen. We've noticed that having pre-frozen foods to load into the freeze dryer significantly reduces the total time spent in the freeze dryer, and cuts down on the wear and tear of the machine.
Experiment Batch #2: We then took the second half of the Pecan Pie, cut it into pieces, and loaded them into our food processor. We poured in 2 Cups of cool filtered water, and blended for about 30 seconds (we like to use filtered water since our tap water has a strong chlorine smell and taste). This mixture was thinner than the first and much easier and faster to pour into the food molds.
We bought the heart-shaped molds, the candy-shaped molds, and the little presents-shaped molds at JoAnn's Fabrics, and the Christmas-Themed ones online. Here's our link for the Tree-Santa-etc molds (they come in a fun multi-pack with a variety of shapes). These are more shallow than some other molds. This is important since they allow you to create a great cookie-style treat that's easier to bite into compared to the deeper molds that result in a thicker, taller piece that can sometimes be harder to bite into. (Shallow molds also work wonderfully for making Eggnog Bites!)
Just like before, these food molds were placed in our downstairs zero degree freezer to pre-freeze. Later, the water mixture pie bites easily popped out of the food molds and were just gorgeous! You can see right away how sharp the details look - especially compared to the other ones on the first two trays.
Once all the shapes were removed, and placed onto Trays 3 & 4, we then placed them back into the zero degree freezer to stay frozen until it was time to load everything into the freeze dryer.
Before starting the freeze dryer, we chose to use a low initial freeze temp since the pie bites are very high in sugar. We do this when freeze drying ice cream too - it minimizes the risks of a Blowup. When the vacuum pump kicks on, sometimes pre-frozen foods can still expand, but not as much as when they are not pre-frozen, so this is a cautionary step. We also chose to use a Lower Dry Temp of 95 F, mostly because this batch included Eggnog Bites and Apricot Cheesecake Bites. We have found that when FDing kefir, milk, yogurt, herbs, and citrus a lower tray temp keeps the colors vibrant and also protects the probiotics, live cultures, and delicate nature of these food items.
We have a Small Harvest Right Pro Freeze Dryer, and it took our machine about 3.5 hours to move from the Freezing Stage into the Drying Stage. When the vacuum pump kicked on, the pecan pie bites on trays 1 & 2 expanded into big, distorted blobs (oh no)!
One of the gingerbread shaped houses expanded so much that it stuck to the top of the shelving unit, and the tray would not slide out when it was time to do a dry check and tray rotation. I had to use a long metal ruler to very, very carefully crush the pie bite to separate it from the shelving unit without damaging the orange heating pad. The tray then easily slid out so I could do the dry check. Later, after the batch completes, this will clean off the shelving unit easily with warm dish-soapy water and a soft scrub brush.
However, the pecan pie bites on trays 3 & 4 maintained their shapes perfectly throughout the entire FD process - wow!
So the lesson learned here was that adding milk to the pecan pie mixture was just too much sugar, and they expanded far too much as a result. This was fascinating to see because earlier, when we FD our Pumpkin Pie Bites, and added milk to those various mixtures, there was no expansion whatsoever. It appears that pecan pie from Sam's Club has significantly more sugar than their pumpkin pies do.
We set the expanded pie pieces aside to give to our Son to bring back to Base for him and his buddies to share - they're ugly but tasty and didn't want them to go to waste.
Notice how the pie pieces at the top (mixed with milk) expanded, but the pie pieces at the bottom (mixed with water) did not expand - they kept their shapes perfectly!
The Pie Bites mixed with milk were sticky and difficult to remove from the food molds, even after being in our zero degree freezer. Most of the details were lost as they puffed up due to all the sugar. We learned that diluting the mixture with water instead of milk was the key to success with this particular type of pie!
The ones that kept their shapes beautifully will be assembled in the big care packages we're putting together for Family Members. Notice how the pie pieces mixed with water kept all of the fine details from the food molds, and didn't puff up whatsoever - they came out exactly like we wanted them to!
The pie bites mixture with water froze in the food molds more evenly, popped out more easily, and were not as sticky compared to the milk mixture pieces. It didn't take as long to unmold and arrange on the trays. If you're pressed for time then this is important to note. It's also important to keep the pie pieces thin - this makes them easier to bite into later once freeze dried. Thinning out the mixture with water, as well as keeping the pieces thin, is the winning combo to make FD Pie Treats easier to bite into!
Our Son is also taking a huge Care Package back to Base with him with a big variety of FD foods, including Pecan Pie Bites, to share with his whole Squadron. He and his Teammates are working through Christmas, and we wanted to send them some treats to keep up morale. It's tough to be far from home during the holidays. These treats should bring the whole Team lots of smiles.
Final Comparisons We Noted:
1. The pie mixture with milk tasted more rich than the pie mixture with water. However, the added sugar caused too much expansion and ruined the shapes.
2. The pie mixture with milk had a thicker consistency than the one with water. It was easier to pour into the larger food mold shapes, but would have been more difficult to pour into the smaller food mold shapes so we stuck to the larger ones for this mixture. We had to use our tiny spoons to move the thicker mixture around all the corners of the food molds for even distribution.
3. The pie mixture with water was extremely easy to pour into both the larger and the smaller food mold shapes. No further distribution was needed since the thin mixture self-leveled into the molds (so if you're pressed for time this difference really matters).
4. Once pre-frozen, the water-mixture pieces easily popped out of the food molds and maintained amazing details! The milk-mixture pieces were very difficult to remove from the molds and did not have crisp details at all.
5. During the FD Process, the pie mixture with milk caused those pieces to expand and to lose their shape (due to all the sugar). One piece even puffed up so much that it stuck to the orange heating pad on the shelving unit! The water-mixture pieces were absolutely perfect once freeze dried - they came out great!
The clear winner here was the Pecan Pie mixed with Water. It was easier to pour into the food molds, easier to remove from the molds once pre-frozen, held their shapes perfectly during the FD process, were easier to bite into (vs. pie not thinned out), and were delicious!
We have Electric Mason Jar Sealer Kits (for Wide-mouth and Regular-mouth jars) that we like to use. Having one upstairs and downstairs makes things easier as we're opening and then resealing various jars in our pantry and FD area throughout the week. Also, if one breaks we still have a spare to use until the replacement arrives. If you have hand or wrist pain, and don't like having to twist the adapter piece on and off, then consider using this Dual-Head Auto-Stop Mason Sealer instead - it has dedicated ends for both regular and wide mouth lids and doesn't require an adapter piece.
We track all of our batches of FD foods in our FD Log App! It's handy to review past batches of similar food items to see how long they took. It helps us find specific items quickly too since there's a field for the storage location. If you'd like to learn how to custom-build your own FD Log App to track your batches and inventory using your cell phone or tablet, click here to learn more about our online tutorial!
We hope that you found this post to be Interesting, Informative, and Inspires you to FD some Pecan Pie Bites very soon!
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