A Nutty Pie

This year for Thanksgiving, The Husband and I had the good fortune to go to my brother and sister-in-law's beautiful home to spend the day.  I was happy not to have to cook but of course offered to bring something.  My assignment which I was tickled to accept was a pecan pie.  It is one of my all time favorites and I particularly like making them, as there is no top crust to deal with.

The recipe I use is very straightforward.  Nothing too gourmet about it, though it does say in lieu of vanilla, 2 Tbsp. of bourban can be substituted.  I opted to go the vanilla route because I don't think a classic should be messed with.  I also used my new, all-time favorite pie crust recipe which has yet to fail me.  It is so malleable when rolling out and it makes a really nice, flaky crust when baked.

Pecan Pie

Crust
1 1/4 cup all purpose flour
1 Tbsp. sugar
1/4 cup cold butter, cut into small cubes
1/4 cup cold lard, cut into small cubes
1 tsp salt
6 Tbsp. ice cold water

Mix the flour, sugar, and salt together until well combined.  Cut in the butter and lard with your fingers or a pastry cutter until it resembles coarse crumbs.  Add the ice water and form into a ball.  Put in refrigerator for at least 30 minutes before rolling out.  Roll out and put in a 9 inch deep dish pie plate.  Put back in fridge while making filling.

Pecan Pie Filling
1 cup light corn syrup
3/4 cup light brown sugar
4 Tbsp. (1/2 stick) melted butter
3 large eggs
1 tsp. pure vanilla extract (or 2 Tbsp. bourbon)
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups pecan halves

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and set an oven rack in the lowest position in oven. 

In large bowl, whisk eggs together.  Add corn syrup, sugar, butter, vanilla and salt and mix well.  Stir in pecans.  Pour this mixutre into the prepared curst and bake until the center is set and the crust is a golden brown, approximately 50-60 minutes.  Let cool to room temperature before serving.  This pie can be prepared and stored at room temperature, loosely covered with foil for up to 1 day.

M&Mmmmmm Peanut Butter Cookies

Here is a nice variation on your basic peanut butter cookie. Make them chock full of M&Ms and salted peanuts. How bad can that be? (I know dear, you hate that question.) These cookies go together very quickly and would certainly make delicious lunch box cookies for the kids for a special treat.

M&M Peanut Butter Cookies

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
½ cup butter, softened
½ cup creamy peanut butter
1 Tbsp vanilla
1 egg
1 1/2 cup all purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
1 cup salted peanuts
1 cup M&Ms

Heat oven to 375 degrees. In a large bowl, combine brown sugar, butter and peanut butter; beat until light and fluffy. Add vanilla and egg; blend well. Add flour and baking soda and mix well. Stir in M&Ms and peanuts. Drop dough by rounded tablespoon on ungreased baking sheet, 2 inches apart. baking sheet. Bake for 6-10 minutes minutes or until light golden brown. Cool 2 minutes then remove from baking sheets onto wire racks.

Seven Layer Magic Bars

I think magic is a strong word for this particular cookie. Quite frankly I found nothing magic about the way these cookies stuck to the foil after they were baked. I will say they were magic in how fast the were to actually put together, but trying to pry the cookies from all four edges of the foil used up far more time than I had to deal with them. If I were to make these very tasty cookies again, and they are tasty, I would spray the foil VERY generously with vegetable spray as well as the recipe's prescribed butter coating.

With that said, the cookies I was able to salvage from the pan will make a nice bar type treat for the Christmas baskets.

Seven Layer Magic Bars

1 ½ cups graham cracker crumbs
1 14oz. can sweetened condensed milk
½ cup butter or margarine
1 cup butterscotch flavored chips
1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1 1/3 cups flaked coconut
1 cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 350°, (325° for glass dish). Line a 13x9-inch baking pan with a sheet of foil, making sure to cover the sites well. Place the butter in the baking pan and melt it in the oven. Sprinkle crumbs over butter; pour condensed milk evenly on top of crumbs. Top with remaining ingredients in order listed; press down firmly with fork. Bake 25 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool. Chill if desired. Cut into bars. Store covered at room temperature. Makes 36 bars (give or take those that don't come out of the pan!)

Dried Cherry Biscotti

It's been a baking kind of weekend. Cookies and cake. Cookies for The Husband and cake for a last of the summer Bar-B-Que at the Mother-in-Law's. I'll start with the cookie recipe and talk about the cake in another entry. A favorite in our house is cherries. Cherry jam, cherry pie, cherry turnovers, plain cherries and dried cherry biscotti (I sound like Forrest Gump - fried shrimp, boiled shrimp, etc.....).

This recipe makes very good biscotti and they are fairly easy to make but are messy as I have found that when mixing the ingredients together it is far more effective to use one's hands then a spoon. They also take some tending to when baking them as they are twice baked and have to be cooled a bit after the initial baking and then cut, and then baked again in two 5 minute sessions. The end result is worth it though. They turn out crunchy, not too sweet and with nice sour bites with the dried cherries.

Dried Cherry Biscotti

2 1/2 cups all purpose flour

1 cup sugar

1/2 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp baking powder

1/2 tsp salt

3 large eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

2/3 cup chopped dried cherries (dried cranberries also work)

1 cup ground almonds

Sugar for the top (optional)

Lightly grease one cookie sheet. Preheat oven to 35o degrees.

Blend flour, sugar, baking soda, baking powder and salt in a large bowl. Add eggs and vanilla, beating until dough is formed. Stir in almonds and cherries.

Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and kneed several times. Using the greased cookie sheet as a surface, divide the dough in half and form into two flat logs about 9 inches long by 3 inches wide. I like to press some sugar onto the tops for an added sweet crunch.Bake for 25 minutes or until lightly browned on top.

Let cool directly on baking sheet resting on a rack for 10 minutes.

Lower heat to 325 degrees. On a cutting board, cut the logs on the diagonal into 1/2 inch thick pieces. Put back in oven for 5 minutes. Turn over and bake 5 more minutes. Remove from cookie sheet and cool on a baking rack. Store in an airtight container.