Classic Alabama Pecan Bread #BreadBakers

This Alabama Pecan Bread is a sweet chewy treat – akin to a blondie - that is a must at potlucks and family reunions all over the southern states.

While its origins aren’t easy to pin down, the first Alabama pecan bread recipes date back to the late 19th and early 20th centuries, when commercial pecan production took off in Alabama. Hence the name.

In my own home state of Louisiana, pecan growing for profit dates back even farther to the arrival of the French who recognized the potential of the wild pecan groves regularly harvested by the indigenous peoples. Nuts are an excellent protein source.

In fact, as early as the late 1700s, the Port of New Orleans started recording the sale and export of pecans as a profitable commodity. This makes Louisiana the actual origin of the pecan as a commercial crop. 

Even before I learned this history, I always thought of Louisiana as the source of the best pecans because, growing up, my extended family grew and harvested them. Until my maternal grandmother passed away, I never had to buy pecans. She always had a few pounds, already shelled, waiting for me when I’d visit. 

Alabama Pecan Bread

Recipes for Alabama pecan bread abound and there are many variations like the addition of sweet potatoes, pumpkin, cranberries, chocolate chips, coconut, etc. but the classic recipe is exactly the same on too many websites to count! This recipe was adapted from one on Mama Sue’s Southern Kitchen. 

Ingredients

1 ½ cups or 190g flour

2 ¼ teaspoons baking powder

¼ teaspoon fine sea salt

1 cup or 200g sugar

1 cup or 200g dark brown sugar

4 eggs

1 cup or 240ml canola or other light oil, plus a little extra for the baking pan

2 cups, chopped, or 240g pecans

1 teaspoon vanilla

Method

Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare a 9 x 13 in or 23 x 33cm baking dish by greasing it or line it with baking parchment.

In a medium mixing bowl, whisk the flour, baking powder and salt to combine.

In another larger bowl, whisk the sugar, brown sugar, eggs and oil together well until you have a homogeneous mixture. 

Set aside a handful of the pecans for topping.

Add the flour mixture, pecans, and vanilla to the sugar/egg/oil bowl. 

Stir well to combine. 

Pour the batter into your prepared baking dish. Top with the reserved pecans.

Bake for 30 to 35 minutes in your preheated oven or until done. 

Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack before cutting into squares to serve. The edges aren't pretty but they were my favorite pieces. (My husband agreed!)

Enjoy!

It’s the second Tuesday of the month, so that means it’s time for my Bread Bakers group to share their recipes. Our host, Kelly of Passion Kneaded chose nuts as our theme. Many thanks to her for the impetus to research my favorite nut, the pecan. Check out the link list below. 

• Classic Alabama Pecan Bread from Food Lust People Love
• Coconut Flour Banana Nut Bread from Passion Kneaded 
• Cranberry Pecan Boule from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Easy Cinnamon Nut Loaf from A Messy Kitchen
• Maple Pecan Cinnamon Rolls from Magical Ingredients
• Mini Chocolate Almond Babka from Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Nutty Miso Banana Bread from Sneha's Recipe 

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin this Classic Alabama Pecan Bread!

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Vintage Pecan Icebox Cookies

These Vintage Pecan Icebox Cookies are made from a tried-and-true classic recipe from Imperial Sugar Pure Cane Sugar. The dough is chilled (or frozen) before baking so you can slice and bake as needed. 

Growing up in Houston, the only sugar we would ever buy was refined from pure cane syrup about 10 miles from my childhood home in a little town called, appropriately, Sugar Land. (The two-word name is one way we separate Texas transplants from locals, as newcomers tend to want to write it, Sugarland. It’s an amusing test.) 

Starting with a single sugar mill back in 1843 and then incorporated in 1905, Imperial Sugar is still my sugar of choice for all the varieties but nowadays it’s no longer a family enterprise. It is run as a subsidiary of United States Sugar Corporation. Thankfully, quality remains high though.

Over the years, Imperial Sugar produced many cookbooks, often in collaboration with the Parent-Teacher Association of Sugar Land as fundraisers. The 48-page promotional cookbook - A Bag Full of Recipes, 1930 edition - this recipe was adapted from was one of those, featuring classic household recipes and baking tips. 

Icebox cookies were a homemaker's ace-in-the-hole for unexpected guests! Kept chilled, they could be baked at a moment's notice. These days, we can freeze the dough and keep it fresh even longer. 

All of the Imperial Sugar vintage cookbooks are available for download on the Imperial Sugar website here: https://imperialsugar.com/vintage-cookbooks/ Such a motherload of vintage recipes! 

Vintage Pecan Icebox Cookies

It is essential that you roll, wrap and chill this dough for at least three hours before slicing to bake the cookies, because they will spread out. The dough can be frozen, well-wrapped, for a couple of months. This makes about 3-4 dozen 2-inch cookies, depending on your slicing. 

Ingredients

½ cup or 60g chopped pecans 

½ cup or 113g unsalted butter, at room temperature 

¾ cup, tightly packed, or 150g dark brown sugar 

1 large egg 

1 teaspoon vanilla extract 

1 ¼ cups or 156g flour 

½ teaspoon fine sea salt 

¼ teaspoon baking soda 

Optional for decoration: pecan halves

For wrapping the dough:

Baking parchment or waxed paper

Method

Place the chopped pecans in a food processor and pulse until finely chopped. 

Add the butter and brown sugar and pulse to combine. 

Add the egg and vanilla and pulse until combined. 

In a small bowl, stir together the flour, salt, and baking soda. 

Turn the flour mixture into the food processor and pulse until smooth. 

Tear off a sheet of waxed or parchment paper about 15 inches long. Spoon the dough onto the paper and roll into a log about 15 inches or 38cm long. 

Wrap the dough up and chill for at least three hours or preferably overnight. (You can also store the log in the freezer in a zipper-top bag for up to 3 months.) 

When you’re ready to bake, preheat the oven to 375ºF or 190°C, with a rack in the middle. 

Remove the dough from the refrigerator and roll it back and forth on the counter until it is about 1½ inches in diameter. Mine was a challenge to roll into a neat round tube. Is my fridge too cold? Who knows! I just wish I had rolled it more round before chilling! You should. 

Slice the dough roll into circles just under 1cm or ½ inch thick.

Arrange them on a silicone- or parchment-lined baking pan, at least 1 inch or 2cm apart.

If desired, press a pecan half into each round. I like to do this because 1. If someone has a nut allergy, it’s an immediate red flag that says: Do NOT eat, and 2. They are prettier with a pecan on top! 

Bake, one pan at a time, until the cookies are golden brown and crispy around the edges, about 8 minutes. 

Transfer to a wire rack to cool. 

Repeat with the remaining dough, cooling the pans between batches. Alternatively, as mentioned above, it can be frozen, well-wrapped, for a few months. Slice and bake at will! 

Store the cookies for up to a week in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing cookie recipes, just ‘cause we want to. Because who doesn’t want more cookie recipes? Exactly no one. Many thanks to our host, Karen of Karen’s Kitchen Stories. Check out the links below. 

• Candied Orange Peel Chocolate Chip Cookies from Amy’s Cooking Adventures
• Fig Newton Swirl Cookies from A Messy Kitchen 
• Frosted Cake Cookies from Karen’s Kitchen Stories 
• Marbled Tahini Cookies from Culinary Cam
• Peaches and Cream Rustic Thumbprint Cookies from Faith Hope Luck and Love Despite a Whiskered Accomplice
• Ragi Nankatai from Sneha’s Recipe 
• Strawberry Cake Mix Chocolate Chip Cookies from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Thandai Cookies from Mayuri’s Jikoni
• Tropical Treat Gluten Free Cookies from Sid’s Sea Palm Cookies
• Vintage Pecan Icebox Cookies from Food Lust People Love

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

Pin these Vintage Pecan Icebox Cookies!

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Pecan Banana Bread Mini Loaves #BreadBakers

These pecan banana bread mini loaves are wonderfully tender, sweet and nutty, perfect for breakfast or snack time. Eat all four or give some away as gifts!

Sometimes I like to bake precisely to give the baked goods away. It’s a great way to show friends and family that they matter to me and because I love to bake, making gifts allows me to do that without stockpiling. 

That said, these mini loaves freeze beautifully so if you don’t eat them all or give them away, wrap them well in some cling film and pop them in the freezer for another time. 

Pecan Banana Bread Mini Loaves

The foil mini pans I use for these 5 3/4 in x 3 1/4 in x 2 in or 146mm x 82mm x 50mm. They are technically disposable or recyclable but I do wash them well and reuse them. If you don’t have cooking oil spray, you can grease them with oil, using a pastry brush. 

Ingredients

6 tablespoons or 85g butter

1 cup or 200g sugar

2 eggs

2 large ripe bananas

1 teaspoon vanilla

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 cups or 190g flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/4 cup or 60ml sour cream

1 cup or 120g chopped pecans

For decoration: 12 pecan halves

For greasing the pans: canola oil spray 

 

Method

Grease four mini loaf pans (see note above ingredients list) and preheat your oven to 350°F or 180°C.

 

Beat together the butter and sugar until they are fluffy and light yellow. Add the eggs, bananas, vanilla and salt and beat well until combined. 

Combine the dry ingredients in a sieve and sift them into the butter mixture, alternating with the sour cream, ending with the last of the dry ingredients.

Stir well in between each addition to combine. 

Fold in the chopped pecans.

Pour the batter into your prepared pans and decorate with the pecan halves.

Bake in your preheated oven for 30-35 minutes or until the little loaves are golden and a toothpick comes out clean.

Cool completely before slicing to serve. 

As mentioned above, these make great gifts and also freeze well. 

 

Enjoy!

It’s the second Tuesday of the month so that means it’s time for my Bread Baker friends to share their recipes. Our theme this month is bread with fruit! Many thanks to our host Swathi of Zesty South Indian Kitchen.

• Pan di Ramerino (Rosemary Raisin Buns) by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Mini Apricot Cranberry Panettones by A Messy Kitchen
• Pumpkin Apple Sourdough Loaf by Zesty South Indian Kitchen
• Pecan Banana Bread Mini Loaves by Food Lust people Love
• Apple Crisp Sourdough Loaf by Sneha's Recipe
• Fig Bread by The Wimpy Vegetarian
• Sourdough Blueberry Breakfast Loaf by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Oat and Raisin Quick Bread (Gluten Free) by Passion Kneaded

#BreadBakers is a group of bread loving bakers who get together once a month to bake bread with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on this home page. We take turns hosting each month and choosing the theme/ingredient.

Pin these Pecan Banana Bread Mini Loaves!

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Pecan Pie Brownies

Chewy fudgy brownie on the bottom with pecan pie filling on top, these pecan pie brownies start with store-brought brownie mix. They disappear in a flash and are super easy to bake!

A couple of years ago my mom was living with us on hospice care and I wanted invite her sister and nephews and their families over for Sunday lunch, to have a little time chatting and laughing together while Mom could still appreciate it. 

The main part of the menu was simple to decide. We are a Cajun family so I made an immense pot of gumbo and a potato salad. Two of Mom’s favorites. Our beverage was something my maternal grandmother often served, pink lemonade with crushed pineapple, a great childhood memory for me and my cousins. 

I am usually all about baking things from scratch but time was precious so I started thinking about ways to fancy up a brownie mix. Back to my Cajun roots again, I had the brilliant, and I thought novel idea, to top it with pecan pie filling. Like many of my “original” ideas, a quick Google search found 11,900,000 results (0.24s) for that very thing. 

So these may not be the first pecan pie brownies you’ve ever seen, but I promise they are delicious. 

Pecan Pie Brownies

The ingredient list below calls for one boxed brownie mix along with the other ingredients listed on the box. I use the 16.3 oz Betty Crocker fudge mix so I’ve listed the other ingredients as well. Your box mix may call for something different. Please read the box and mix as instructed.

Ingredients

For the brownie base:

1 9×9 size boxed brownie mix (Betty Crocker fudge mix, see note above.)

1/2 cup or 120ml canola or other light oil

2 eggs

2 tablespoons water

For the pecan pie topping:

1/2 cup or 113g butter, melted and cooled

1/2 cup or 120ml corn syrup

1 cup or 200g brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

2 1/2 cups, chopped, or 175g pecans

Method

Preheat the oven to 350°F or 180°C. Line a 9X9 inch baking pan with parchment paper. 

Prepare the brownie mix as directed on the box. 

Stir by hand, just until mixed. Pour the batter into your prepared baking pan.

Bake the brownies for half of the recommended baking time plus 5 additional minutes to begin. 

While the brownies are baking, prepare the pecan pie topping. In a medium bowl, whisk together melted butter, corn syrup, brown sugar, vanilla, and salt. 

Then whisk in the eggs. 

After eggs are mixed in thoroughly, stir in the chopped pecans. 

When the `brownies are done with their baking time of “half the recommended, plus five minutes” pull them out. If they still look wet and completely uncooked, return them to the oven for 3-5 minutes, then check again. While they won’t be fully cooked, the top should be starting to set up. I baked mine for 25 minutes. The top was just looking set and shiny at 23 so I left it in another two minutes to make sure. 

Pour the pecan pie topping evenly over the brownies.

Place the brownies, with pecan pie topping, back into the oven and continue baking for an additional 30-35 minutes. The top should be set before you remove the pan from the oven. If it still jiggles, leave it in for another few minutes.

Allow brownies to cool completely on a cooling rack. Cool for at least 1 hour before slicing. Or if you are in a hurry, you can chill in the refrigerator first. 

These pecan pie brownies are very sweet and rich! Cut them into small pieces to serve. 

Enjoy!

It’s Sunday FunDay and today we are sharing recipes with my favorite nut, the pecan, in honor of National Pecan Pie Day yesterday. Many thanks to our host, Amy of Amy's Cooking Adventures. Check out the links below.

• Brown Sugar Cinnamon Pecan Pie by Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Creamy Mixed Green Salad with Apple & Pecans by Sneha's Recipe
• German Chocolate Cake with Caramelized Coconut Pecan Icing by A Day in the Life on the Farm
• Pain de Pecan by Karen's Kitchen Stories
• Pecan Pie Brownies by Food Lust People Love

 

We are a group of food bloggers who believe that Sunday should be a family fun day, so every Sunday we share recipes that will help you to enjoy your day. If you're a blogger interested in joining us, just visit our Facebook group and request to join.

Pin these Pecan Pie Brownies! 

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