Showing posts with label pecans. Show all posts
Showing posts with label pecans. Show all posts

Wednesday, October 25, 2017

Black Bottom Pecan Praline Bars

These guys are called Black Bottom Pecan Praline Bars and they are a big chocolately chewy, crunchy stack of sweet evil. Make some to take to a friend's house. You probably shouldn't be alone in your house with them. Fair warning.

Food Lust People Love: These guys are called Black Bottom Pecan Praline Bars and they are a big chocolately chewy, crunchy stack of evil. Make some to take to a friend's house. You probably shouldn't be alone in your house with them. Fair warning.

I am overwhelmed by the number of food blogs there are out there. I tend to like the ones that are lighthearted and funny as well as having delicious recipes. Tell me a good story, then share some good food, and I will come back and spend time with you regularly. It’s like finding a new friend and we have a lot in common. I saw this recipe first at a favorite, Cravings of a Lunatic, but when I read Kim's post, she had gotten it from the helpful blogger and purveyor-of-valuable-advice Chef Dennis. He, in turn, got it from renown baker and chocolate expert, Alice Medrich’s book, Chewy Gooey Crispy Crunchy Melt-in-Your-Mouth Cookies.

And that is what the internet means to me. Sharing and community and delicious food. Usually mixed in with a few good laughs. (And since I started writing this blog, I can call it research! Win-win!) You seriously need to make these brownies and share in the joy and love and succulently chocolate chewiness.

Black Bottom Pecan Praline Bars


(Method adapted slightly from the original recipe by Alice Medrich.  Ms. Medrich doesn’t toast her pecans or use a microwave.  I have to toast pecans or I feel the spirit of my late Aunt Karen hovering over me. She always toasted her pecans because she said it enhanced their nutty flavor. Trust me: Aunt Karen was right. Plus she made the very best pecan pie. You should try it! )

Ingredients
For the brownie layer:
8 tablespoons or 120g unsalted butter
6 1/2 ounces or 185g semi-sweet chocolate
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons or 175g sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt
2 large eggs (cold)
1/2 cup or 65g all purpose flour

For the praline layer:
1/2 cup or 65g all purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
8 tablespoons or 120g unsalted butter - melted
3/4 cup or 150g packed brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
2 1/2 cups (after chopping) or 250g pecans (The original recipe says pecans or walnuts, but I am from Louisiana. There never was a praline without pecans.)

Method
Preheat oven to 350°F or 180°C degrees. Put your pecans in a 9 X 13 in pan and pop them in the preheating oven. Set a timer for five minutes. As the oven heats, give the pan a shake and toss the pecans around. Keep setting your timer because we are going to move on to other steps and you DO NOT want to forget about your pecans and let them burn.

I toasted mine for around 20-25 minutes in total but only the last five to seven minutes were in a hot oven. (My oven heats up pretty slowly.) As your oven heats, you may want to shake them around more often to prevent one side from scorching.


Once the pecans are sufficiently toasted, tip them out onto a cutting board and dust out your baking pan with a paper towel. Let it cool a little and then line it with aluminum foil and butter or spray with non-stick spray.

Just a little darker, but, oh, the flavor!

Chop your chocolate into chunks and put it in a microwaveable bowl with the butter. Zap it for 30 seconds at a time, stirring well between each zap. Mine took three rounds of 30 seconds and it was completely melted through.






Stir in the sugar, vanilla, and salt. You can give it one more quick 30 seconds in the microwave at this point, if your sugar doesn’t seem to be melting quickly enough. Our sugar here in Cairo is not as fine grained as the caster sugar I can buy elsewhere so that extra 30 seconds was helpful. Give it a good stir, scraping all around the sides with a spatula to make sure there aren’t any hot spots.




Add the eggs and mix well.

Here's what happened when I tried to get fancy and crack the egg with one hand for the photo.
Eggshells. Don't let this happen to you. Man, were they a pain to fish out.

Beating in the eggs.

Add in the flour and beat vigorously until batter is smooth and glossy. A wooden spoon is probably best for this step. I removed the whisk and changed tools. The original recipe says that the batter should start to come away from the sides of the bowl, but that never happened for me.



Pour the batter into your greased, foil-lined pan. Gently spread the batter all over the pan and set the pan aside.



On to the praline topping. Combine flour and baking soda in a small bowl and mix well using a fork. Set this aside.


Coarsely chop your pecans.


Melt your butter with quick zaps in the microwave in a microwave friendly container, then mix it in another bowl with the brown sugar and salt.



Separate your egg yolks then add them in along with the vanilla.



It looks like toffee sauce or the beginning of pralines. Yum already.
Add in flour mixture and then the pecans. Mix well.




Drop by small spoonsful on top of the brownie layer. Don’t worry about any little gaps because it will spread and cover the brownies during baking.



Bake for 20-25 minutes but set your timer for 10 minutes first so you can rotate the pan for even browning. Bake until the top is completely brown and cracked. I actually ended up baking mine for closer to 30 minutes.


Cool until firm on wire rack, then lift the ends of the foil and remove from the pan. Cool completely before cutting into squares.

These fulfill every promise in Ms. Medrich’s book title. No kidding: Chewy, Gooey, Crispy, Crunchy AND Melt-in-Your-Mouth.

Food Lust People Love: These guys are called Black Bottom Pecan Praline Bars and they are a big chocolately chewy, crunchy stack of evil. Make some to take to a friend's house. You probably shouldn't be alone in your house with them. Fair warning.

Enjoy!

If you love pecans, you might also love these recipes.

My party pecan pie - best and easiest way to make enough pecan pie for a crowd!


Pecan Bundt Cake with Orange Cream Cheese Icing - it's perfect for your Thanksgiving or Christmas dessert table.


Chewy Brigadeiro Pecan Bars - these bad boys sport toasted pecans, melted chocolate, rolled oats and dulce de leche. You probably shouldn't be home alone with these either.

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Food Lust People Love: These guys are called Black Bottom Pecan Praline Bars and they are a big chocolately chewy, crunchy stack of evil. Make some to take to a friend's house. You probably shouldn't be alone in your house with them. Fair warning.


.

Monday, July 31, 2017

Country Applesauce Pecan Muffins #MuffinMonday

Made with thick homemade applesauce, these country applesauce pecan muffins are rich with the flavors of brown sugar and cinnamon. They are a great breakfast muffin or afternoon snack.

Food Lust People Love: Made with thick homemade applesauce, these country applesauce pecan muffins are rich with the flavors of brown sugar and cinnamon. They are a great breakfast muffin or afternoon snack.

Weekend before last, ahead of a routine test on Monday, my husband was instructed to start on a soft food diet. We headed to our big hypermarket for a shopping trip, picking up clear soups and other tasty morsels he could eat. “How about applesauce?” he said. “Sure,’ I replied. I turned back towards the fresh produce, as he turned toward the cans and jars. We both stopped.

“We are not going to buy applesauce!” I exclaimed. “You know how easy it is to make applesauce!” Plus, I pointed out, we were having pork chops for dinner – his last solid meal for a couple of days - so we’d need applesauce for those as well.

Sure, it takes a while to peel and core the apples (and toss them in a little fresh lemon juice), but you know exactly what you get when you are done. Pure applesauce, with a hint of lemon. If you choose your apples wisely, you don’t need to add sugar.

How to make applesauce:
Put the juice of one small lemon in a large mixing bowl. Peel, core and chop 3 Granny Smith apples and four Red Delicious, tossing the chunks in the lemon juice to stop them turning brown.

Place the lot in a heavy saucepan with 1/4 cup or 60ml water. Keep the fire on medium low and cover the pot with a tightfitting lid. Check it often, stirring the apples when you do. Cook until the apples are very soft and can be mashed easily with the back of a spoon. Taste the applesauce and add a little sugar, if necessary. Store in the refrigerator for up to two weeks.

Country Applesauce Pecan Muffins

Ingredients
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup or 125g pecans
2/3 cup or 132g brown sugar
2 teaspoons ground cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoons salt
1/3 cup or 80ml canola oil, plus a little extra for greasing muffin pan
1 large egg
1 rounded cup or 250g applesauce (see instructions above or use store-bought sauce)
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method
Preheat your oven to 350°F or 180C°. Toast the pecans on a dry baking pan as the oven preheats. Watch them closely and shake the pan occasionally so the pecans don’t scorch.  This won’t take long. Remove from the oven and chop coarsely.

Grease 12 standard muffin cups with a little canola or line the pan with paper liners.

Divide the chopped pecans, setting aside a generous handful to sprinkle on the muffins before baking.

In a large mixing bowl, combine the flour, the larger pile of chopped pecans, brown sugar, cinnamon, baking powder, baking soda and salt.

Food Lust People Love: Made with thick homemade applesauce, these country applesauce pecan muffins are rich with the flavors of brown sugar and cinnamon. They are a great breakfast muffin or afternoon snack.

In another smaller mixing bowl, thoroughly whisk the oil, egg, applesauce and vanilla extract together.

Food Lust People Love: Made with thick homemade applesauce, these country applesauce pecan muffins are rich with the flavors of brown sugar and cinnamon. They are a great breakfast muffin or afternoon snack.

Fold the wet ingredients into the dry until just mixed.

Food Lust People Love: Made with thick homemade applesauce, these country applesauce pecan muffins are rich with the flavors of brown sugar and cinnamon. They are a great breakfast muffin or afternoon snack.

Divide the batter between the 12 muffin cups. Top with the reserved chopped pecans.

Food Lust People Love: Made with thick homemade applesauce, these country applesauce pecan muffins are rich with the flavors of brown sugar and cinnamon. They are a great breakfast muffin or afternoon snack.

Bake for about 20 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Food Lust People Love: Made with thick homemade applesauce, these country applesauce pecan muffins are rich with the flavors of brown sugar and cinnamon. They are a great breakfast muffin or afternoon snack.


Enjoy!

Many thanks to Karen from Karen’s Kitchen Stories for hosting this edition of Muffin Monday while I am on the road from the east coast to the west with my daughter. We are in New York state right now and are headed to Cleveland, Ohio this morning. As I mentioned in my last post, my Instagram feed is always kind of a weird mix of images, but for the next eight days, it's going to be filled with sights from our cross country trip. Do follow along!

Meanwhile, make sure to check out all the other goodies my Muffin Monday friends are sharing today!



#MuffinMonday is a group of muffin loving bakers who get together once a month to bake muffins. You can see all our of lovely muffins by following our Pinterest board.

Updated links for all of our past events and more information about Muffin Monday, can be found on our home page.

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Food Lust People Love: Made with thick homemade applesauce, these country applesauce pecan muffins are rich with the flavors of brown sugar and cinnamon. They are a great breakfast muffin or afternoon snack. #MuffinMonday
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Thursday, October 20, 2016

Sticky Pecan Pie Bundt #BundtBakers

Pecan pie filling mixed in cake batter makes the best Sticky Pecan Pie Bundt, perfect for any family celebration.



This month’s Bundt Baker theme is Happy Fall, Ya’ll so I could have baked with apples or pumpkin or other fall produce but while I was in Houston recently, I was reminded that it’s pecan season as well. There’s a farmer’s market near our house where you can either buy fresh Texas pecans or bring the harvest from your own trees and pay 40 cents a pound to have them crack the pecans in their noisy electric machines.

Years ago, I remember my grandparents sitting at their kitchen table cracking and picking the shells off of Louisiana pecans and it was a long and challenging job. Forty cents seems a fair price to pay not to have to do the cracking part by hand!

My favorite thing to make with fresh pecans is my aunt’s pecan pie. It’s a must at Thanksgiving and Christmas. If you are feeding a crowd, make a party-sized version. But for any other occasion, do try this sticky pecan pie Bundt!

Ingredients
2 1/2 cups or 315g flour
1 1/2 cups or 300g sugar
1 cup or 240ml light corn syrup, plus a little extra to drizzle on - optional
1/2 cup, firmly packed, or 100g dark brown sugar
1/2 cup or 113g butter, melted and cooled
4 eggs
2 1/2 teaspoons double-acting baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups or 175g chopped pecans


Method
Preheat oven to 325°F or 163°C and prepare your 10-cup Bundt pan by brushing it with butter and dusting it with flour. Scatter a good handful of the chopped pecans in the bottom of the pan. Set it aside.

Put all of your ingredients into a large mixing bowl. Use your stand mixer or electric beaters to mix the ingredients until completely combined.



Turn the beaters to high and mix well for 1 minute.

Pour the batter into your prepared Bundt pan.

Bake in your preheat oven for 55-60 minutes.

Remove the pan from the oven and cool for 10 minutes on a wire rack.



Run a wooden skewer around the edges of the pan and the flute in the middle to loosen the Bundt, then invert it onto the wire rack. Leave to cool completely.

If desired, drizzle a little more corn syrup on the Bundt as glaze.



Enjoy!

Many thanks to our Bundt Bakers host this month, Teri from The Freshman Cook! Check out all the other fall bakes we have for you today!

BundtBakers

BundtBakers is a group of Bundt loving bakers who get together once a month to bake Bundts with a common ingredient or theme. Follow our Pinterest board right here. Links are also updated each month on the BundtBakers home page.

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Wednesday, October 5, 2016

Marshmallow Turtle Bars #FoodieExtravaganza

Caramel, chocolate and pecans are the key ingredients of those delicious little candies known as turtles. Add a crust and throw a few mini marshmallows in the mix and what you’ve got is marshmallow turtle bars. They are sticky, gooey and more-ish!



This month my Foodie Extravaganza group is bringing you loads of chocolate recipes, both sweet and savory, in celebration of National Chocolate Day at the end of October. I’m not a big sweet eater but I am fond of chocolate when it is either dark, semi-sweet or paired with caramel. A dark or semi-sweet chocolate caramel combination would be ideal, especially with pecans. Which brings us to my recipe.

These guys are sooooo good.

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g flour
1/2 cup or 63g confectioners' sugar
3/4 cup or 85g unsalted butter, chilled
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 14-ounce or 397g can sweetened condensed milk
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup or 115g pecans, coarsely chopped
3/4 cup or 150g semisweet chocolate chips
1 cup or 165g toffee-and-chocolate candy (such as chopped up Heath bars)
1 cup or 50g mini marshmallows

Method
Heat oven to 350°F or 180°C and prepare your 9 x 13 inch or 23 x 33cm pan by greasing it or lining it with baking parchment. Personally, I'm a fan of the parchment.

Cut the chilled butter into cubes and put it in a food processor with the flour, confectioners' sugar, and salt. Pulse until the dough just starts to hang together.


Use your clean hands to press the dough firmly into your prepared pan.



Bake until golden around the edges, about 12-15 minutes.


In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together the condensed milk, egg, and vanilla. Pour the filling over the baked crust.

Sprinkle on the marshmallows first, then the chopped pecans, chocolate chips, and toffee pieces putting some of each until you’ve used up all of them.



Bake until the filling is set, the edges are golden brown, and the marshmallows are melted, about 25 minutes.



Cool completely and cut into bars. If you live in a warm climate, you might want to keep these in the refrigerator.

Enjoy!

How will you celebrate National Chocolate Day? I’d like to recommend making a few of these. Many thanks to our host this month, Kathleen from Fearlessly Creative Mammas.


Foodie Extravaganza celebrates obscure food holidays or shares recipes with the same ingredient or theme every month.

Posting day is always the first Wednesday of each month. If you are a blogger and would like to join our group and blog along with us, come join our Facebook group Foodie Extravaganza. We would love to have you!

If you're a reader looking for delicious recipes, check out our Foodie Extravaganza Pinterest Board! Looking for our previous parties? Check them out here.

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Tuesday, August 16, 2016

Pecan Sandies #CreativeCookieExchange

Buttery and rich with a delicious crunch of toasted pecans, these pecan sandies almost melt in your mouth as they leave a trail of sandy crumbs down your chin.

Buttery and rich with a delicious crunch of toasted pecans, these pecan sandies almost melt in your mouth as they leave a trail of sandy crumbs down your chin.

I have a notebook that I keep nearby at all times where I keep track of my upcoming obligations for different blogger group posts. I try very hard to write all the themes in it next to the publish date. Occasionally, if the theme is too long, I’ll shorten it so it fits but so I can still remember the whole thing. Or so I thought. This month’s whole theme for Creative Cookie Exchange is Cookies to Celebrate the End of Summer Vacation. That does not fit in my editorial calendar notebook. So I wrote, End of Summer.

End of summer, end of summer, I thought weeks later as I checked the notebook, the deadline looming. I’m such a Beach Boys fan that Endless Summer naturally popped into my mind. Hmmmm, interesting. And what goes with the Beach Boys but beaches? Now you see how I ended up making pecan sandies, right?

Pecan sandies are classic buttery cookies that are sometimes coated in or sprinkled with powdered sugar after they are baked. As far as I’m concerned, they don’t need the extra sugar at all and, for my purposes this month, the snow white shower would take away from their sandy color.

Going the other direction, I chose to sprinkle mine with the leftover crumbs of the toasted pecans for added color. But you do you, honey boo-boo.

Ingredients
2 cups or 250g all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon fine salt
1/4 teaspoon baking soda
3/4 cup or 170g unsalted butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup or 100g granulated sugar
1 large egg, at room temperature
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons water
1 1/4 cups chopped pecans (about 5 ozs or 142g)
Optional: powdered sugar to decorate

Method
Toast your pecan pieces in a dry skillet on the stovetop. Stir or toss often so they don’t scorch but become a lovely toasted color all over. Remove from the heat and set aside to cool.

Preheat your oven to 325°F or 163°C and line two cookie sheets with parchment or silicone baking liners.

In a medium bowl, whisk together your flour, salt and baking soda.

Cream the butter and sugar in a large bowl with electric beaters or your stand mixer until they are a pale yellow and fluffy – about three minutes. Scrape down the sides of your bowl with a rubber spatula.

Beat in the egg, vanilla and water until fully incorporated. Do not be alarmed when these look curdled. Adding the flour always takes care of that.





Scrape down the sides of the bowl again and continue beating, adding about a third of the flour at a time and beating until fully mixed and all the flour has been added.



Use a slotted spoon to transfer the cooled toasted pecan pieces into the mixing bowl, leaving behind the smaller crumbs of pecan.

Mix until the pecans are incorporated into the dough.



Use a tablespoon or cookie scoop to measure out the cookie dough into about 25-27 cookies. I separated them nicely in the first baking pan but discovered when they came out that they can be much closer together. They don't spread much.



Roll the dough into balls with your hands and then flatten them with the bottom of a glass.



Check the crumbs left behind in the pecan toasting pan to make sure that none of them are little pieces of pecan shell. This can happen in the shelling process with disastrous results when someone bites on shell.

Sprinkle the pecan crumbs on top of the cookies and press down again lightly to make them stick into the dough. This, as you can see, is pan two.


Bake each pan for about 10 minutes then rotate it to make sure the cookies bake evenly. Bake for an additional 10 minutes or until the pecan sandies are slightly brown around the edges. If you bake both pans at once, you might want to rotate them from top shelf to bottom shelf as well as front to back.

Remove from the oven and allow the cookies to cool.



Enjoy!



How do you celebrate the end of summer? Might I suggest baking some cookies?


Creative Cookie Exchange is hosted by Laura of The Spiced Life. We get together once a month to bake cookies with a common theme or ingredient so Creative Cookie Exchange is a great resource for cookie recipes. Be sure to check out our Pinterest Board and our monthly posts at The Spiced Life. We post the first Tuesday after the 15th of each month!

Pin Pecan Sandies!


Buttery and rich with a delicious crunch of toasted pecans, these pecan sandies almost melt in your mouth as they leave a trail of sandy crumbs down your chin.

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