Pecans, Pecans, Pecans!

I went to the grocery store and needed pecans for the Texas Sheet Cake I was going to take to my brother's for dinner. After seeing that a little bag was $9.00, I decided against that.

When I was at Sam's later, a saw a huge bag for $11.00, so now I must find all kinds of pecan recipes to use them up.

There are no pictures of the Sheet Cake because I didn't take any before I left and it was so yummy there was none to bring home.

These pecan bars were pretty good for a little snack.

Source: Everyday Food (From Martha Stewart Living) May 2006

Makes 18
Prep Time: 20 minutes

Ingredients:

• 1 cup pecan halves
• 1 cup AP flour (plus more for preparation)
• 3/4 cup confectioner's sugar
• 1/2 cup (1 stick) cold unsalted butter, but into pieces
• 1/4 tsp salt (I didn't have unsalted butter, so I left out the salt)

Directions:

1. Preheat oven to 350*. Line an 8x8 square baking pan with foil, leaving an overhang on all sides.
2. In a food processor, pulse pecans until finely chopped. Transfer to a bowl; set aside. In processor, blend flour, sugar, butter, and salt until moist clumps form. Add reserved pecans; pulse 2 or 3 times, just to incorporate.
3. Press dough evenly into bottom of prepared pan (with floured fingers). With a floured flork, prick dough every 1/2 inch. Bake until golden brown, 30-35 minutes.
4. Cool 5 minutes in pan. Use foil overhang to lift shortbread onto cutting board. Cut warm shortbread, and coil completely on rack before serving.

Apple Crisp

I wanted to do kind of an apple pie, but also have the crispy filling you get with the apple crisp. So, I used one of the pie crusts left over from my pot pie and cut it into circles. I filled each one with apple pie filling and topped with apple crisp topping.

I used this recipe for the idea, but made it into more of individual pastry cups and cooked together in an 8x8 glass dish.

Easy Apple Cobbler Pizza
Ingredients:

1 9-inch refrigerated prepared pie crust

1 can (21 oz.) Comstock® or Wilderness® More Fruit Apple Fruit Filling or Topping

3/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/2 cup old-fashioned rolled oats

1/2 cup packed brown sugar

1/2 cup butter or margarine, softened

1/2 tsp. ground cinnamon

Directions:
1. Unfold pie crust and place on cookie sheet. Spread apple filling evenly over pie crust to within 1” of edge.

2. In small mixing bowl, combine flour, oats, brown sugar, butter and cinnamon. Crumble evenly over apple filling.

3. Bake in preheated 425°F oven for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown.

Makes 6-8 servings Bake time: 10-12 minutes

Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake

Yum-O. This is the best chocolate cake. It is so moist and the frosting is delicious. It looks orange-ish due to the flash, but it is actually the same color as the cake almost. I made the bundt version because I didn't have 2 round cake pans.


Hershey's Perfectly Chocolate Cake

Quaker's Vanishing Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

This is just from under the lid of the Quaker's oatmeal, but they are really good! I only made half of this recipe.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup (2 sticks) margarine or butter, softened


• 1 cup firmly packed brown sugar


• 1/2 cup granulated sugar


• 2 eggs


• 1 tsp. vanilla


• 1 and 1/2 cups all-purpose flour


• 1 tsp baking soda


• 1 tsp cinnamon


• 1/2 tsp. salt (optional)


• 3 cups Quaker's Oats (quick or old fashioned)


• 1 cup raisins

1. Heat oven to 350


2. Beat together margarine and sugars until creamy


3. Add eggs and vanilla, mix well.


4. Add combined flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; mix well.


5. Stir in oats and raisins; mix well.


6. Drop by rounded tablespoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.


7. Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until golden brown.


8. Cool 1 minute on cookie sheet, move to wire rack.


9. Yield=about 4 dozen

Chocolate Waffle Cookies

I have been making these for a long time. Whenever I want something chocolate without heating up the oven and that only takes a few minutes I whip these up. My mom has the original recipe (It came from a Remenisce magizine). I know the ingredients and I just combine them all how I think they should go.

Ingredients:

• 1 square unsweetened chocolate (I have also used semi-sweet-just makes them sweeter)



• 1/4 cup butter (I use light at room temp)



• 6 TBS sugar



• 1 egg



• 1/2 cup flour



• 1/2 tsp. vanilla

Heat up waffle iron. I also grease mine so they don't stick. While heating, melt the chocolate first (I put it in microwave and stir frequently). I then add the butter to chocolate and stir. Add egg, vanilla and sugar. Lastly add flour. It should not be a thick batter. Once the waffle iron is hot, I use a heaped up spoonful and push the batter onto the waffle iron with my finger (you could also pour from a measuring cup). I can get about 4 waffle cookies per batch (about 2 in. in width) but will differ depending on your waffle iron. It only takes about a minute or when you see steam starting to come out. They should be hard enough to easily remove with a fork or knive. Dust with powdered sugar and heat while hot. I usually eat the first batch before the next one comes out! Yield--about 16 2 in. waffle cookies.