Candied Pecans

If you've ever had the Sahalie Snacks at Costco, the candied pecans are da bomb. I tried replicating them the other day for a salad and it worked fine.

Heat a little butter and olive oil (I typically shoot for about a tablespoon of each); toss in maybe a cup of halved or chopped pecans. Once the nuts have heated through (a couple of minutes), add a few tablespoons of brown sugar until it goes syrupy (bubbles a bit), a pinch or two of sea salt, cracked black pepper (to taste), and last, as it comes off the heat, some orange or lemon zest. Once it cools down to room temperature, it should harden up. Makes a great snack or mix in for a salad.

Pumpkin Muffins

My friend made these for me after I had James. They are the *best ever* starving nursing mother midnight snack. I was craving them the other day and thought I'd post them here for all to enjoy.

Leanne's Pumpkin Muffins

4 Eggs
1 Cup Sugar
1 1/2 cups Oil
14 Oz Can pumpkin Puree (I used a 15 ouncer...no big deal though)
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat flour
1/4 cup wheat germ (I used 7 grain cereal)
1/4 cup oat bran (I used wheat bran)
1 tbsp cinnamon
2 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 raisins (craisins are good too)
1/2 cup chopped pecans or walnuts
1/2 cup rolled oats for topping (I didn't make the topping)

-Preheat oven to 350 degrees
-In a small bowl, beat eggs, sugar, oil, and pumpkin until well mixed
-In a large bowl combine remaining ingredients, except rolled oats for topping
-Make a well in the middle of dry ingredients
-Pour liquid mixture into dry ingredients, stir to moisten
-Fill 24 greased or paper-lined muffin cups to the top. Sprinkle with rolled oats
-Bake for 20 minutes or until toothpick comes out clean

Yield: 24 large muffins

Variations:

-1/2 cup rolled oats may be substituted for the 1/4 cup wheat germ and the 1/4 cup oat bran
-1/2 cup applesauce may be substituted for 1/2 cup of the oil
-1 cup of all-purpose flour may be substituted for 1 cup of whole-wheat flour

Mom's Enchiladas

Pete asked me for this, so I thought I'd post in case anyone else is in need:

2 c + liquid (I prefer the sauce on the thinner side), broth or water
4 T flour or cornmeal (or combination)
3/4 t salt
3 T chili powder
1 t new mexico chili powder (or 1/4 t cayenne)
1 t cumin

Mix dry ingredients. Make a paste with about 1/4 c of the liquid. Add remaining liquid and whisk, stirring frequently, until thickened. Season meat of your choice well with salt, pepper, and desired seasonings and saute. Fill tortillas w/ meat, sauce, and cheese. Top with sauce and sprinkled cheese. Bake at 350 for 10 minutes, or until warmed through and cheese is melted.

A few notes: because chili powders vary so widely, I always have to taste and adjust the seasonings. For the chili powder I currently have, 1/2 t salt is better. I've also started doubling the recipe, stopped dipping the tortillas before I fill them, and just ladling the sauce inside and over the casserole before baking. Call me lazy, but it cuts down on time and mess *hugely*. I'm much more prone to make them now. 1 and 1/2 recipes would be perfect, really (1 is too little, 2 is too much). Enjoy!

Flourless Chocolate Cake

We made this the other day for a friend who has a gluten allergy expecting it to be just OK, but we all thought it was fabulous and went back for seconds. It got together very easily as well. I used half bittersweet chocolate chips and half semisweet chocolate chips because that is what I had and it was great. Enjoy!

INGREDIENTS

Serves 8.

6 tablespoons unsalted butter (I always use salted and can't tell the difference), plus more for pan
1 1/2 cups semisweet chocolate chips (or 8 ounces chopped bittersweet chocolate)
6 large egg yolks
6 large egg whites
1/2 cup granulated sugar
Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

DIRECTIONS

Preheat oven to 275 degrees; with rack in center. Butter a 9-inch springform pan. Place butter and chocolate in a large bowl. Microwave in 30-second increments, stirring each time, until melted; cool slightly. Whisk in yolks.
In another bowl, beat egg whites to soft peaks. Gradually add sugar; beat until stiff and glossy. Whisk 1/4 of whites into chocolate mixture; gently fold mixture into remaining whites.
Pour into prepared pan; smooth top. Bake until cake pulls away from sides of pan and is just set in center, 45 to 50 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack. Serve dusted with confectioners' sugar.

St. Nicholas Cookies

Happy St. Nicholas Day! Here's Janet's recipe for St. Nicholas cookies, which is different from the one in the red family cookbooks (i.e. no lard!). Enjoy --

Cream together:
1 lb butter
1 1/2 c sugar
1 1/2 c brown sugar
Add:
3 beaten eggs

Mix dry ingredients and add gradually to the above:
2 t ginger
2 t cinnamon
1 t allspice
1/2 t cloves
1 t salt
1 t baking soda
6 c flour

Form into 2 long logs (approximately the length of your cookie sheet), wrap in plastic wrap, and refrigerate til stiff. Slice into 1/4 inch slices, place whole almond or almond slice in the middle of each cookie, and bake at 350 for 11 minutes.

Corrine Tilton's French Apple Pie

We found ourselves stuck home today with a sick James, forced into our first official Jeremy Tilton family Thanksgiving. Our consolation is Jeremy's mom's apple pie. Everything will be ok as long as we have the apple pie. Since I've written the recipe down at least a half dozen times and still couldn't find it this morning, I thought I'd post it here for the next time we're in need of some perfect pie.

Corrine's French Apple Pie

1 unbaked pie shell

1. For deep 9 in pie dish: 5 large or 6 med/small Granny Smith apples, cored, peeled, and soaked in large bowl of cold water + 1 T salt. For glass pie dish, 5 small Grannies

2. Crumb topping: cut in 1/3 c butter to 2/3 c flour and ½ c sugar to fine crumbs

3. Squeeze excess water out of apples (or drain in strainer), then cut in halves. Combine with ½ c sugar + 1 t cinnamon and immediately stack densely, piece by piece, in pie shell. Do not add excess juices to pie.

4. Cover liberally with crumb topping. For heavy ceramic pie dish, bake at 350 for 20 min, then 325 for 30 + min, or until apples are tender when pricked, filling is bubbling, and crumb topping is lightly browned. For glass pie dish, bake at 400 for 40 min, rotating pie 1/2 way through.

Martha Stewart's Snickerdoodles

This is our afternoon project today: cream-of-tartar-less snickerdoodles. Katie says they're fabuloso, and since I wanted to type up the recipe to have on my computer anyway, I figured I might as well post it:

Snickerdoodles

2 3/4 c flour
2 t baking powder
1/2 t coarse salt
1 c butter, room temperature
1 1/2 c sugar
2 lg eggs

2 T sugar + 2 t cinnamon

Preheat oven to 350. Cream butter and sugar, approx 3 min. Add eggs. Gradually add dry ingredients. Divide dough into 20 1 and 3/4 inch balls (measure them--they're big!). Roll in cinnamon sugar mixture and place 3 inches apart on parchment lined baking sheet. Bake 12-15 minutes, and allow to cool on baking sheet on wire racks.

Enjoy!

(Katie, can you check this over to make sure I got everything? Thanks!)