Brown Sugar Pecan Shortbread

Lately I've been traveling a lot with cookies as well as mailing them to people, so that's got me thinking about hardy baked goods. These little guys seem to hold together well, and are a nice ice box cookie that can be made ahead of time and stay good for a while.

I have to admit that I have a hard time making ice box cookies look pretty (except these semolina dried fruit cookies, because the fruits are so colorful), so that's why I dipped these in chocolate - in spite of the extra work it takes to chocolate coat. I also needed something to affix the sea salt, and all together it was Tasty. The flavor reminds me of my mom's pecan balls, which are buttery and pecan-y.

Hm, these would be great served with ice cream or coffee...

Brown Sugar Pecan Shortbread

2 C flour

1/4 tsp salt

1 C unsalted butter, at room temperature

2/3 C light brown sugar

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

1 C pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped

In a small bowl, whisk together the flour and salt.

In a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment (or in a bowl by hand), beat together the butter and brown sugar on medium speed just until completely smooth and no streaks of butter remain. Mix in the vanilla. Add the flour mixture and beat until completely incorporated. Stir in the pecans.

Turn out the dough onto a sheet of plastic wrap and form it into a 4 1/2 by 6-inch (11 by 15 cm) rectangle about 1 inch thick. Wrap the dough tightly and refrigerate until chilled and firm, at least 1 hour and up to 4 days.

Position racks in the upper and lower thirds of the oven; preheat the oven to 350 F. Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.

Cut the rectangle of dough lengthwise into 2 equal pieces. Cut each half crosswise into rectangles 1/4 inch wide. Place the cookies 1 inch apart on the prepared baking sheets. Top with a few bits of sea salt if desired.

Bake, rotating the baking sheets midway trough baking, until the cookies are deep golden brown, about 15 minutes.

Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets until firm enough to handle, then use a spatula to transfer them to a wire rack.

Optional: Melt some chocolate and dip each cookie in it.

Classic Pecan Pie

Post-Thanksgiving dinner, you may not even want to look at another pie, but my family celebration today reminded me of how excellent my mother's pecan pie recipe is. She originally got it from a 1974 Dear Abby column in the LA Times, and it has remained a family favorite ever since.

The filling has great flavor, but is simple to prepare. I've never been particularly good at pie crusts (since I've always been more motivated to perfect my cake methods), so I'm not going to pretend to instruct you on how to make one. Use any pie crust recipe you normally use, or just use a pre-made frozen shell - people will rave about the filling regardless.

There's still plenty of the holiday season for you to make this at least once! Enjoy, and Happy Thanksgiving!

Classic Pecan Pie

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees.

Prepare a 9" pie crust, either from scratch or frozen pre-made crust.

In a bowl, combine:

1 C white corn syrup
1 C dark brown sugar
1/3 t salt
1/3 C melted salted butter
1 t vanilla

Add:
3 eggs, slightly beaten

In the prepared pie shell, spread:
1 heaping cup shelled pecans

Pour the sugar, etc. mixture over the pecans in the pie shell. Bake for about 45 minutes until the filling is set (this will be after it has puffed up and then settled down again).

Pecan Pie Macarons

Hello, friends, I am back from a ridiculously long blogging hiatus! I have thought about blogging many times in the last month, but a busy schedule sucked my inspiration dry; even though I have baked a few times, and certainly gone out to eat, the creative energy to blog has been absent.

Meanwhile, I have figured out a few things about Parisian macarons...including the fact that people do like chewy macarons, despite my railings against such macaron texture. I have a theory that the chewiness results from overbaking the cookies, giving them a toughness that softens into chewiness when combined with the filling in the middle. A theory not entirely tested, but I did make some brandied macadamia nut coconut caramel macarons (gotta work on streamlining that name...) which I baked in a new oven, consequently producing less-baked, softer cookies.

These pecan pie macarons, based on Tartelette's macarons of the same name, were chewy, and yet, very popular. I have not had luck with Tartelette's macaron recipes in the past, so I used my tried-and-true NPR recipe and replaced the cocoa powder with the same volume (1/4 C) of ground pecans. I then used Tartelette's caramel sauce recipe and pecan brittle recipes, et voilà! Pecan pie macarons.

Tartelette often encases little bits of treats in the middle of the filling to enhance the flavor - in this case, the pecan brittle. I wasn't sure how I felt about that idea, feeling strongly as I do about the smooth delicateness that I think should be the essence of the macaron middle. In the end, however, it had a nice effect. I would say these are macarons of a different genre, a riff on the Parisian classic, but still lovely.

To be honest, the most difficult part of this macaron construction for me was the caramel sauce - probably the most often thrown-away item in my cooking history. I really want to be able to make this kind of caramel, with just sugar, cream, and butter and without using a candy thermometer, but the results have been erratic. Perhaps it is time to give in and find a recipe that takes corn syrup to interfere with the formation of sugar crystals, and has more specific instructions than "cook until caramel-colored." I may stubbornly continue to make this sometimes-successful sauce, but eventually I have a feeling that I'll give in to the more predictable versions.



As an alternative, however, how about some caramelized white chocolate ganache-filled macarons? Stay tuned...

Monsieur Gorgonzola Salad

The other weekend at Julienne my lactose-intolerant self decided that she has a thing for Gorgonzola Cheese.  Despite my general hesitancies with blue-veined fromage, Monsieur Gorgonzola has proven attractive in diverse situations - primarily pear salad and open-face omelette, melted and crumbled - and his allure was too much to resist. I knew he was not good for me, but what could I do? I took the good with the bad (and the lactose pill with the cheese) and pursued the passion in my heart.

This affair resulted in a spur-of-the-moment trip to the store, where there was only a tub of crumbled, generic-brand Mr. G - but better than nothing. It turned out to be a bit dry, but the flavor was what I was looking for.  I was too tired to assemble an inspiring salad that night, but the chunks of Gorgonzola fit perfectly inside capped strawberries.  Definitely an appetizer waiting to happen!

A few nights later, however, the inspiration came, and the salad pictured above came to life: red leaf lettuce, mango, strawberries, blueberries, pecan bits, balsamic vinaigrette, and Mr. G.  This Monsieur Gorgonzola Salad is the less-sweet and more fresh counterpart to the Mistress Salad I had in Israel (not necessarily a statement about male v. female food characteristics); rather than caramelized dressing and pears, the dressing was tart and the fruits straight-up .  I ate it alone in my kitchen and actually made exclamations out loud while I ate it - "That is so good!", "oh my goodness!", "mmmmmm."  Profound observations, yes?

Monsieur Gorgonzola Salad

1 head red leaf lettuce

1 whole mango

4 large strawberries

1 small handful fresh blueberries

(substitute/add any fresh fruits in season or your faves)

light dusting of crumbled Gorgonzola cheese

light dusting of roasted unsalted pecan bits (TJ's has a great package of these)

Trader Joe's Fat-free Balsamic Vinaigrette

For one large salad as a one-person entrée, wash and tear up a plateful of lettuce (approximately 1/3 of the head).  Peel and slice the mango, wash and slice the strawberries, and arrange these with all the rest of the ingredients artfully on the lettuce.  Lightly dress the salad, and enjoy!

Cranberry Pecan Broccoli Slaw

My time in Israel reminded me that salads can be a real treat to eat; at sit-down meals the first course was often 5-7 small bowls of a variety of salads, from mayonnaise-based salads to barely-dressed mixtures of fresh vegetables. There were grains, diced fruits, dried fruits, pastas, meats, shredded vegetables, or cubed vegetables tossed with fresh herbs, spices, vinegar, yogurt, or mayonnaise in any combination you could invent. I am constantly on a quest to discover foods that are interesting and tasty at the same time as healthy, so this experience was an inspiration towards experimenting with new salad combinations.

This also brought to mind one of the few recipes for which I can truthfully claim authorship - a broccoli slaw flavored with dried cranberries and pecan bits. I enjoy the bite of the vinegar and pepper with the sweetness of the fruit and vanilla yogurt (yogurt also being an important Middle Eastern ingredient), held together by the crunchy broccoli slaw that lends such great health benefits. I hope you find this easy salad to be a treat!

Cranberry Pecan Broccoli Slaw
1 package broccoli slaw (I like Trader Joe's Organic Broccoli Slaw)
low-fat, low-sugar vanilla yogurt (like Dannon's Light-n-Fit)
white vinegar (also substitute fruit-flavored vinegars)
2 T sugar or 2 packets Splenda
dried sweetened cranberries
pecan bits
dash of cayenne pepper (optional)

Dump the broccoli slaw into a bowl with stirring room and add yogurt until it looks well coated and creamy. Add vinegar to taste. Sprinkle sugar/Splenda over the salad and mix in; add more if it tastes too tart for you. Mix in cranberries and pecan bits in desired amount, and top with cayenne pepper.

For a less sweet and more natural version, replace the low-sugar yogurt with plain yogurt and eliminate the sugar/Splenda. If you're interested in adding more fresh vegetables, baby spinach and white or red shredded cabbage go well with this. It might also be interesting to add some smoky flavor with bits of turkey bacon...or perhaps fresh mint leaves...and some different nuts...hm, I'll have to make it again soon!