Pecan Pie Bars

adapted from Sugar Apron

INGREDIENTS

Package of pre made pie crust
4 Tbsp butter, melted
1 1/4 cup pecans
1 cup corn syrup
1 cup sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs, beaten

DIRECTIONS
Preheat the oven to 350ºF and line a half sheet pan with aluminum foil, leaving enough for a 2-inch overhang on all sides.
Unroll dough, and cut to fit into sheet pan; press over bottom and up sides to form crust.
Whisk together sugar, vanilla and eggs until the sugar is mostly dissolved. Slowly add in the melted butter while whisking vigorously to prevent cooking the eggs. Mix until sugar is completely dissolved, then add corn syrup and whisk until homogenous.

Add pecans.*
Spread filling evenly over crust.
Bake 22 to 27 minutes or until filling is set and golden brown.
Cool for about an hour; cut into bars.

*I left my pecans as halves, because I prefer big chunks of nut, and they cooked well. You can definitely chop them up if that's your jam. It's really a play it by ear kind of thing.

I had a craving for turkey dinner, and so I convinced my family to make a full thanksgiving dinner "in honor of the pioneers that came and stole our homeland." In Utah, on July 24th, we celebrate Brigham Young coming to the Salt Lake Valley, and deciding that Utah was Zion. Of course, my people were already here, which is something I like to remind all of my friends when they get all pioneer on me. So we had thanksgiving in July, and so to shake things up, I decided to make some Pecan Pie Bars. Pecan Pie is one of my favorite pies in the world! so to have it so portable, and easy to make was definitely a plus! This is a recipe that I'll be making for years to come!

Cowgirl Cookies

adapted from Bakerella

INGREDIENTS
1 1/3 cup all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup cooking oats
3/4 cup m&ms
3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup flaked coconut
1/2 cup brown sugar, packed
1/2 cup white sugar
1 large egg
1/2 cup melted butter, cooled
1 teaspoon vanilla

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350ºF.

Stir the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, oats, m&ms, chocolate chips, pecans, coconut, brown and white sugar in a large mixing bowl. Blend well to break up any chunks of brown sugar. Create a well in the middle of the dry ingredients.

In a small bowl, beat the egg, butter and vanilla together.

Add wet ingredients to the dry ingredients, and mix together.

Scoop out 1 1/2 inch balls of dough, and place on prepared cookie sheet.

Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until golden brown. Allow to cool on cookie sheet before transferring to wire cooling rack.

Serve to that special cowboy or cowgirl in your life.

I first found this recipe during Erica Ellen's Cookie Extravaganza in Honor of Black History Month… and then I forgot about them. The other night my niece found out that I have a crap ton of cookbooks. Cookbooks are her new favorite books. So we were looking through my homemade one, and found this recipe and declared, "We HAVE to make these right now." I shot her down because it was 10:00 pm, and I am a grown up with a job. When I came home early from work the next day, we made them. I want to rename them because I added coconut, and have decided that they are even better, so I wanna rename them "Reverse Cowgirl Cookies" but I don't want you all to think I am super disgusting. Just know that they are that good, and easy soooo you need to make them yourself.

Pecan Pie

adapted from Completely Delicious

INGREDIENTS
1 prepared pie crust in 9-inch pie dish
3 large eggs
1 cup light corn syrup
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup unsalted butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cup chopped pecans

Dash of cinnamon

DIRECTIONS
Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line a sheet pan with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk together the eggs, corn syrup, brown sugar, melted butter, and vanilla extract. Then stir in the pecans.
Gently pour the mixture into the prepared pie shell. Bake until the edges are completely set and a knife inserted into the center comes out clean, about 45-55 minutes. 

Let cool before serving, serve slightly warm or at room temperature.

Rolo Chocolate Chip Cookies

INGREDIENTS
2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, softened

1 cup light brown sugar

1/2 cup sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract

3/4 cup chopped pecans

1 1/4 cups mini-chocolate chips

Bag of Rolo Candy, unwrapped

DIRECTIONS

Preheat the oven to 375° F.

In a bowl, whisk the flour, baking soda and salt.

Cream the butter and the sugars until light and fluffy.

Beat in eggs, one at a time until fully incorporated. Add vanilla.

Slowly add in dry ingredients, then mix in pecans and mini-chocolate chips.

Take one tablespoon of cookie dough, and wrap around one Rolo candy.

Make sure that the entire Rolo is covered with dough.

Place on cookie sheet, and bake for 10-12 minutes, or until golden brown.

Remove from cookie sheet, and place on cooling rack.

Serve warm, so that the caramel will still be hot and gooey.

Coffee Cake Muffins

adapted from Alexandra's Kitchen

INGREDIENTS

1/2 cup pecans

1/4 cup packed dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 cups unbleached all-purpose flour

1 cup granulated sugar

1 teaspoon salt

1 stick unsalted butter, cut into 1/2-inch pieces and softened (+ 1 tbsp)

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

3/4 cup sour cream

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

DIRECTIONS

Adjust oven rack to middle position and heat oven to 350 degrees. Grease 12-cup muffin tin and set aside.

Process nuts, brown sugar, and cinnamon in food processor until nuts are size of sesame seeds, about ten 1-second pulses. Transfer mixture to a medium bowl.

Return bowl and metal blade to food processor, add flour, granulated sugar, and salt and process until combined. Sprinkle the 1 stick of butter evenly over flour mixture and process until butter is oat-sized, about eight 1-second pulses.

Remove 1 cup of flour-butter mixture and stir with fork into reserved pecan/brown sugar mixture until combined to make streusel.

Set aside 3/4 cup of the streusel for muffin batter and save the remaining portion for topping muffins.

Note: At this point I added an additional tablespoon of butter to the streusel for topping the muffins.

Transfer remaining flour mixture, and 3/4 cup streusel to a large bowl. Mix until combined, then make a well.

In a separate bowl, whisk together sour cream, egg, and vanilla. Add to flour mixture, and gently stir until combined.

Divide batter among 12 muffin cups and sprinkle with streusel, pressing lightly so that streusel sinks slightly into batter.

Bake until toothpick inserted in center of muffin comes out with several crumbs clinging to it, about 22 minutes.

Cool muffin tin on wire rack for 2 minutes. Using tip of paring knife, loosen muffins and gently transfer from tin to wire rack; cool for 5 minutes and serve warm.

Salty Chocolate and Caramel Turtle Cookies

adapted from How Sweet It Is

INGREDIENTS
1 cup butter, at room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon course sea salt
1 cup chocolate chips
1/2 cup chopped pecans
8 caramels, chopped into fours

DIRECTIONS
Cream butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla until fluffy.

Add flour, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt and mix until combined.

Fold in pecans, caramel pieces and chocolate chips. Refrigerate dough for 4-6 hours (or more). When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350, roll into balls and set on baking sheet. (Note: refrigerating is the most important part. If you don’t refrigerate, when the cookies go into the oven, the caramel pieces will sink to the bottom and stick to the cookie sheet.)

Bake at 350 for 8-10 minutes. Let cool completely, and drizzle with caramel sauce if desired.