Pecan Recipes | August, 2005

Mom’s Apple Pecan Cake

¾ cups cooking oil
2 eggs
1½ cups cake flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 dash sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups unpeeled chopped apple
1 cup Pecan Valley Pecan Pieces
4 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ pounds powdered sugar1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. In a large mixing bowl mix sugar and oil. Add eggs and then, beat until fluffy.
3. Sift flour, baking soda and salt together; and add to sugar, oil and egg mixture. Blend in vanilla.
4. Fold in pecans and chopped apples. Pour into a well greased and floured loaf pan.
5. Bake in a preheated oven for 40 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
6. Icing: In a large mixing bowl soften butter and blend with powdered sugar. Add vanilla. Use cream to blend to a spread able consistency. Spread on cake.

Note: For holiday gift giving, bake in four miniature loaf pans, wrap in plastic wrap and tie with a bow.

This is nice with a cup of hot tea.

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Mom’s Chewy Pecan Squares

1 egg
¼ teaspoon baking soda
1 cup brown sugar; firmly packed
¼ teaspoon sea salt
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup Pecan Valley Pecan Pieces
½ cup all-purpose flour

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. In a large mixing bowl, combine egg with sugar and vanilla. Quickly stir in the flour, soda and salt. Blend in pecans. Spread in greased 8-inch square pan.
3. Bake in a preheated oven for 18 to 20 minutes. Do not overcook. They should be soft in the center when removed from the oven. Cool in pan. Cut into 16 2-inch squares

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New Orleans Pecan Pie

1 9-inch pie shell; unbaked
½ stick unsalted butter
3 eggs
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup Karo Light Corn Syrup
3 tablespoons corn meal
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 pinch sea salt
1 cup Pecan Valley Pecan Pieces

1. Preheat oven to 300ºF.
2. In a large mixing bowl combine eggs, sugar, corn syrup, corn meal, vanilla, salt and pecans and mix well. Pour into pie shell.
3. Bake in a preheated oven for 1 hour at 300 degrees. Allow to cool and serve.

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Orange-Pecan Madelines

½ cup granulated sugar
2 egg yolks
½ cup unsalted butter; melted and cooled
1 teaspoon orange peel; finely shredded
1 tablespoon orange juice
½ teaspoon vanilla
½ cup all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
¼ teaspoon ground cardamom
⅛ teaspoon baking soda
⅛ teaspoon sea salt
¼ cup Pecan Valley Pecan Pieces; finely chopped
2 egg whites; slightly beaten
Powdered sugar

1. Preheat oven to 375ºF.
2. Grease and flour twenty-four 3-inch Madeline mold. Set molds aside. (look at a kitchen specialty store for a Madeline pan with 8 or 12 shapes).
3. Beat sugar and egg yolks in a medium mixing bowl with electric mixer on medium to high speed about 30 seconds or until thoroughly mixed.
4. Add melted butter, orange peel, orange juice and vanilla. Beat on low speed until combined.
5. Sift together flour, baking powder, cardamom, baking soda and salt. Sift or sprinkle about one-fourth of the flour mixture over the egg-yolk mixture. Gently fold in the flour mixture.
6. Repeat, sifting and folding in one-fourth of the flour mixture at a time.
7. Fold in nuts.
8. Gently stir in egg whites.
9. Spoon batter into prepared molds, filling each mold about half full.
10. Bake in a preheated oven for 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are golden and tops spring back when lightly touched.
11. Cool cakes in molds for 1 minute.
12. Using the point of a knife, loosen cakes from mold; invert cakes onto a wire rack.
13. Remove molds and cook cake completely on the rack.
14. Tightly cover and store at room temperature up to 3 days.
15. Just before serving, sift powdered sugar over tops.

Makes 24

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Pear Pecan Coffee Cake

¼ cup unsalted butter
½ cup granulated sugar
1 egg
1 cup cake flour
½ teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
¼ teaspoon sea salt
½ cup sour cream
1½ cups pears; peeled; cored; diced
1 teaspoon vanilla
½ cup brown sugar; firmly packed
¾ teaspoons cinnamon
2 tablespoons unsalted butter; softened
½ cup Pecan Valley Pecan Pieces1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. In a large mixing bowl cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
3. Beat in eggs, beating thoroughly.
4. Peel and chop pears and stir into mixture.
5. In another bowl combine vanilla, brown sugar, cinnamon, butter and pecans and stir into creamed mixture until smooth. Pour into greased and floured 9-inch square pan.
6. Bake in a preheated oven for 40 to 50 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.

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Pecan Chews

3 cups Kellogg’s Special K Cereal
2 cups all-purpose flour; sifted
1 teaspoon baking powder
½ teaspoon baking soda
½ teaspoon sea salt
¾ cups unsalted butter; softened
2 cups brown sugar; firmly packed
2 eggs
1 cup Pecan Valley Pecan Pieces

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Measure Special K Cereal; crush to 1½ cups. Set aside.
3. Sift together flour, baking powder, soda and salt. Set aside.
4. Place margarine and sugar in large mixer bowl; beat until light and fluffy. Add eggs; beat well. Add sifted dry ingredients; mix until thoroughly combined.
5. Stir in Special K and pecans.
6. Drop by level measuring-tablespoons onto lightly greased baking sheets.
7. Bake in a preheated oven for about 15 minutes or until lightly browned.
8. Remove immediately from baking sheets; cool on wire racks.

Yield: about 5 dozen pecan chews, 2½-inch in diameter

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Pecan Crunch Apple Pie

1 9-inch pie shell; unbaked
2 cups chopped cooking apples
½ cup brown sugar; firmly packed
½ cup granulated sugar
½ cup all-purpose flour
1 egg yolk; beaten
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
½ teaspoon freshly squeezed lemon juice
½ cup Pecan Valley Pecan Pieces
1 egg white; beaten until foamy

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. Put chopped apples in a large bowl. Add sugar, flour, egg yolk, vanilla, lemon juice and pecans; mix well. Add egg white. Stir well and pour mixture into unbaked pie shell.
3. Bake in a preheated oven for 30 to 45 minutes or until apples are tender and brown.

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Pecan Fudge Cookie

4 ounces unsalted butter
6 ounces all-purpose flour
1 ounce Birds Custard Powder*
3 ounces caster sugar*
2 ounces Pecan Valley Pecan Pieces
Fudge Topping

1. Preheat oven to 325ºF.
2. Rub the butter into the flour and custard powder until the mixture resembles breadcrumbs.
3. Stir in the caster sugar and chopped pecans. Press the mixture into the shallow, greased, 11-inch by 7-inch baking tin.
4. Bake in a preheated oven for 30 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin.
5. Cut into fingers while still slightly warm and leave until set.

Fudge Topping
2 ounces unsalted butter
3 ounces brown sugar
2 tablespoons cream

1. Place the butter, soft brown sugar and cream in a saucepan. Boil for 3 minutes then beat until the mixture is the consistency of fudge.
2. Pour quickly over the cooling cookies and allow to cool completely.

Notes: Birds Custard Powder is available from The English Tea Store.

Castor or caster sugar is the name of a very fine sugar in Britain, so named because the grains are small enough to fit though a sugar “caster” or sprinkler. It is sold as “superfine” sugar in the United States. Because of its fineness, it dissolves more quickly than regular white sugar, and so is especially useful in meringues and cold liquids. It is not as fine as confectioner’s sugar, which has been crushed mechanically (and generally mixed with a little starch to keep it from clumping). If you don’t have any castor sugar on hand, you can make your own by grinding granulated sugar for a couple of minutes in a food processor.

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Pecan Layer Cake

½ pounds unsalted butter
2 cups granulated sugar
5 eggs; separated
3 cups cake flour
2 tablespoons cocoa
1 cup buttermilk
½ teaspoon baking soda; stir in buttermilk
2 cups Pecan Valley Pecan Pieces
½ teaspoon vanilla or pecan flavoring
Pecan Filling

1. Preheat oven to 350ºF.
2. In a large mixing bowl cream butter with sugar. Add egg yolks and then beat.
3. In another bowl sift cocoa with cake flour and add alternately to butter mixture with buttermilk (mixed with soda).
4. Add nuts and flavoring; mix thoroughly.
5. In another bowl beat egg whites until they hold peaks and fold in last.
6. Pour in 3 greased and floured cake pans.
7. Bake in a preheated oven for about 25 minutes or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean.
8. Let stand in pans on wire racks 10 minutes. Turn cakes out onto racks to cool.
9. When cold, frost with a butter cream frosting. Decorate with pecans.
Pecan Filling
2 sticks unsalted butter
1 pounds powdered sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla flavoring
Canned milk; if needed
1 tablespoon Pecan Valley Pecan Pieces1. in a large mixing bowl soften 2 sticks butter and beat in powdered sugar, vanilla flavoring and (if needed) enough canned milk to make it of spreading consistency. Mix well.
2. Spread between layers, on top and sides of cake. Sprinkle a tablespoon of chopped pecans on top.

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Pecan Raspberry Brownies

3 squares chocolate unsweetened
½ cup Crisco
3 eggs
1½ cups granulated sugar
1½ teaspoons vanilla
½ teaspoon sea salt
1 cup all-purpose flour
1½ cups Pecan Valley Pecan Pieces
⅓ cup raspberry jam

1. Preheat oven to 325ºF.
2. In a 3-quare saucepan melt chocolate and Crisco over warm water; cool slightly.
3. In a large mixing bowl blend together eggs, vanilla, sugar and salt; stir in chocolate mixture, then flour.
4. Fold in pecans.
5. Turn into well greased 8-inch square pan.
6. Bake in a preheated oven for about 40 minutes.
7. Spoon jam over hot brownies; spread carefully. Let cool.

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