December 21, 2011: Chocolate Caramel Pecan Turtle Pie Recipe

This recipe – which would make a wonderful holiday dessert – is courtesy of my dear mother-in-law, Judy. It’s special enough for Christmas dinner and the combination of ingredients will please the chocolate lovers as well as the traditional dessert lovers in your family.

Chocolate Caramel Pecan Turtle Pie

Filling:

1 14-ounce bag vanilla caramels

½ c. butter

½ c. heavy whipping cream

2 cups pecan halves, roasted

Chocolate cookie pie crust or regular pie crust, blind baked

Topping:

1/3 c. semisweet chocolate chips

2 T. butter

2 T. light corn syrup

½ t. vanilla extract

Prepared whipped cream topping

To prepare filling: add caramels, butter and cream to a heavy, medium-sized saucepan. Cook over low heat, stirring often with a whisk, until caramels and butter melt. Remove from heat and whisk until completely smooth. Stir in pecans.

Pour mixture into prepared pie crust. Cover and chill three to four hours, until completely cooled and firm.

To prepare topping: stir chocolate chips and butter in a heavy, small saucepan over low heat until melted and smooth. Remove from heat and stir in cream, corn syrup and vanilla until thoroughly blended. Pour over chilled pie and chill an additional hour. Just before serving, decorate with dollops of whipped cream.

Serves 10

December 10, 2011: Toffee Bars Recipe

Here’s another old standby I make every year around the holidays. These bars are very popular and easy to make. Try making a pan of the chocolate and the butterscotch (my favorite) because they’ll go fast!

Toffee Bars

1 cup butter

1 cup brown sugar

1 egg yolk

1 t. vanilla

¼ t. salt

2 cups flour

1 package semi-sweet chocolate chips or butterscotch chips

½ cup finely chopped nuts (walnuts or pecans)

Cream butter, add sugar gradually. Blend in egg yolk, vanilla, salt and flour. Spread into greased 10 x 15 inch jelly roll pan (or 13 x 9 inch pan). Bake at 350 degrees about 20 minutes. While still hot, sprinkle chips over the top and spread in an even layer. Sprinkle with nuts. Cut into small squares. Makes about 6 dozen.

October 11, 2011: Streusel Pumpkin Pie Recipe

Are you starting to think about your Thanksgiving dinner menu yet? It might be early for some of you, but I start planning weeks in advance for my favorite holiday of the year! Of course it’s my favorite because I enjoy cooking and Thanksgiving is a great excuse to spend two solid days in the kitchen preparing yummy food my family loves eating.

Since I had lots of pumpkin after canning three large ones at the beginning of this year, I decided to try a new recipe with some of my pureed pumpkin stash. This one came out quite nice, but did take a long time to bake. Will this be the pumpkin pie that makes it onto my Thanksgiving table this year? Hmm…I’ve got a few more recipes to try out before making the final decision.

Streusel Pumpkin Pie - I used white sugar in the streusel topping because I ran out of brown; that's why the topping is very light colored here.

Streusel Pumpkin Pie

One pie crust (find my pie crust recipe here).

Filling:

¾ cup packed brown sugar

½ t. salt

1 t. cinnamon

1 t. ginger

¼ t. allspice

2 eggs

1 egg yolk

1 t. grated orange rind

2 cups pureed pumpkin (or one small can pumpkin)

1 can evaporated milk

Note: You can also use 2 t. pumpkin pie spice in place of the other spices listed.

Blind bake the pie crust in a 9” pie pan as directed in my pie crust recipe.

Combine all filling ingredients in a large mixing bowl. Whisk well. Pour into prepared pie shell. Bake at 425 degrees for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees and continue baking 30 minutes. Remove from oven and sprinkle with topping:

Topping:

4 ounces (1/2 stick) butter

½ cup flour

1/3 cup packed brown sugar

½ cup chopped pecans or walnuts

½ t. cinnamon

Combine all ingredients in a small mixing bowl. Mix with a fork until crumbly. After sprinkling topping on pie, return to oven and bake another 15 – 30 minutes or until a knife inserted in center of pie comes out clean. Note: The recipe called for only 15 final minutes of baking but it took a full 30 minutes for my pie to be fully cooked.

September 14, 2011: Pear and Greens Salad Recipe

Most recipes for a green salad with pears calls for Bleu or Roquefort cheese and that is a good foil to the sweetness of the fruit. However, I didn’t have that kind of cheese so I took a look through my fridge to find alternative ingredients. Here’s what I came up with.

Pear and Greens Salad

1 cup Romaine lettuce

1 cup green leaf lettuce

1/3 cup Garlic and Shallot Vinaigrette

1 ripe Bartlett pear, thinly sliced

¼ cup toasted pecan pieces

1 ounce shaved Parmesan cheese

Freshly grated black pepper

Toss lettuces with vinaigrette. Place half of it on a salad plate. Arrange half the pear slices over the top. Sprinkle with pecans and cheese; top with freshly grated black pepper to taste. Repeat with remaining ingredients.

To toast pecans: put in a dry skillet over medium low heat and cook for several minutes, until you can start to smell the fragrance of the nuts. Pressed for time? Microwave them on a small dish for about 2 minutes (check after 1 minute).

Serves two.

Tip: You can also use mixed baby greens or your choice of lettuce as the bed for the pears, nuts, and cheese.