These are not Christmas Cookies. OK, they aren’t Christmas Cookies this year as they were just an experiment to see how they worked out. Every year I do try to add a new cookie type to the Christmas Cookie Madness, but I try them out first before hand. These turned out lovely and I think they work well as a harvest / Thanksgiving-type cookie as well. Lots of orange and cranberry flavor.
Sweet Snacks
Thought I would make another Thanksgiving-appropriate, yet “Handheld” and easy to share trat, in case anyone is looking for ideas for the big Turkey Day coming up in a few weeks. These Maple Pecan Shortbread bars are very much like Pecan Pie (with a whole lot of maple!) yet double as “blondies” in essence. They hold up nicely in the fridge for at least 4-5 days (if they last that long) and can be eaten “on the go” … or stick one in the microwave for 20-30 seconds, top with ice cream, and your back to eating pie. No matter what the question, pie is always the answer.
Sunday Morning Breakfast: Seriously the easiest muffins ever. Bananas, pecans, a bit of oatmeal crumble. On the breakfast table, all warm and delightful, in under an hour (under 45 minutes if you hurry a bit).
So, in reference to the photo that looks like claws are coming to steal the muffins: my parents have this decorative metal lobster hanging on the porch railing, with the claws just above railing level. I thought that it was funny in a halloween like way, to have the clws coming up from the deal to steal my Banana Pecan Crunch Muffins. Nom. Happy Halloween. 🙂
Look! Another apple pie! Are you surprised? There must be about 20 on this here site. I love apple pie.
And I love this whole “hassleback” cut. I usually do it of course with potatoes (like here), but it also works with apples and even cucumbers! I thought it was a lovely presentation with the pie, and the apples peeking out. Also, it’s fall so there are some pretty leaves. Lovely.
This is a bit of a twist on a Pecan Pie. It has the same sort of filling (melted butter, eggs, corn syrup, brown sugar), but instead of using pecans, I used toasted hazelnuts and I added a twist: I steeped some fresh rosemary (from my ever dwindling herbs in my porch garden — the next frost and they will all be gone) in the melted butter for 20 minutes, to give it an interesting, and in my opinion, lovely harvest flavor. I suppose that you could use other nuts as well — cashews maybe? — if you weren’t up for using hazelnuts but still wanted something different than your standard pecan pie. Serve at room temp, maybe with a bit of whipped cream to cut the richness.















