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.
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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.
OK, these are awesomely delicious. And time consuming. I’m not sure I would have made them had I really realized that they are more or less a 5 step process (make dough, make rounds/dip, bake, caramel, chocolate decoration). Actually, who am I kidding … lots of my cookies take this long. They are worth it though.
Before someone asks me, what Hazelnut Croquant is, I’ll just tell you: In a nutshell (no pun intended) it’s like a nut brittle that is than smashed to pieces. Candied nuts, chopped fine. You can do it with any nut sort, but in Germany, they sell pre-packaged hazelnut croquant, so instead of making my own, I went with that. I know, cheater. If you don’t want to go through the effort of making croquant, finely chopped nuts will do. If you use peanuts, these will be little “turtles” (chocolate, peanuts, caramel).
I don’t typically make a lot of Halloween themed baked treats. I never get invited to Halloween Parties (do childless adults have those?) and you can’t really give away homemade stuff for trick-or-treaters. This year I did see these cute witches hats though, so I thought that I would make them just to giveaway. They are just sugar cookies with Hershey’s Kisses on top, then prettied up a bit. They are small, so just a bit of a witch, so to speak.
It’s apple picking season in New England. Definitely an autumn activity. I didn’t go this year, but I did find some amazing little heirloom apples at the Farmer’s Market last weekend. I love little apples. Not necessarily crab apple sized, but 2-3 inches. Perfect for snacking and baking. You don’t need heirloom apples for this recipe (plain old granny smith will do), so don’t think that you have to find a farmer’s market near you to make them — though in general, I think that you should always go to farmer’s markets if you can. These blondies are a little fragile, so be careful when cutting.