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Engaging stories of love, joy, comfort and friendship with proven scrumptious, healthy recipes, we celebrate LOVE as the secret ingredient for wonderful food!

The all time family favorite

December 24, 2011 by Mary Frances Leave a Comment

We LOVE this cookie!!! It is work, but it is worth it! For melt in your mouth pecan heaven, this is the cookie for you. There is not much sugar in the dough, hence the double rolling in powdered sugar. Many cultures have variations of this cookie and they may change the nut to almonds or walnuts, but we love pecans. And the finger shape is a bit more elegant than a fat ball as some folks do.

Unbaked pecan crisps on baking sheet.

My mom always made a double batch and it was never enough for all 8 of us. I make a double batch for just the 4 of us, so you can imagine. Mom would enlist my brother Mark and me to help her with the rolling in powdered sugar. Our trick was to purposely break them while rolling – so they were no good and we just had to eat them. That was believable to her, especially in the first rolling while they’re still warm. But she caught on and would just giggle under her breath, unless we started “breaking” too many!

This is the single recipe. I hope it will become your family favorite too!

Baked pecan crisps on cooking sheet.

Baked cookies cooling for 5 minutes

PECAN CRISPS
¾ cup unsalted butter
¼ cup sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
1 cup of pecan halves, ground in a food processor
2 cups flour
¼ tsp. salt

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream butter very well. Add sugar gradually and beat well. Add vanilla. Sift the flour and salt together and then stir in the ground pecans and add this mixture gradually to the butter and sugar mixture. Mix thoroughly. The dough may be crumbly but gather it together with your hands and the warmth from your palms and all the butter in the dough will enable it to hold together.

Pecan crisps.

Finished pecan crisps

Gently squeeze it. Shape dough into finger lengths. Place on greased or Siltpat lined baking sheets about 1” apart. Bake for 10 – 15 minutes until lightly browned. Remove from oven and let cool for 5 minutes. Then while still warm, roll in sifted powdered sugar. Cool cookies on rack and then roll again in the sugar until they have taken all that they can hold.

Filed Under: Desserts Tagged With: Christmas cookies, confectioners sugar, holiday cookies, holiday entertaining, pecan crisps, powdered sugar, vanilla

Date bars!

December 18, 2011 by Mary Frances 6 Comments

If you like dates, you will love this little bar cookie. It’s easy to make and nice to have in your repertoire. Cut your bars skinny. My mother used to say, “Make your cookies on the small side, because your guests and family will want to sample all of them and you just shouldn’t eat so much!”

Date bars on a holiday plate.

DATE BARS
Makes 24 bars

2 large eggs
1 cup of powdered sugar
1 tbs. melted unsalted butter
1/4 cup cake flour
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 tsp. baking powder
1 cup chopped dates
3/4 cup chopped walnuts
1 tsp vanilla
More sifted powdered sugar to roll the bars in

Preheat oven to 325 degrees. Grease an 8” or 9” square pan. I use a 9” glass Pyrex pan.

Beat 2 eggs a long time until very light and fluffy. Add the powdered sugar and melted butter.

Sift together the cake flour, salt and baking powder and add gradually to egg mixture on a low speed. Then add the vanilla, dates and nuts. Stir well. Pour evenly into your prepared pan and bake for approximately 25 minutes, until nicely browned and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.

Let cool completely. Cut into 24 bars and roll each one in powdered sugar. Store in wax paper lined tin. Make sure the tin closes tight!

Filed Under: Desserts Tagged With: bar cookies, Christmas cookies, confectioners sugar, date bars, dates, dessert, holiday cookies, powdered sugar, walnuts

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Mary Frances

Mary Frances

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