These Pecan Puffs are the perfect combination of crumbly and soft. They literally melt in your mouth!
Day 8 of my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies!
After 3 years of Christmas Cookies on AHC my “Family Recipe Well” was running dry, so I sent out a cry for help in true 2016 fashion.
No, it wasn’t a tweet, so I guess it was more circa 2010…don’t be so judgy.
No fewer than three people sent back this recipe for “Pecan Puffs”, which was clearly my grandmother’s cute name for Mexican Wedding Cookies or Russian Teacakes.
Yes, I’ve already technically posted a recipe but three family members can’t be wrong.
And I wasn’t disappointed. They were delightfully crumbly but not dry. The pecans and sugar were perfect!
These Pecan Puffs taste like sweet pecans and nostalgia.
These sensational Ginger Orange Almond Biscotti are a little bit spicy and bit sweet! They have notes of ginger, orange, cardamom and cinnamon all baked to crispy perfection. Perfect for dunking in coffee or just snacking!
Day 5 of the annual 12 Days of Christmas Cookies!
I try not to pick favorites. I want the cookies to know I love them equally.
But sometimes you just can’t help yourself and you find yourself gravitating to particular cookie.
This Ginger Orange Almond Biscotti was that cookie this year.
These are James Beard Award, Michelin Star kind of elite ranks.
These biscotti are sophisticated, sassy cookies.
The candied orange adds a bit a sweetness; the candied ginger adds a bit of bite and heat; the cinnamon and cardamom are spicy and warming; and the almonds add extra crunch to this magnificent cookie!
They were delicious dipped in coffee; they were as delicious on Day 1 as on Day 6; they were delicious in the morning before work; and they were delicious after dinner as the perfect sweet ending. Seriously “All the time” delicious.
These easy Butterscotch Chews combine the chew and brown sugar flavors of blondies with a little holiday ginger spice!
Day 2 of my 12 Days of Christmas Cookies!
Chewy, nutty, addicting.
It’s no secret that I have a blondie obsession. I think I made it pretty clear here and also to anyone who works with me that blondies are my weakness.
There is just something about that brown sugar buttery flavor that sucks me in and the next thing I know, I’ve gained 5 pounds from blondie scraps (true story).
So you take that brown sugary, chewy goodness mix in some toasted walnuts and ginger and you have yourself a cookie worth fighting over.
Because that texture…
I just cannot. It’s too much.
I saved a sample bag for a friend and took the rest to work, promptly got Butterscotch Chew withdrawals and ate every last one from the baggie. Every one.
Then I lied and said I forgot to save some.
These cookies made a liar out of me.
Just in case that wasn’t reason enough for you, they are refrigerator cookies, which are basically God’s gift to the Holiday cookie season.
So you make the easy dough, roll it up in parchment and refrigerate it until you are ready to slice and bake.
This shoofly pie has all the flavors of a molasses ginger cookie mixed with a buttery streusel in a flakey pastry crust. The rich, spicy, sweet filling just melts in your mouth bite after bite (slice after slice)
When Chef hints about his favorite kind of pie (hint, hint: it’s shoofly), you make a mental note to make it for him sometime.
When Chef buys a shoofly pie at the farmer’s market and it is a huge letdown and then questions if you could do better, you start researching shoofly pie recipes to see what it’s all about because you know your pie crust is killer and you are pretty sure your crumble wouldn’t taste like raw flour (I mean how did they even do that?!).
When Chef starts asking “where’s the pie” after your day off, you bake the damn pie.
Even if it is 2:00AM after service.
And then you photograph it because it tastes like molasses heaven.
Shoofly pie is basically everything you love about a ginger cookie, molasses pecan pie filling and streusel all combined into one magical dessert.
Streusel in the pie; streusel on the pie. Because literally everything is better with a crumb topping.
These Pumpkin Spice Cake Donuts are packed with real pumpkin and warming spices then fried to perfection and glazed with a sweet cinnamon sugar. Pretty much Pumpkin Breakfast Perfection.
I was just casually walking home from Staples the other day when {BAM!} I was hit by a massive craving for a pumpkin spice donut. I am an unabashed, card-carrying member of the “Pumpkin Spice for Life Club”. #merica
I popped into Dunkin Donuts and picked up one, but one bite had me wondering, “where’s the pumpkin?”
It was orange like pumpkin, there was kind of a spice flavor, but absolutely zero pumpkin.
I took one more bite just make sure. Sadness.
Unacceptable.
There is no disappointment quite like a pumpkin craving let down.
So I went home, cast aside my printer cartridges and made some pumpkin spice cake donuts.
Like my Mom always said, “If you want it done right, do it yourself.”
Unless you live in Brooklyn where there are approximately 12 great donut shops per capita. Envy.
These pumpkin spice cake donuts won’t let you down. They are everything a pumpkin spice cake donut should be: pumpkin-y, spicy, moist and delightfully cakey.
This No Bake Whiskey Smores Pie is a slice of Summer Heaven! There are layers of dark chocolate whisky ganache, milk chocolate mousse and fluffy toasted marshmallow in the perfect graham cracker crust. Go ahead…help yourself to another slice.
I should have called this pie “You’ve Got What I Need.” It is my everything right now. I brought it to work, not because I wanted to share, but because if I didn’t, I would have eaten it ALL.
ALL the PIE.
The usual suspects are all present and accounted for: graham crackers, chocolate and toasted marshmallow.
“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” I can hear you saying now.
But it is how all the layers of flavors work together that will make your eyes roll back in your head and have you saying a different sort of “yeah”.
Yeah, I went there. It’s that good.
Let me break this down for you. Just try to tell me that you aren’t running for your kitchen at lightening speed by the end…mmmkay?
I started with a thick graham cracker crust because nobody wants a little, wimpy crust.
It is the textural and slightly salty contrast in this summer symphony.
Then I layered on an easy, but tipsy, whisky dark chocolate ganache. So smooth, so silky, so delightfully boozy!
The dark chocolate here is a must because it balances the sweetness of the milk chocolate and marshmallow. Trust peeps. Trust.
Next there is a fluffy, milk chocolate cream cheese mousse. Oh no she didn’t.
Oh. Yes. I. did. It is the milk chocolate for your complete s’more experience, but the cream cheese adds just a hint of tang.
And to top it off there is a thick, luscious layer of toasted, homemade marshmallow fluff. Even straight from the fridge it’s like a pillow of marshmallowy goodness. A pillow I tell you.
In this savory Butternut Squash Carrot Tart, carrots and butternut squash are roasted with Harissa and Hungarian paprika then covered in caramelized onions, and baked to custardy perfection in a whole-wheat tart shell. All topped with sage browned butter.
A savory tart? After all the sinfully sweet fruit and nut pies that have been appearing from my kitchen over the past few weeks, you might be inclined to run over here and take my temperature.
I can assure you I am doing just fine. You can find me curled up with a good book, a bright kale salad, and a generous slice of this savory tart. It is comfort food that will warm you up from the inside out.
The whole-wheat crust is delicate all-butter perfection (huh? Did I say this was healthy? Puh-lease.); the lightly spiced butternut carrot custard is smooth and creamy; the caramelized onions add texture and a slightly sweet component; and the sage browned butter, well, that is one for the record books.
The sage browned butter compliments the lightly spiced vegetables and caramelized onions in an explosion of savory flavors that is perfection itself.
All the flavors seamlessly blend together in each bite so magically it will have you reaching for your rolling pin instead of your Seamless app. Trust me, I know.
This Cranberry Orange Pear Pie has a sweet brown sugar pear filling and is studded with tart cranberries! With fresh orange juice, zest and Grand Marnier, the flavors are absolute heaven!
Professional Kitchen Rule #34: No Emotions Allowed
There is a firm check-your-emotions-at-the-door policy. But if that fails…
Don’t cry into the chili lobster appetizer; Cry in the walk-in like a real man.
Or, better yet, cry into this Cranberry Orange Pear Pie when you get home.
True story. Except I thought I had firmly complied with this policy until…I didn’t. And then I knew I had approximately 20 seconds to get from my station and into the walk-in refrigerator before bursting into uncontrollable sobs.
Then you gather your senses, remind yourself that you’ll deal with that real-life stuff later, grab some parsley and walk back to your station with purpose like you totally just needed some more parsley to garnish the bone marrow. Totally.
This is my life. And you wonder why I am baking pies in January when everyone else is all “healthy smoothie this” and “low fat/calorie/gluten free/vegan/non-dairy/kale that”?
This pie is not gluten-free, low calorie or remotely healthy in any way. [I take that back, fruit is healthy. So there.]
But that’s what the gym is for! A slice of this Cranberry Orange Pear Pie and you will be all “What problems?”
Inside the most magnificently flakey, all-butter pie crust is a mix of brown sugar, orange zest, orange juice, Grand Marnier [oh yes I did!], pears and cranberries.
The cranberries are studded throughout the pie to add just a hint of tartness to the brown sugar orange flavored pears. It is heaven all packaged in a generously sugared pie crust.
Because not sprinkling sugar on the top of the crust just seemed like a crime. And I’m no criminal.
This Apple Butterscotch Pie is absolute heaven! Lightly spiced apples baked inside a flakey all-butter pie crust with a homemade brown sugar butterscotch sauce!
I hope that eating more pie was your New Year’s Resolution, because I just got a little crazy with the pie baking!
I waited a full 10 days before posting sweets, which I feel should be a socially acceptable time for everyone to recover from the holidays. No?
Well hurry up because this apple butterscotch pie is beyond divine!
Sweet and tart apples baked to perfection with my butterscotch sauce all encased in a flakey pastry
All I ask is that you save a little of the brown sugar butterscotch sauce to drizzle (or pour) on top! Swoon.
These Brown Sugar Pecan Stuffed Pears are d’Anjou pears stuffed with a simple mixture of brown sugar, cinnamon, cardamom and toasted pecans then wrapped in a flakey pastry, sprinkled with more sugar and topped with a warm butterscotch sauce.
I know you have all been waiting with baited breath for what I made with that all that pie crusts from my tutorials! Well here you have it!
These pears are Winter Comfort Food incarnate.
Simple in it’s construction but incredibly flavorful. The flavors all blend together in the oven and then the textures delight the tastebuds! Flakey, buttery pastry; warm pears that still have a little bit of firmness, crunchy pecans, and a silky smooth butterscotch sauce.
Nothing says “Welcome Cold Weather” like warm pears stuffed with brown sugar, cinnamon, cardamom and toasted pecans.
When baked the filling liquefies and becomes a delicious, sugary sauce.
And then because that isn’t enough sauce (really what is?) I poured on a generous quantity of my homemade butterscotch sauce.
And then I just kept pouring.
I can’t even with the butterscotch, brown sugar, pear, and cinnamon combo. Cannot.
Don’t you just want to dive in there face first like a baby dives into the cake at his first birthday party?
Just me? Mentirosos. [Pardon me. I’ve been learning Spanish at work…I’ve learned all the key words like “liars” and “May I please borrow your scale”]
These pears would be a stunning finale to any dinner party or date night. You can prepare them in advance and then pop them in the oven for 30 minutes or you can bake them the day before an just warm them in the oven before serving.
These Pecan Puffs taste like sweet pecans and nostalgia.
