Jalapeño Pecan Brittle

Hi everyone...long time no see!  Just popping in to share a recipe for my new addiction...Jalapeño Pecan Brittle!

Like Faithy's Quick & Easy (Microwave) Peanut Brittle, it's super easy and makes a minimal mess in your kitchen.  If you have all the ingredients, you can whip up a batch in a snap!

This year, we've been making lots of Cowboy Candy to sell (along with our homemade jams & jellies) at our local farmer's market.  With each batch, there's always plenty of the yummy jalapeño syrup leftover.  We've been canning it for later use as a meat marinade, etc.  I recently saw someone online mention that they've used it to make peanut brittle before, so I decided I needed some of that in my life!  LOL!  As a true Texas girl, I decided that pecans would go better than peanuts in this delight, so my husband & I went to work, experimenting to get the ratios and timing of everything just right.

Please note:  You can easily replace the pecans with whatever nuts you prefer.  However, they'll need to be raw when you start (not pre-roasted) or they may burn.  Also - microwave times may vary depending on the strength of your microwave.

As with my peanut brittle recipe, you'll need to keep moving with this recipe, because you don't want the mixture to cool until you're finished, so be sure to READ THE RECIPE ALL THE WAY THROUGH BEFORE STARTING...so you know what's coming.  I always have my ingredients pre-measured before I start, so I can just dump and stir quickly.

Here goes...

Mix 1/2 cup jalapeño syrup, 1/2 cup sugar and 1/2 cup light Karo Syrup in a large microwaveable bowl with handle.  (I use an 8-cup Pyrex measuring cup - helpful, because the mixture gets REALLY hot.)  

Microwave on high for 5 minutes.  Stir in 1 cup raw pecans.

Microwave on high 3 minutes and 45 seconds or until light brown.  Stir in 1 tsp. butter and 1 tsp. vanilla.  (Be careful, as the mixture will be very hot, and may spatter when these wet ingredients go in.)   

Microwave on high 1-1/2 minutes more.  Pecans will be light brown and syrup very hot.  (As I mentioned before, no matter how tempting it may be...DO NOT lick the spoon, or attempt to wipe the mixture off with your fingers...just trust me!) 

Add 1 tsp. baking soda, and stir gently until light and foamy.  (You need to work quickly here, because the mixture will harden fast as it cools.)  Pour mixture immediately onto lightly greased cookie sheet and spread to desired thickness.  (I recommend using a flexible cookie sheet if you have one...it's much easier to remove the cooled peanut brittle once it's done by just giving the pan a little twist...and DON'T FORGET to grease the pan first!)  Let cool for about 30 minutes, or until cool to the touch.  Break into pieces & enjoy!

(Another note:  If you're making this for a gift...DO NOT take a sample taste...you may eat the entire batch and have nothing left to give away!  😂  Seriously y'all...I may never eat peanut brittle again!)

I hope you and your family will enjoy this recipe as much as we do!

Merry Christmas and may God bless you abundantly in the year ahead!
Blessings,
--Faithy 

P.S.   If you don't have any jalapeño syrup handy, there are lots of Cowboy Candy recipes online.  Just pick your favorite one, and be sure to save the extra syrup when you make it!  Local friends can pick some up through Scantlin Kitchens!

Faithy's Favorite Red, White & Blue Salad

Just thought I'd share this quick & easy salad recipe in case you're looking for something healthy and delicious for the 4th of July. 

Ingredients:
--salad greens (I used a mix of red leaf lettuce, spring mix and spinach - but just use whatever you like!)
--fresh blueberries & raspberries (you could also use strawberries or even watermelon)
--crumbled feta cheese
--sugared nuts (This time I used store-bought sweet & spicy pumpkin seeds with black pepper, but you could also use sugared pecans or walnuts or even almonds.  I like to just dump some in a pan with sugar and seasoned salt, and stir them over low to medium heat until the sugar is melted and coats the nuts.  The you just spread them on parchment paper to cool, and break them up before using.)

Just toss everything together and serve in a clear glass or plastic bowl.  I generally serve it with poppy seed dressing and/or raspberry vinaigrette on the side.  (It stays fresh much longer if you don't "dress" the salad before serving.)

"Dressed" Salad

Quick, easy & delicious!

Happy 4th y'all!!
Blessings,
--Faithy 

Faithy’s Favorite Layered Dessert

HOWDY friends…praying you are well and happy on this wonderful day that our Lord has made for us!  I seriously can’t believe how long it’s been since I posted something here.  How does life get so busy?!

Anyway, I’ve recently had several requests for this recipe, so I figured the easiest way to share it would be to post it here.  I have no idea where it originated.  It’s one of those recipes that have been around church potlucks pretty much forever, and there are about a million variations floating around in cyber-space as well.  One of the things I love most about it, is that you can make so many variations of it.  It is very easy to put together, and always a hit!

 

Faithy’s Favorite Layered Dessert 
Ingredients:

Layer #1:   1 cup flour

                  1 cup finely ground nuts (I prefer pecans, but use whatever you like)

                  1 stick of butter or margarine, melted

Layer #2:   8 oz. cream cheese, softened (fat free or low fat work as well as regular)

                  1 cup whipped topping (I’ve used regular, fat free & sugar free - all good)

                  1 cup powdered sugar (regular or Whey Low)

Layer #3:   2 small packages instant pudding (Chocolate, coconut & pistachio are my favorites, but feel free to experiment with whatever flavor you like!  I’ve seen a pumpkin variation that sounds yummy, and a lemon one too.  As with the other ingredients, sugar free pudding works fine too.)

                  3 cups milk (I generally use fat free, but use your favorite)

Layer #4:   Additional whipped topping and topping of your choice (use your imagination!)

                  --For chocolate pudding try chopped roasted pecans or almonds, chocolate sprinkles or chocolate curls for a nice touch

                  --For coconut pudding I use toasted coconut

                  --For pistachio pudding use chopped pistachios

Directions:

Mix layer #1 ingredients and press into a 9x13” pan.  Bake at 350° for 15 minutes (or until lightly golden).  Let cool.  Mix layer #2 ingredients and pour onto 1st layer.  Mix layer #3 ingredients and pour onto other layers.  Top with additional whipped topping and sprinkle with topping of your choice.  (You'll need to work carefully when spreading each layer if you don't want them to mix together.  I've found that if I plop spoonfuls of each layer around the pan, it's easier to connect them together, rather than starting from one big blob in the middle.)

It’s really easy to make the different layers the day before and refrigerate them in separate containers.  Then you can put it all together just before serving.  If you layer everything too early, sometimes the colors from the pudding start to run a bit.  (The chocolate pudding will make your other layers a bit pink.)  It will still taste great, but may not be as good to look at.

I apologize for the poor photo…as many times as I’ve made this, you’d think I’d have a better one.  LOL!  Maybe I’ll remember to take a better one next time I make it.

If you haven’t already, you definitely need to give this recipe a try.  It’s been a favorite in our family for years, and I hope it will become one in yours as well.  Please leave a comment to let me know if you’ve made it before and what variations you’ve used.

I hope it won’t be quite as long before I check in with you again!

Blessings,

--Faithy

Orange Choco-Crispy Cookies

HOWDY friends…I’ve actually been baking a good bit lately, but I haven’t had much time to catch up on posting my recipes.  Thought I’d squeeze in a little time today to share this one with you.  I came across the original recipe over at Modern Mrs. Cleaver’s blog site.  She calls them “One Cookies” because almost all the ingredients are measured with a “one”.

I love crispy cookies, and these looked good, so I couldn’t wait to try them.  As usual though, I had to experiment a bit.  The original recipe calls for maple extract, and I’m not a huge fan of maple flavoring, so I decided to try something else instead.  I made one batch using orange extract, and another batch using regular vanilla extract.  Both came out delicious, so I’m thinking of trying lemon extract next time.

As I went, I divided each batch into 3 portions, and experimented further.  With the orange batch, I made some basically by the recipe (with my usual substitutions in place), some with orange zest added, and the rest with orange zest and miniature chocolate chips added.  I think the orange zest added something special, so I if you make them, I’d recommend starting with those, then…IF you like the orange/chocolate combination (which I definitely do!)…toss some miniature chocolate chips in.  If not, leave them out.  They’re good either way.  If you don’t have fresh orange zest, they’re fine plain too.  I just think they’re BETTER with it.

With the vanilla batch, I again made some pretty much by the recipe, then to one portion I added some toffee chips, and to the last batch I again added miniature chocolate chips.  According to my taste-testers, again, all were yummy, but the ones with the toffee chips were a definite favorite.

The base recipe is GREAT…thanks Modern Mrs. Cleaver…so…based on my own experimentation…my recommendation is to give it a try using your favorite flavored extract, and any add-ins you may tend to like.  Who knows you may come up with the best cookie yet!  (If you do…please be sure to let me know what you tried!)

I’m sharing the recipe for my orange-chocolate version, but if you like maple, please stop by Modern Mrs. Cleaver’s blog to say hello and give her original recipe a try.

Orange Choco-Crispy Cookies

1 cup unsalted butter (softened to room temperature, but NOT melted)

1 cup canola oil

1 cup sugar (I actually used DiabetiSweet sugar substitute, but feel free to use whatever you prefer)

1 cup packed brown sugar

1 egg (as usual, I used HEB Real Egg - egg substitute)

1 teaspoon orange extract (I substituted vanilla extract in one batch as well)

2 cups all-purpose flour (the original recipe calls from 3 cups all-purpose flour, but you know me, I always adjust that a bit!)

1/2 cup whole wheat flour

1/2 cup oat flour (NOTE:  I made this myself by putting some old-fashioned oats in my food processor and processing them until as fine as possible.  Then I sifted it to get the biggest chunks out.  I plan to use those to top a cobbler or something one of these days.)

1/2 teaspoon salt (the original recipe called for 1 teaspoon, but I always use half as much!)

1 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking soda

1 cup oats

1 cup Rice Krispies

1 cup coconut

1 cup chopped pecans (other nuts would work too)

2 tsp. freshly grated orange zest (I actually used the zest from one navel orange…the measurement is approximate -- I also left this completely out in the vanilla-based version)

Miniature chocolate chips (these are optional…use as many or as few as you like! -- you can do the same with the toffee chips if you’re making the vanilla-based ones)

Preheat oven to 350°F.

Cream together the butter, oil, sugars, egg and extract, until light and fluffy, using your mixer.

Whisk together the flours, salt, cream of tartar, and baking soda, then slowly add to the butter/sugar mixture.

Mix at medium-speed until everything is mixed well, then remove from the mixer and stir in the oats, Rice Krispies, coconut, pecans and chocolate chips.  Stir until all ingredients are well combined.

Cover the bowl and refrigerate overnight or at least 3 hours.

Roll the dough into 1″ balls (I used a small cookie scoop to measure them, and that was just right!) and place on baking sheets lined with parchment paper.  (The original recipe called for 2” balls, but these will flatten out and spread as they cook, so mine came out pretty big anyway.)  Be sure to allow plenty of room for them to spread when putting them on the cookie sheet!  (If you don’t have any parchment paper, don’t worry, I ran out, so most of mine were made directly on ungreased cookie sheets and they turned out fine.)

Dip the bottom of a small glass in sugar and gently press each cookie ball, flattening just a little.  (Be sure to re-dip the glass in sugar after each cookie.)

Bake at 350°F for 10 minutes, or until lightly browned.  (The more brown they get, the crispier they become, so if you like them a little chewy, don’t let them brown as much.  I like mine very crisp and light, so I let mine brown fully.  Just be sure to keep an eye on them so they don’t BURN!)

Let the cookies cool on baking sheets for a couple of minutes and then transfer them to cooling racks.

(I’ll admit, I couldn’t wait until they were cooled to give them a try.  They were wonderful, both warm and cooled…and the flavor just got better over the next few days!)

This makes a nice large batch (mine came out to about 11 dozen!), so if you can’t eat them all at once (although you may want to try!), they also freeze very well.

This is a great recipe to use because it makes plenty to share with a neighbor, friend or stranger who could use a lift.  They’re sure to bring a smile, so please try ‘em, share ‘em, and let me know what you think!

Don’t forget to take a minute to THANK GOD for all your many blessings today!

Wishing you many more,

--Faithy

Taken from:  http://modernmrscleaver.com/2011/09/06/one-cookies ..