pecans Archives - Fresh From Oregon

Snowball Cookie Fight…

December 14, 2014 · by Carrie Trax · 4 Comments

One cookie with so many names… Snowballs, Russian Tea Cakes, Mexican Wedding Cookies and I am sure there are more names. Whatever you call these delicious buttery, melt in your mouth cookies they are always in my cookie tin. These cookies are rolled twice in powdered sugar but there are many versions. You will also see them rolled in coconut, cocoa powder or glazed. There are also many things you can hide inside this cookie like cherries, chocolate kisses, peanut butter cups, mini chocolate chips or just use your imagination and create your own combinations. I did that this year and created my Pacific Northwest Snowball Cookie. I added hazelnuts to the cookie dough and hid some marionberry and tayberry jam inside. With one bite you will have the sweet flavor of jam combined with the buttery hazelnut dough melting in your mouth. Another combination I made this year was a Glazed Snowball Cookie with a cherry inside. I then drizzled chocolate on top and it tastes just like eating a chocolate covered cherry. The last version I made was one that my mom makes every year and that is just adding mini chocolate chips to the snowball cookie recipe. But my mom calls them Russian teacakes so let the Snowball Cookie fight begin!

Snowball Cookies
1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup finely chopped pecans or walnuts
Confectioners sugar for rolling cookies

Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Mix butter, sugar and vanilla in a mixer. In small bowl combine flour and salt and add the the butter mixture until just combined, mix in nuts. Chill dough for about 30 minutes. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place on baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. While still warm, roll in confectioners sugar and place on wire rack to cool. Roll again in confectioners sugar after they have cooled.
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Pacific Northwest Snowball Cookie
Make the recipe above and use hazelnuts instead of pecans or walnuts. After you have rolled the dough into a 1-inch ball use a sharp knife and cut in half. With your thumb make an indentation in each half. Fill with about 1/2 teaspoon of marionberry or tayberry jam. Press the two halves back together and press around the seam to seal. Gently roll back into a ball. Chill balls for about 30 minutes. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. While still warm, roll in confectioners sugar and place on wire rack to cool. Roll again in confectioners sugar after they have cooled.
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Glazed Cherry Snowball Cookie
Make the recipe for the Snowball cookies using walnuts. Drain one jar of maraschino cherries (20 cherries) and lay cherries on a few layers of paper towel. You want to dry them off as best you can. Roll dough into a 1-inch ball and flatten. Add a cherry to the center and with your hands fold dough around the cherry. Chill balls for about 30 minutes. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. (Do not roll in confectioners sugar). As the cookies are cooling make the glaze. In medium size bowl sift 1 cup of confectioners sugar and mix in 1 tablespoon of milk. Once the cookies are cooled place on a wire rack over a piece of parchment paper. With a spoon pour about 1 teaspoon of glaze over each cookies and let the glaze drip down the sides. Once the glaze is dry melt some chocolate and drizzle over the cookies.

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Mom’s Russian Teacakes with Mini Chocolate Chips
Make the recipe for the Snowball cookies and add in 1/2 cup of mini chocolate chips with the nuts. Chill dough for about 30 minutes. Roll dough into 1-inch balls and place on baking sheet. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden brown. While still warm, roll in confectioners sugar and place on wire rack to cool. Roll again in confectioners sugar after they have cooled. When I made these this year instead of rolling them in just confectioners sugar I added some baking cocoa to the confectioners sugar to give them a light chocolate color.

Festive Yam Casserole

November 17, 2014 · by Carrie Trax · Leave a Comment

25 years ago I was given this recipe for Festive Yam Casserole from a co-worker and have been serving it at my Thanksgiving dinner since. The layer of creamy yam filling with the crunchy topping of pecans and coconut will become a family favorite at your dinner table. This is a great side dish at any holiday table or everyday meal.

Festive Yam Casserole
4 cups yams, cooked
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup milk
1/3 cup butter, melted
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 eggs, beaten

Topping
2/3 cup shredded coconut
2/3 cup brown sugar
1/3 cup flour
1/3 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup pecans

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. In large bowl add the yams and mash with a potato masher or fork. Add the sugar, milk, butter, vanilla and eggs and mix well. You can also combine all the ingredients in the bowl of a Ninja Food Processor and pulse until creamy, about 45 seconds. Spoon into an 8 inch baking dish that has been sprayed with cooking spray. In the bowl of a food processor combine the coconut, brown sugar, flour, butter and pecans and pulse for 30 seconds. In the Ninja Food Processor pulse 4 times. Sprinkle over yam mixture and bake uncovered for 30 minutes or until golden brown and hot.

Chocolate Covered Easter Eggs…

March 25, 2013 · by Carrie Trax · 4 Comments

With Easter less than a week away… you must be thinking about bunnies, coloring eggs and of course chocolate in the Easter basket. I got my 20# box of chocolate out this weekend and my favorite filling recipes and turned my kitchen into the Easter Bunny’s workshop. I added a new filling this year that is filled with Fresh From Oregon flavors, hazelnuts and cranberries. I took some hazelnuts out of the freezer (the best place to store them) and toasted them in the oven at 400 degrees for about 3-4 minutes. I then opened a box of dried cranberries I found the other day while shopping. These dried cranberries are grown and produced by the Vincent Family on the Southern Oregon coast, they cultivated their first cranberries in 1957, read more here about their story. So with these two great Oregon flavors and my fudge recipe I created a Hazelnut Cranberry Fudge filling. I also made my family’s other favorite fillings: coconut almond, peanut butter and pecan fudge caramel. These melt in your mouth recipes are easy and quick to make and the taste of homemade chocolate eggs will be the perfect surprise for your family and friends this coming Easter.

Once you have made your fillings and shaped them into eggs they will be ready to dip in the chocolate. I use a good grade of melting chocolate wafer, Merckens. You can find them at your local stores that sell candy making supplies or order online. It is best to melt in a double boiler or a bowl placed over simmering water. I find it is easier to dip just the bottoms in the chocolate first and let it set, about 10 minutes. Then when you dip the top into the chocolate you will have something to hold onto, the only downside you will need to lick the chocolate off your fingers often. You can also place that set chocolate bottom on a fork and dip it into the chocolate. Remember to place a piece of parchment paper on the pan you will place the eggs on to set the chocolate, this keeps them from sticking to the pan as the chocolate sets.

Hazelnut Cranberry Filling:
1 pound semisweet chocolate chips (about 1 1/2 bags)
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate squares, chopped
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup hazelnuts, toasted and roughly chopped
1/2 cup dried cranberries, chopped
Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, allowing extra to hang over the sides and spray lightly with cooking spray, set aside.
In a double boiler toss chocolates, baking soda and salt. Stir in condensed milk and vanilla. Stir 2-5 minutes until only a few pieces of chocolate are left. Remove from heat and stir another 2 minutes, the mixture will become a little glossy. Stir in the hazelnuts and dried cranberries. Spread evenly in the prepared pan and let set for 3o minutes. Once cool enough to handle cut into 12 even pieces and make into an egg shape. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and let set for about 1 hour before you dip them in the chocolate.

Peanut Butter Filling:
1 cup butter
2 1/2 cups peanut butter
5 cups confectioners sugar
Cream together butter and peanut butter in the bowl of an stand mixer until creamy. Gradually add the confectioners sugar and mix until combined. Shape into the size eggs you want.

Coconut Almond Filling:
1 cup butter
4 cups confectioners sugar
1 pound shredded coconut
7 ounces sweetened condensed milk
1 cup almonds, finely chopped
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
In bowl of a stand mixer cream butter and confectioners sugar. Add coconut, condensed milk, almonds and vanilla, mix until fully combined. Chill in refrigerator about 30 minutes and then shape into any size egg you want.

Pecan Carmel Fudge Filling:
1 pound semisweet chocolate chips (about 1 1/2 bags)
2 ounces unsweetened chocolate squares, chopped
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 cup pecans, toasted and roughly chopped
6 ounce caramel squares
2 tablespoons milk
Line an 8-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, allowing extra to hang over the sides and spray lightly with cooking spray, set aside.
In a double boiler toss chocolates, baking soda and salt. Stir in condensed milk and vanilla. Stir 2-5 minutes until only a few pieces of chocolate are left. Remove from heat and stir another 2 minutes, the mixture will become a little glossy. Stir in the pecans and spread evenly in the prepared pan and let set for 3o minutes. Once cool enough to handle cut into 12 even pieces and make into egg shapes. Place on a parchment lined baking sheet and let set for about 30 minutes before pouring caramel over. To melt caramels unwrap and place caramels and milk in a bowl over simmering water and stir until melted. Pour about a tablespoon of caramel over each egg, if it drips over the side its Ok. Let set 5 minutes and eggs are ready to dip in the chocolate.

Christmas Baking Countdown

December 9, 2012 · by Carrie Trax · 2 Comments

It is only 16 days until Christmas and holiday baking and candy making has started in my house here in Oregon. I made my list and checked it twice for all my family’s favorite recipes. Now that I live in the Pacific Northwest and have picked and enjoyed some of its local flavors I have added them to some of my baking this holiday. In the next few weeks I will share with you some of my holiday recipes and you will see some flavors of Oregon added to old family recipes.

Thumbprint Cookies – 3 ways

Original Thumbprints
1 cup shortening
1/2 cup brown sugar
2 eggs, separated
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
2 cups Bob’s Red Mill white flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 cups walnuts, finely chopped
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Mix shortening, sugar, egg yolks and vanilla together. In small bowl blend together the flour and salt and then stir in to shortening mixture. Roll dough into 1-inch balls. In small bowl beat the egg whites slightly with a fork. Dip balls into egg white then roll in the nuts. Place about 1-inch apart on a cookie sheet. Press thumb gently into the center of each. Bake 10-12 minutes or until lightly brown. Cool and fill with Icing.

Icing
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 tablespoon milk
1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
food coloring
In small bowl whisk all the icing ingredients together and spoon into the center of each cookie.

Pacific Northwest Thumbprint
In the cookie recipe above use hazelnuts instead of the walnuts. With the icing add an additional 1/4 to 1/2 cup of confectioners sugar and 3 tablespoon of marionberry jelly that has been slightly melted in the microwave. Add to the center of each cooled cookie. This makes a beautiful purple color icing.

Turtle Thumbprints
In the cookie recipe above use pecans instead of walnuts. In a small bowl melt 13 caramels and 2 tablespoons of milk in microwave about 1 minute. Stir until smooth. Add to the center of each cooled cookie. Melt some chocolate wafers and drizzle over the cookie and caramel.

Snowball Cookie Fight…

Festive Yam Casserole

Chocolate Covered Easter Eggs…

Christmas Baking Countdown

Experience fresh food from Oregon!

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