Olla-Podrida: bar cookie recipe

Tuesday, December 15, 2015

Butter Pecan Turtle Cookies

I owe my thanks for this recipe to Janet Rudolph who, on her wonderful Dying for Chocolate blog, frequently features retro ads and recipes. This is actually a recipe that I had when it was new and I was first setting up housekeeping after graduating from college. I made these cookies a lot because they were so easy and really delicious. Over the years, though, with various moves and husbands, I lost it. When she featured this recipe last week I was elated, and immediately had to try them to see if they were still as good as I remembered. They were! In fact, after I made a rather putrid dinner (If you see an online recipe for Crockpot Cashew Chicken that claims to be “better than takeout,” RUN from it. Trust me.), I was grateful to be able to redeem myself with this dessert. I updated it to include more pecans, more chocolate chips, and found the crust came out far better when using a food processor.

Butter Pecan Turtle Cookies

Crust
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/2 cup Land O Lakes Sweet Cream Butter, softened

Caramel Layer
2/3 cups Land O Lakes Sweet Cream Butter
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1-1/2 cup whole pecan halves (not chopped)
1-1/2 cup milk chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line a 9” x 13” pan with foil, allowing about two inches to drape over either end. This will facilitate easy removal of the cookie slab for even cutting.

Combine crust ingredients in the work bowl of a food processor and pulse until well mixed and particles are fine. Pat firmly into ungreased 9” x 13” pan. Sprinkle pecans evenly over unbaked crust.

Prepare caramel layer
In a heavy 1-quart saucepan combine brown sugar and butter. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until entire surface of mixture begins to boil. Boil 1/2 to 1 minute, stirring constantly. Pour Caramel Layer evenly over pecans and crust.
Bake near center of oven for 18-22 minutes, or until entire caramel layer is bubbly and crust is light golden brown.

Remove from oven. Immediately sprinkle with chips. Allow chips to melt slightly (2-3 minutes). Slightly swirl chips as they melt; leave some whole for a marbled effect. Do not spread chips.

Cool completely; cut into 3-4 dozen bars. (This rather makes me laugh. I guess I cut mine extra large because we only got about 2 dozen.)

PRINT RECIPE

This post is linked to:

Wow Us Wednesday
Work It Wednesday

What’s It Wednesday

Wine’d Down Wednesday

Wake up Wednesday

Great Idea Thursday

Full Plate Thursday

Simple and Sweet Fridays

Foodie Friday & Everything Else

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Lethal Layers

I love a mystery that I can sink my teeth into, and such is often the case with the “culinary mystery,” a cozy, domestic-type mystery that features both crime and cuisine. My first experience with a culinary mystery was in 1982 with Virginia Rich’s The Cooking School Murders. Rich, a former food columnist, was the author who pioneered this sub-genre.

Another such author is Diane Mott Davidson who created a series of mysteries featuring amateur sleuth and crime-solving Colorado caterer Goldie Bear (where everything is just right). Each book includes original mouthwatering recipes, and the series has grown to such an extent that she has developed over one hundred recipes for Goldy to make and serve as part of her catering business. As a consequence, this past fall, Goldy’s Kitchen Cookbook was published containing all of these recipes. One of my favorites from this book (and there are a LOT of them) is from the second mystery in the series, Dying for Chocolate, called Lethal Layers. They are murderously good!

Lethal Layers

From Dying for Chocolate by Diane Mott Davidson

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup dark brown sugar

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 -2 cup pecan halves

2 eggs (I used extra-large)

1 cup firmly packed dark brown sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

Additional flour (see below)

1 cup chocolate chips

Preheat oven to 375ºF.

In a food processor, combine the first three ingredients with a metal blade until coarse crumbs are formed. (Can also be done with 2 knives or a pastry cutter).

Pat as a crust into a buttered 9x13 pan. Bake for 10 minutes. Remove from oven and cool completely. Spread pecans over cooled crust. (I used the full 2 cups.)

Beat eggs with brown sugar until thick. Add vanilla. Put salt and baking power in the bottom of a 1/4 cup measure, and then fill the rest of the measure with flour. Stir this into egg mixture. Pour this mixture over the pecans and crust. Sprinkle chips over the mixture.

Bake 20 minutes or until center is set. Let cool before cutting.