Grandma Betty's Sugar Pecans

Happy Holidays!

I hope this post finds you jolly and bright.

But, most likely you're gearing up to run the week before christmas gauntlet.

I don't know about you, but I definitely didn't get everything done that I thought I was going to.

I've been running the to-do list through my head a millions times a day.

-Finish shopping for boyfriend's godchild

-Mail packages

-Finish making annual ornament for boyfriend

-Bake every kind of favorite christmas cookie

-Buy stocking stuffers

-Finish laundry

-Go grocery shopping

-Start planning for New Years Eve party

OH HEY, DID YOU GET SOMETHING FOR YOUR CO-WORKERS?

No worries. I got you covered.

Or I should say, Grandma Betty's got you covered.



The above recipe is in my Auntie Nancy's handwriting. Follow it exactly. It will work every time.

You will see at the end of the recipe that she advises not to eat all of them in one sitting.

Seriously. It will be a struggle. I advise that you buy more than one pound of pecans.

Buy the 2 pound bags at Costco. They're 15 bucks and that is hands down the cheapest you will find them anywhere.

The trip to Costco will be the hardest part of this entire recipe.



The recipe isn't fussy. You need exactly 4 other ingredients aside from the pecans.



You don't need any special skills. You will just need to whisk an egg white.



It's the perfect recipe to make when it looks like this out:



The recipe is actually kind of magical. It can take the pecans from this:



To this, in no time flat:



And then you can do this:



And your co-workers are taken care of.



They're a little different than standard christmas cookies and they last a whole lot longer.

You can eat them straight up, on their own.



Or you can add them to things like this.

or this.

or this.

Or you can just sit on the couch and polish off a whole recipe watching a christmas movie:

1) White Christmas
-You really can't get any better than Bing Crosby and Rosemary Clooney.

2) Elf
-Will Farrel's reaction to Papa Elf pointing out how low the clausometer is outstanding.

3) The Santa Clause
- It's cute. That is all.

4) It's a Wonderful Life
-Because, really, it is.

5) Scrooged
- Bill Murray. That is all.

6) How the Grinch Stole Christmas
-If it doesn't make you feel like an 8 year old again, you have no soul.

7) Muppet Christmas Carol
- This is the first muppet movie after the passing of Jim Henson. It's really, really lovely.

8) Christmas Eve on Sesame Street
-This should have the same affect as #6. Big bird is delightful. Thank goodness Obama won.

9) Rudolph, The Red Nosed Reindeer
-It's stop motion, it's from the 60's, it's weird, it's totally fantastic.

10) A Charlie Brown Christmas
-My love of this movie goes far beyond just the music.



Enjoy!

Getting Christmassy Up In This Joint!

I don't know what it's like in your neck of the woods but it is getting all kinds of Christmassy up in this joint!

K has been in China for work for the past week and that means that I have been left to my own devices.

We all know what kind of things happen when I'm left to my own devices.

So, you can just imagine with the onset of the holiday season what kind of non-sense has been happening here.

First off, Christmas Carols have been blasting in my ear buds since right after Halloween.

Yep, you heard me correctly. Right after Halloween. That's what I said.

What do I listen to?

I'm so glad you asked.

1) First and foremost I will never ever get tired of A Charlie Brown Christmas by Vince Guaraldi Trio.
It's so fantastic. All the arrangements are so perfectly spot on and the overall tone of the entire album will put even the biggest grinch into the holiday mood.

2) Anything by Johnny Mathis. Yes, I am a 70 year old grandmother. Whatever. Dude can carry a tune.

After that, the list narrows quickly.

3) Baby, It's Cold Outside - Ella Fitzgerald & Louis Jordan

4) White Christmas - The Drifters

5) Santa Baby - Eartha Kitt

6) Do You Hear What I Hear? - Bing Crosby

7) Let It Snow, Let It Snow, Let It Snow - Dean Martin

8) Blue Christmas - Elvis Presley

9) Sleigh Ride - Ronettes

10) Jingle Bell Rock - Bobby Helms


So, that's what I've been jamming out to.

I've also almost polished off a whole bag of Dunkin Donuts Mocha Mint coffee.

We cut down our tree and I finished decorating it last weekend.



Isn't she lovely? Do you think there are enough lights?

Don't answer that.

I've also been buying up every kind of christmas candy I come across.



These are brilliant.

So brilliant that I needed to figure out a recipe to use them in. That way I wouldn't feel guilty about just eating a whole bag of them by myself.

Whatever, there's no judging here.

And with that I came up with these little babies:



They are dense and fudgy and crumbly and oh, so pepperminty.

They would be lovely with a cup of piping hot coffee or a tall glass of frosty cold milk or just by themselves would be more than totally acceptable.

Peppermint Crumble Bars

9 Large servings or 18 Smaller Servings

1 3/4 Cup All Purpose Flour
1/4 Cup Dutch Processed Cocoa
1 Cup Unsalted Butter, Cold, Cubed
1/2 Cup Granulated Sugar
1 Cup White Chocolate Peppermint M&M's, Crushed
1 Cup Dark Chocolate Roughly Chopped (Approximately 5 oz. ), divided. This is what I used.
1 14 oz Can Sweetened Condensed Milk
1/4 Teaspoon Peppermint extract (or 5 drops of this stuff)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Lightly grease or line 9"x 9" pan with parchment paper.

In a medium bowl, combine flour, cocoa and sugar. With a fork or a pastry blender, blend the cold butter cubes into the flour mixture until it resembles coarse, pebbly sand.

Press a little more than half of mixture into bottom of pan and set aside.

In a small sauce pan over medium low heat combine 1/2 of the chopped dark chocolate, the entire can of sweetened condensed milk and peppermint extract and heat and stir until chocolate is completely melted and smooth.
Pour this mixture over the crust in the 9 x 9 pan. Let cool slightly.

While that's cooling, place a little more than 1 Cup of the M&M's in a plastic ziplock bag. Wrap this in a kitchen towel and bash the living daylights out of it until most of the M&M's are broken up. This is wonderful tension buster!

Mix the crushed M&M's with the remaining 1/2 Cup of chopped dark chocolate and the remaining 1/2 of the flour/cocoa mixture. Toss this until well mixed.

Evenly sprinkle crumb topping over slightly cooled chocolate condensed milk layer.

Bake at 350 degrees for 25 minutes.

Remove pan from oven and let cool completely before cutting into bars.



Enjoy!

Coming Soon: Favorite Christmas Movie List and Grandma Betty's Candied Pecans. Stay Tuned!