Tag Archives: pecans

Russian Teacakes or Mexican Wedding Cakes

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You know these – no matter what we call them.

Mexican teacake


They are little balls of yum dipped in powdered sugar.
They don’t contain eggs, so they have the texture of a shortbread – dense, crumbly and melt-in-the-mouth addictive. I put finely chopped pecans in mine, which only add to the crumbly and addictive qualities. But for me, these are a Christmas tradition. And yes, I usually double the batch because a single recipe only makes about 30 – 40 little balls of wonder, depending on how big or small you make them.

teacake cookies

make a bunch


My recipe is from the 1975 Betty Crocker Cookbook.

Ingredients for a single batch of Teacakes
1 cup butter – softened
1/2 cup powdered sugar – or confectioner’s sugar
2 tsp vanilla
2 1/4 cups all purpose flour (less if your home is really dry.)
1/4 tsp salt
3/4 cup finely chopped nuts
Powdered sugar for dipping – 1/2 – 3/4 cup.

Directions

Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
Beat butter, sugar and vanilla together until fluffy.
Work in salt, flour and nuts just until dough holds together. Don’t over mix.
Shape into 1 inch balls.
Place on an UNgreased baking sheet.
Bake 10 – 12 minutes until set. The bottoms will be lightly browned.
Remove them to a wire rack to cool for a few minutes.
Roll them in powdered sugar and then let them finish cooling.
If you like, roll them again when they are cooled.

The Russian Teacakes – or Mexican Wedding Cakes freeze well, so you can make them ahead of time. Bonus!

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Glazed Nuts

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My husband loves his nuts.

mmmmm


Let me rephrase that. Ken just loves nuts – all types of nuts. And I’m not speaking of people, although he DID marry me.

glazed nuts


When he comes home at night, Ken grabs a handful of nuts to tide him over until we have dinner. (Which is usually seconds away.)
The nuts may be roasted and salted, dry toasted, or even raw, in a pinch. It doesn’t matter. Ken loves them all.

sweet gifts


When he saw me getting out big bags of nuts and tossing some into a roasting pan he was very interested. And it was a great and easy experiment.
Much faster than the Mall Nuts I blogged about a few months ago. They required lots of boiling time and then produced a result that was a dentist’s delight – filling crackers.

gift nuts


I was excited to see how easy and addictive these are. I got the inspiration from a magazine, but used only the directions, not the ingredients. The original recipe called for maple syrup, oregano and chilli pepper. No thanks.

I did use some maple syrup, but didn’t want the maple to be a dominant flavor. And I wanted more holiday spices. You could easily double the cinnamon, if you love that spice like we do. I actually made a second batch of these the day after I made the first so I could play with the ingredients and see how much flexibility there is. Turns out, there’s a lot of play with this.

nuts as gifts

Ingredients for Glazed Nuts
2 cups each: Raw walnuts, almonds and pecans
2 TBS maple syrup or agave nectar (I suspect honey would be great too.)
2 TBS light corn syrup
2 TBS canola oil
1 TBS cinnamon
Optional: 1/2 tsp each: nutmeg, ginger, cloves

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
Place a piece of parchment paper in a large bar sheet or roasting pan.
Toss in the nuts.
In a small bowl, whisk the rest of the ingredients and spices together.
Pour it over the nuts and stir to coat them all.
Bake 15 – 18 minutes.
Stir again when you pull them out of the oven and then again in about 10 minutes to keep them from clumping.
If you didn’t use the parchment paper, turn these out onto waxed paper as they cool.
They will crisp up as they cool, so don’t fret if the nuts are soft as soon as they come out of the oven. (Don’t ask how I know this!)

Enjoy and share with the nut-crazed people in your life. Just don’t serve them in cups and call them “nut cups.” My nutty sons say this isn’t “PC”.

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Banana Nut Muggin – Muffin in a Mug – 3 Ways

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Banana bread doesn’t make an entrance often in my household because there are only two of us to eat it. Now and then, I have an excuse to whip something like the Banana Pecan Bread with Dark Chocolate Chips, but not often enough to soothe the cravings.
You know what I’m going to say, right? Yes. Banana Nut Muffin in a Mug, or Muggin to the rescue.

nuts throughout

add cacoa nibs

cacoa nibs throughout

I started playing around with ingredients a few weeks ago and came up with several varieties. You may recall the Gluten free, Dairy free Banana Nut Cinnamon Muggin recently created.

It was delicious, but I wanted to offer another Banana Nut Muggin for those who like the convenience of using the Muggin Mix – which is not gluten free, but is very handy.

The banana makes this so moist and the nuts add a great texture.
One version added toasted pecans, and mixed them into the batter. YUM.
Another day I put honey roasted slivered almonds in the bottom of the mug and mixed the rest of the ingredients in a bowl and then poured them over the almonds.
When I turned it out onto a plate, it had that wonderful “upside down” effect and was also delicious.

But I’m also in a baker’s quandary: what to do with cacao nibs. These are little bits of the cacao bean, so are unsweetened, but are supposed to add real chocolate flavor. So far, I’m not sold on that. But I roasted some and added a few to another banana nut muggin. My hubby liked the flavor better than I did.
I still think the nibs need some sugar. If you have suggestions about what to do with them, please leave a note.
Cacoa nibs will likely have a blog post of their own in the near future.
In the meantime, I found another blog that has lots of helpful cooking advice. Please visit Mom to Chef, written by Jolie Angie: http://www.momtochef.com/

You’ll enjoy her site and I’m hoping she (or a reader) can help me with the pound of cacoa nibs sitting in my cupboard unused.

But back to Banana Nut Muggins: get out a large mug and your muggin mix and let’s whip up breakfast!

First, if you are new to muggins, you will want to visit (and make) the blog about the Muggin mix. http://www.nanaclareskitchen.com/2012/03/07/make-a-mix-for-blueberry-almond-muffin-in-a-mug-and-more/
Ingredients for the Muggin mix
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour (or white flour – your choice)
1 cup oats – quick or old fashioned
½ cup ground flax meal
½ cup wheat germ
3 TBS baking powder

make in a separate bowl

Ingredients for the Banana Nut Muggin – three options
1 egg
1/2 small banana
1 TBS honey
3 TBS muggin mix (see above)
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 TBS nuts
2 TBS cacao nibs or chocolate chips

almonds on top

Directions
If you want the nuts on top, put them in the bottom of the cup or mug.
Next mix the ingredients in a bowl and pour the batter over the nuts.
Microwave as usual and when you turn it out onto a plate – voila!

Regular directions
Crack the egg in the cup and add the other ingredients.
Blend well with a fork.
Microwave 1 1/2 – 3 minutes depending on your microwave oven.

Enjoy.
Other Single Serving items you may enjoy from Nana Clare’s Kitchen:
Chocolate cake in a cup
http://www.nanaclareskitchen.com/2012/02/03/chocolate-cake-in-a-cup/
Caramel apple cake in a cup
http://www.nanaclareskitchen.com/2012/03/03/caramel-apple-cake-in-a-cup/

Cinnamon muggin
http://www.nanaclareskitchen.com/2012/02/24/cinnamon-muffin-in-a-mug/

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Banana Pecan Bread with Dark Chocolate Chips

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Sometimes I cheat when I make sweet breads. Just a little. And it’s a good thing, this little cheat. Years ago I discovered that when a recipe says to put a batch of sweet bread in a loaf pan, chances are you will need to over bake it before the center finally gets done. And this means the batter around the edges will be rather dry. Who needs that? So I do one of two things:
Either I put a single batch into an 8” x 8” square pan, or I make a double batch and put it into three loaf pans. In this case I had an extra small loaf pan which I was using as a gift for someone who lives alone, so it was perfect.

banana bread sliced


But you will want to try this bread. Even if you already have a banana bread favorite, this is worth taking for a test drive. The recipe is adapted from Ellie Krieger’s book, Comfort Food Fix, 2011.

roasted pecans resting


Ellie takes a nutritionist’s knife to our favorite foods and cuts out the bad stuff and leaves in the flavor. She used to have a TV show on the Food Network but now the network seems to be dominated by programs about restaurants and chefs. My hubby and I really liked Ellie’s cheerful advice and great recipe swaps. So try this one.

dark chocolate chips on top


Naturally, I’ve modified it a bit – like adding more nuts and the chocolate chips. I don’t want to go overboard with all this healthy cooking.

banana pecan bread


chocolate melting

Ingredients for a single batch
½ cup pecans
¾ cup all purpose flour
1 cup whole wheat pastry flour
¼ cup white sugar
¼ cup packed brown sugar
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp baking powder
¼ tsp salt
¼ cup canola oil
¼ cup plain nonfat yogurt
2 large eggs
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 very ripe bananas, peeled and mashed (about 1 ½ cups)
1/3 cup dark chocolate chips

Directions
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F
Spread the pecans on an ungreased baking sheet and toast about 8 minutes. Set aside to cool.
Spray a 9 x 5” loaf pan with cooking spray. (Or a 9” square pan.)
In a medium bowl, whisk together the oil, yogurt, eggs and vanilla.
Whisk in bananas.
Stir in the dry ingredients and mix just until combined.
Stir in pecans.
Pour into pans.
Sprinkle chocolate chips on top and swirl into the top of the batter.
Bake 45 – 55 minutes or until done.
Cool for 15 minutes and then pop the bread out of the pan and onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

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