butterscotch snowball cookies

White and powdery. Fun and tasty. Round mounds of snowy perfection. Doesn't this cookie epitomize the season we're in? I make these every winter and rarely at any other time- don't ask me why. Probably too busy making other cookies. But the recipe comes out every December, no fail.

Snowballs, aka Mexican Wedding Cookies/Russian Tea Cakes, are typically made with some kind of chopped or ground nut; in this iteration, I've included butterscotch morsels with the chopped pecans. Make sure the dough is chilled, otherwise the balls become disks- still tasty, but flat.

heartland turtle bars

Butter, caramel, pecans and chocolate. Four loves of my life. All in one cookie. Swoon.

chunky lola cookies

What a name.  Does it appeal to you?  It certainly piqued my curiosity. Who is Lola? Was she chubby? What's in the cookie?  

For Christmas, The Sister, feeding my cookbook obsession, gave me flour, by Joanne Chang. Joanne is owner and pastry chef at Flour Bakery + Cafe in Boston. She asked her bakers what ingredients they craved in a cookie— chocolate, pecans, coconut were favorites. They then had a cookie-naming contest for customers, and the winning name was CHUNKY LOLA.

my favorite pecan bar

I have been holding off making these pecan bars, because when I bake them, I cannot stop eating them. Seriously. A pound of butter, a perfect ratio of nut to caramel filling to shortbread base— these are off-the-charts delicious.  The Older Brother eats them by the row.  The Brother #2 and Wife fight over them (I believe I once heard an accusation of hiding and hoarding.)  Even The Husband, decidedly a savory guy, devours them. You, I think, will love them.

brown butter maple pecan pie {sms}

First of all, don't laugh at my miniscule slice of pie.  I had to steal the piece from the now-not-so-whole pie, which was part of a music meeting's refreshments.

I was excited to bake the pecan pie, though I was initially suspicious of Melissa Murphy's addition of maple and honey— why mess with something that is great?  The variation was subtle and not cloying, in fact, the filling was less sweet (a good thing) than what I am used to.  I love the idea of browning the butter, which adds a depth of flavor to the filling. (I learned that step from The Pastor's Wife two years ago.)  

You can find the recipe on Jennifer's blog, Oh, Sweet Day.  Thanks, Jennifer, for picking such a great recipe! (The original recipe calls for chocolate chips- I omitted the chocolate.)

pumpkin bread with pecan streusel topping

The Daughter wanted me to make "something quick and easy" as a thank-you gift for her english teacher. I had an extra cup of pumpkin purée that needed to be used up, and this recipe fit the bill perfectly.  The Illinois BFF inspired the topping, as she usually tops her bread with some pecan pralines, which are particularly handy if you are in a time crunch.

{sms} Butterscotch Pralines

Yum to Butterscotch.  ? for the Praline. Yeah to another recipe for Sweet Melissa Sundays.  Yikes for candy-making. I'm a total novice at that.

After looking up other praline recipes online, I was puzzled as to why this recipe calls for water and not heavy cream.  I'm assuming that the butterscotch morsels are making up for it?

I was mulling over that question as I measured out the sugars, and it didn't dawn on me until everything was dissolving over high heat and looking very murky,

that I was supposed to use LIGHT-BROWN SUGAR.  Uh oh.  These will just have a tad more molasses flavor.