Saucepan Pecan Squares

July 21, 2011

It is time for Taste and Create, an opportunity to cook from another foodie's blog. Many of us have our Secret Recipe and are having fun doing this there. I love this opportunity to cook, in this manner, twice a month.

There is a difference between the two groups. I am not sure how long Taste and Create has been around but I do know I have been participating in it for at least a year. I have met the nicest people and cooked some new food and some familiar recipes. Unlike Secret Recipe, the two partners cook from each other's blog. That can be convenient if you have questions about the recipe.

Both groups have in common fun and cooking.

My partner is Melynda from Mom's Sunday Cafe. She organizes Cookbook Sundays and works on
Hearth and Soul amongst many activities that I don't know about. I do hope, I will get to know her better.

Now, I have to make a huge admission. Yesterday, I woke up asking myself if I hadn't committed to cooking for Taste and Create, this month? It was so part of my dream that I didn't think so. When, I went to the computer, I checked and yes, I had completely forgotten even though Mylinda and I had touched base, during the month. During the school year, I am apt to goof, because I am teaching. Now, my excuse is that I am on vacation. Yes, you may groan.

You can picture the scenario. The recipe must be cooked and written up in two days and the temperature is in the 90's supposedly going to 100. There had better be a cold salad waiting in Mom's Sunday Cafe.

The next step was to find a recipe. Anyone who has done this knows how challenging that can be. "That looks good.", "She actually made that. Maybe.......", "Doesn't that look delicious?", "I want that.

Then you look at the recipes that appealed and you find you don't have important ingredients, the oven has to be on for two hours, you don't own a necessary appliance and on and on, the little problems pop up. Now what do you do?

I did what I usually do. The recipe jumps out at me when I am ready to give up and that is exactly what happened? I saw the words Saucepan Salted Pecan Squares and I was intrigues. I couldn't imagine what this recipe could possible call for in a saucepan. At this point, I read the intro and this is what it said, "This is a simple, tasty cookie to throw together. It takes one saucepan and the pan you bake it in. So the clean up is easy."

Hot weather - little clean up. That is the recipe. My husband loves pecans so this had lots going for it. Here we go......

Oops, I forgot to tell you, my husband can't use salt so we did have to change this recipe, a bit.

Saucepan salted pecan squares

1/4 cup butter
1 cup brown sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
3/4 cup flour
1 cup pecan halves

Method:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

Place pecan halves into a baking pan, place in oven and toast pecans for about 6 minutes. Remove and set aside.

Melt butter in medium size saucepan. Stir in brown sugar and set aside to cool.

Remove pecans from oven, empty onto cutting board to begin cooling. Set pan aside to cool.

Chop coarsely, and reserve.

Mix together, egg, flour, baking powder and vanilla extract. Mix until smooth.

Spray 9 inch square pan with cooking oil. My batter was quite thick so I spooned it into baking pan. Smooth it out so it is even. Sprinkle chopped pecans evenly over top. Gently push them down into the batter. (Carefully grind a small amount of sea salt over entire surface.)

Bake 20 minutes. Let cool, cut into pieces.

I could not cut into cookies. They fell apart except around the sides which tells me, in retrospect, I should have baked it a few minutes longer. It was dry though and when I put it in a container, it was like candy, very delicious candy. It is sweet without the salty component. I can imagine that the salt raises it to a whole new level. My husband gave it a nod of approval which makes it a success. Having just lost twenty pounds, I choose to only taste for my nod of approval.