Crockpot Roasted Spiced Pecans

 
Ingredients

• 1 lb pecan halves
• 1/2 cup butter, melted
• 1/2 cup powdered sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon allspice

Cooking Directions

1. Place pecan halves in the bottom of a slow cooker. Drizzle melted butter over pecans and stir.
2. Add powdered sugar and spices. Stir well to coat evenly.
3. Leave the lid off and cook on low for 3 hours stirring occasionally.  
4. Spread pecans out evenly on a lined cookie sheet and allow to cool 30 minutes or until dry. Store in an airtight container or package for gift-giving.

These things are soooo good!!  Not to mention easy!

Grinch Cookies

I found this recipe on Pinterest and could not resist making them!  They were so cute....plump little crinkled green cookies glistening with powdered sugar with a red candy heart in the center!  Any Grinch fan would love these!

Grinch Cookies

1 box French Vanilla cake mix
1/2 cup vegetable oil
2 eggs
1 drop green food coloring
Confectioner's sugar for dusting/sprinkling
Heart Shaped decorating candies/sprinkles

Preheat the oven to 350^F.

Cream together the cake mix, oil, eggs and food coloring until it's completely mixed and forms a ball of dough in the bowl of the mixer.  Refrigerate for 15 minutes.

Drop by tablespoons into the confectioner's sugar and roll into balls.  Place on parchment lined baking sheet about 2 inches apart and press a heart into the center of each ball.  Bake for 8 minutes or until just set.  (Mine took closer to 10 minutes!)  Let cool on the cookie sheet for at least 2 minutes before attempting to transfer them to a wire rack.  They are very soft and will fall apart if you try to do this before they are cool enough!  Trust me, I mangled several before I realized what I was doing. They oozed between the wires and fell apart.  :-(

So...mine did not look like the pleasingly plump little morsels on Pinterest....mine spread and were much flatter and all the confectioner's sugar completely dissolved into the cookies.  I was a little disappointed, but they were still tolerably cute.  And they tasted pretty good, though they do not keep well at all.  They dry out really quick, but since they only make a couple dozen cookies, that shouldn't be a problem for anyone who has kids!

If I were to make them again, I would use a scant 1/2 cup of melted butter instead of the oil and use the Non-Melting Confectioner's Sugar from King Arthur Flour.

Ginger Molasses Spice Cookies

I saw these cookies on the Today show a few days ago and thought I'd give the a try.  They are awesome!  I already had all the ingredients in my pantry and the dough was quick and simple to mix up.  I did use salted butter though, and reduced the salt from 1/2 to1/4 teaspoon.  The cookies are soft and chewy and taste wonderful!  And the whole house smells like Christmas!

Ginger Molasses Spice Cookies

• 12 tbsp butter, melted

• 1 cup sugar

• 1/4 cup full flavor molasses

• 1 egg

• 1 3/4 cup all-purpose flour

• 1/2 tsp ground cloves

• 1/2 tsp ground ginger

• 1 tsp cinnamon

• 1/4 tsp salt

• 1/2 tsp baking soda
• Sugar Crystals, if desired

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 3 baking sheets with aluminum foil. Lightly spray foil-lined baking sheets with nonstick cooking spray.

In a large bowl, mix together melted butter, sugar and molasses. Add egg and mix until well blended.  Add the dry ingredients (flour, cloves, ginger, cinnamon, salt and baking soda)to the butter mixture and mix until combined. Dough will be wet. (I was a little worried at this point.  The dough looked like it would run into a big flat pancake, but I'm happy to report that they came out fine!)

Use a small cookie scoop or spoon to place 2 tbsp-sized drops of dough onto prepared sheets.  Leave at least 2 inches between drops of dough as it will spread as the cookies bake.  Sprinkle each cookie with sugar crystals if desired. I did...they look very pretty!

Bake in preheated oven for 8 to 10 minutes or until edges are slightly darkened.  Mine took 10 minutes and I ended up with 25 deliciously spicy cookies!  Yum!

Berry Shortbread Bars

21 Tbsp butter, melted and cooled to room temperature
3/4 cup sugar
2 large egg yolks
3 cups + 3 Tbsp all purpose flour (note: I had to use closer to 4 cups)
1/2 recipe Blue Cranberry Sauce (see recipe)
1/4 cup sugar

Preheat the oven to 325^F. With a wooden spoon, mix the 3/4 cup sugar into the melted butter and whisk in the egg yolks. Stir in the flour to make a very stiff dough. (I had to use 1 whole cup more than the original recipe called for to make a stiff dough!)

Remove two cups of this dough and pat evenly into a foil lined 9 x 13 pan. (The foil should hang over the ends of the pan to make it easy to remove after it's baked) Prick the dough all over with a fork and refrigerate for 30 minutes (or put in freezer for 7 minutes). Set the rest of the dough aside.

Bake the 9 x 13" chilled pan of dough, on the middle rack of your oven, for 20 minutes at 325. After 20 minutes, the dough will still be very pale in color and will not have any golden color on the edges.

Remove it from the oven and spread the cooled Blue Cranberry Sauce evenly over it. Increase oven to 350^F.

Add the 1/4 cup of flour to the remaining dough and stir gently until the mixture is crumbly but don't overdo it. You want some "lumps" but no bigger than about 1 inch. Sprinkle evenly over the cranberry sauce and return the pan to the oven for 20-35 minutes. (Mine needed closer to 35-40 minutes to attain the light golden brown color you want.

Remove from the oven and cool completely on a wire rack. Lift the cookies out of the pan using the foil ends and cut into bars.

These things are REALLY tasty! Adapted from coleensrecipes.blogspot.com

Pretzel Turtles

Pretzel Turtles

36 small mini pretzels
36 Rolos, unwrapped
36 pecan halves

Preheat the oven to 300^F. Arrange the pretzels in a single layer on a parchment lined cookie sheet. Place one Rolo (chocolate covered caramel candy) on each pretzel. Place a pecan half on top of each Rolo. Bake for 4 minutes. While the candy is warm, press each pecan half to smoosh the Rolo over the pretzel. Cool completely and store in an airtight container.

Yummy and easy!

Recipe adapted from allrecipes.com