I was better about getting this week's challenge done and posted to Slow Travel than I was about doing the blog entry; I will plead guilty to having had a really nice weekend up north in the Santa Cruz area.
I had some fun again reading pecan recipes and sorting through a few; my first choice was to stuff mushrooms with pecans, bread crumbs and cheese, but then I ran across this recipe for a savory cookie on the web page of the Georgia Pecan Commission. I had done something similar a few years back and recalled it was a hit for the holidays. So, after baking part of the recipe, I have frozen the remaining rolls of dough and plan to use them for Thanksgiving nibbles.
While waiting for the dough to chill, I decided to make a batch of curried pecans with the rest of the large bag that I actually had in my nut drawer. I brought both cookies and nuts to Santa Cruz to share with Rachel, Addison and their roommates, so they join me in thanking you, Sheri, for the ingredient of the week.
RECIPES
Pecan Cheese Coins
Ingredients:
1 pound of extra-sharp Cheddar cheese, shredded
1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper, or more to taste
1/4 teaspoon paprika
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin, if desired
1 cup finely chopped Georgia pecans
Directions:
Combine shredded cheese and softened butter in the bowl of a food processor fitted with steel blade or in a mixing bowl. Mix well. Add flour, salt, cayenne pepper, paprika and cumin, if desired. Process or stir until dough comes together in a ball. With clean hands, work pecans into dough so they are well distributed.
Shape dough into three logs, about 1 1/4 inches in diameter. Wrap securely with wax paper or plastic wrap and chill at least 2 hours. (These can be frozen for up to a month. Thaw before baking).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Slice dough into 1/4 -inch coins and place on baking sheets. Bake about 12-15 minutes, or until coins begin to brown. Remove to a wire rack to cool, then store in airtight tins. Yields about 8 dozen coins.
From the Georgia Pecan Commission
Pam’s Curried Nuts (adapted for pecans)
2 cups pecans
1 and ½ teaspoons curry powder
1 and ½ Worcestershire sauce
1/8 tsp. cayenne
2 Tablespoons olive oil
Combine curry powder, cayenne, Worcestershire sauce and oil. Heat in a skillet until very hot. Add pecans. Stir until well coated. Line a baking sheet with brown paper. Pour in the pecans and bake at 300 degrees for 10 minutes until crisp. Cool. Store in airtight container.
Singly or together, these go very nicely with a glass of red wine, sherry, or port.
Comments (2)
These cheese coins make me nostalgic; my grandmother used to make them often. Instead of chopping the pecans, she just pressed a pecan half on top of the coin. So good!
Your nuts sound great too. This was a fun ingredient.
Posted by Annie | October 20, 2009 6:21 AM
Posted on October 20, 2009 06:21
These sounds delicious. I could use a glass of wine and a couple of these right now. (Oops, it's only 10:41am, maybe the glass of wine should come a little later!)
Posted by Cindy Ruth | October 25, 2009 11:42 AM
Posted on October 25, 2009 11:42