GOLDEN PECAN BALLS

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Baking cookies is an integral part of many families’ holiday traditions. Part of my holiday baking tradition also includes trying a new cookie every year.   I’m not sure which recipe it’ll be yet (I’ll update when I decide), but have I got a cookie for YOU to try!  This recipe for Golden Pecan Balls won the grand prize in a holiday cookie contest sponsored by House & Home magazine. My prize was a beautiful set of Jamie Oliver T-Fal stainless and copper cookware, which my daughter is happily using in her first apartment.

Golden Pecan Balls are based on a cookie my Mom used to make called Walnut Crescents.  There’s a lot of variations of the cookie out there, which you may recognize as Mexican Wedding Cookies, Russian Tea Cakes, Snowballs, or Butterballs.  My version is different in that it uses European butter, golden syrup, and toasted pecans, and if I don’t say so myself, it is delicious.  If you’re looking for a holiday cookie that’s easy and delectable, I would be honored if you gave my prize-winning Golden Pecan Balls a try.

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GOLDEN PECAN BALLS
Author: 
Recipe type: Cookies
 
Ingredients
  • ½ cup European-style butter, softened
  • ¼ cup Lyle's golden syrup
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
  • 1 cup flour
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup toasted pecans,* finely chopped
  • ¾ cup powdered sugar
  • *To toast pecans, place them in a single layer in a large dry skillet over medium-high heat. Stir continuously for 4 or 5 minutes, until nuts are fragrant and beginning to darken in color, being very careful not to let them burn. Let cool before using.
Instructions
  1. Place butter, syrup, and vanilla in a medium bowl and beat using an electric beater, until smooth. Add flour and salt and stir until thoroughly combined. Fold in pecans. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate at least 1 hour.
  2. Preheat oven to 300 degrees. Roll dough into 1" balls. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet, approximately 1-1/2" apart. Bake for 30-35 minutes, until lightly golden.
  3. Place powdered sugar in a shallow bowl. When cookies are cool enough to handle, roll them in powdered sugar. For a pretty presentation, dust lightly with powdered sugar just before serving or packaging (see magazine photo above).

 IMG_3161Ready for the oven

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Baked to golden deliciousness

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All dressed up and ready to go

THANKSGIVING RECAP

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You know how you always felt a little bit sorry for the kids who had Christmas birthdays?  It’s one thing to have the same birthday as a celebrity.  For example, I have the same birthday as Channing Tatum.  (You can see who you share a birthday with here.)  But sharing a birthday with our lord and savior — that’s another story.  Not to mention kind of getting stiffed on the birthday gifts, which inevitably got combined with the Christmas gifts (“I got you this for your birthday AND Christmas.”)  Well, I think having a Thanksgiving birthday must be almost as bad.

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Because every kid dreams of a turkey-themed birthday party, right?  Look at that turkey sharing the limelight with the birthday cake.  That is just wrong.  You can imagine the birthday party invitations — “Our little turkey is turning 5!”  Instead of a beautiful unicorn or fire truck piñata, the partygoers most likely get to bust one open that’s shaped like a pilgrim hat, probably filled with candy corn.  I’m guessing each guest gets a little loaf of pumpkin bread as a party favor.  Yep, I think it would suck to have a Thanksgiving birthday.

Maybe the only thing worse than having to have your birthday cake at Thanksgiving dinner is to not have Thanksgiving dinner at all.  The first year I was out on my own, working as a nurse, both my roommate and I had to work Thanksgiving day.  I remember sitting in the break room eating the egg salad sandwich I’d brought with me, and thought, “this sucks.”  From that point on, even if we had to work, we always cooked a Thanksgiving dinner, and invited other hospital friends who were working a shift or couldn’t leave because they were on call.  Those were some great dinners.

Thanksgiving dinner with family, now that did not suck at all.  In fact, I really enjoyed it.  Although the meal is always essentially the same — we probably ate pretty much the same thing you and yours did — there were lots of changes in the family this year.  A first Thanksgiving home from college, a recent engagement, a new driver, a few empty chairs due to a pending divorce.  In 2011, I thought we were having our last Thanksgiving with my father-in-law, but I am delighted to share that we have had 3 Thanksgivings since then and are looking forward to many more.

We had a little snap of freezing weather recently, which rewarded us with glorious fall colors, not usually associated with autumn in Texas.  The crape myrtles, sycamores, tallows, and maples all got in on the act.  The vivid foliage combined with the cooler temperatures we’ve been enjoying, definitely made it feel more Thanksgiving-ish:

A repurposed Halloween pumpkin stood ready to welcome everyone:

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I made a silly turkey centerpiece for the kids table:

 I didn’t say it looked exactly like a turkey

And glittered some acorns to scatter around the grown-ups table (I know what you’re thinking):

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 And just in case anyone still thinks I take myself too seriously, I made a turkey fruit tray:

As much as I look forward to Thanksgiving, my favorite part of the holiday may just be the long relaxed weekend that follows, where the biggest decision I have to make is whether to go buy a Christmas tree.  It’s been especially great having my daughter home, and I know the days between this visit and the long Christmas break will fly by.  🙂