SWEET POTATO PECAN PIE TARTS

SWEET POTATO PECAN PIE TARTS Food Recipes, I'm posting this at midnight and it is FIFTEEN BELOW ZERO HERE!!
This last weekend was our 39th wedding anniversary; we were high school sweethearts. To celebrate, I made a big roast beef dinner and these heavenly little tarts that I found on Shelby's The Life and Loves of Grumpy's Honybunch. They are absolutely delicious tiny bites (about the size of a tassie) of cinnamon spiced sweet potato and pecans all baked in a pre-prepared mini-phyllo cup. They are impressive looking, great tasting, ultra-easy and (believe it or not) the recipe says they are only about 45 calories each!! It doesn't get much better than that!!!

1 cup cooked & mashed sweet potato
3 tablespoons white sugar
¼ teaspoon cinnamon
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup chopped toasted pecans
¼ cup brown sugar, packed
1 tablespoon dark corn syrup (I used light)
½ teaspoon vanilla extract
1 egg white
2 (2.1 ounce) packages mini-phyllo shells

Poke sweet potatoes a few times with a knife and place them in a pie plate with 2 tablespoons of water; cover loosely with waxed paper and microwave on high for five minutes (mine took 7 minutes) or until tender.

Mash and measure out 1 cup of sweet potato. Add sugar, cinnamon and salt and stir well (I used my electric mixer to really mash the potatoes). Set aside.

In a small bowl, combine toasted pecans, brown sugar, syrup, vanilla and egg white. Stir well and set aside.

Set mini phyllo shells on a baking sheet and put about 1 teaspoon of the sweet potato mixture into the bottom of each shell (gently push down-in a little). Spoon ½ teaspoon of pecan mixture over the sweet potato mixture. Bake at 350F for 20 minutes. Cool completely on a wire rack.

NOTE: Our super-store sells these little pre-made phyllo shells in the ATHENS brand.
SWEET POTATO PECAN PIE TARTS FOOD RECIPES
By Coleen Marie

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BACON MACARONI & CHEESE

BACON MACARONI & CHEESE Food Recipes, This recipe has evolved over the years, to what it is today; one of our (my) favorite side dishes. It's just your basic mac & cheese with a few small tweaks. I've tried it with almost every kind of cheese you can think of and I still like good old American cheese the best.

2 cups mini-penne pasta
4 cups chicken broth
¼ cup finely minced onions, sauteed
2 cups frozen mixed vegetables (corn,peas,carrots)
5 strips of bacon fried and crumbled
3 tablespoons butter
3 tablespoons flour
½ teaspoon black pepper
½ teaspoon ground dry mustard
1 tablespoon dry parsley flakes
2¼ cups milk
1 cup diced American cheese
bread crumbs & butter

Saute the finely minced onions until they are tender and sweet, set aside. Boil the pasta and vegetables (together) in the chicken broth until tender, then drain and stir a tablespoon of butter and set aside.

In a sauce pan, melt 3 tablespoons of butter then stir in 3 tablespoons of flour, parsley, pepper & dry mustard. Stir and cook very slowly (let it just bubble) for about a minute, then add the milk, sauteed onions and bacon (whisk like crazy when you first start to add the milk to avoid any lumps). Stir and cook this sauce until it thickens. Remove from heat and add the cheese. After it sits for a few minutes, stir and the cheese should be mostly melted. Pour over the pasta and veggies and mix well.

Pour into a 9 x 13 baking dish and top with bread crumbs (see note). Bake at 350 for about 20 minutes or until bubbly.

NOTE: Place 2 cups of plain dry bread crumbs in a frying pan and add 2 tablespoons of butter. Toast over medium high heat (stirring) until bread crumbs have absorbed all of the butter and the crumbs are golden. Spread evenly over the macaroni and cheese before putting in oven.

BACON MACARONI & CHEESE FOOD RECIPES
By Coleen Marie

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MINI-LINZER TORTE CUPS FOR YOUR CHRISTMAS COOKIE TRAY

MINI-LINZER TORTE CUPS FOR YOUR CHRISTMAS COOKIE TRAY Food Recipes, We woke up to three inches of snow this morning and it is snowing again this evening (snow is a full 2-3 weeks late this year). The first snow of the season always flips a switch on in my head that says it is time to start planning my Christmas baking list. I know a lot of people say that we haven't even had Thanksgiving yet, but oh well...

These little linzer torte cups have a rich, tender, shortbread crust that is packed with finely ground toasted pecans, sweet cream butter, vanilla and a raspberry jam center. They look very festive with a light sprinkle of powdered sugar just before serving. This recipe makes 4 dozen cookies, so there will be plenty for your cookie exchange!!


1½ cups unsalted butter (room temperature)
1 cup confectioners sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
½ teaspoon salt
3 cups plus 2 tablespoons all purpose flour
1½ cups toasted pecans (ground finely in food processor)
red raspberry jam with seeds

Finely grind/chop the toasted pecans in your food processor. In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat the butter and ground pecans on medium speed until very soft and light, about 3 minutes. Beat in the confectioners sugar and vanilla extract until well combined. Scrape down the sides of your bowl and add the dry ingredients. Beat for about 30 seconds, or until well combined (dough will pull away from the sides of the bowl).

Roll the dough into 1" balls and place in an UNgreased miniature cupcake pan. Find something in your kitchen that is the same diameter as the cupcake hole, and press gently down on each ball to make an indentation like this:

Place a rounded half teaspoon of raspberry jam in each depression and bake at 350F for 20 minutes. The jam will melt and spread out evently.

Keep the baked cookies IN the pan, but on a cooling rack for TEN MINUTES. After 10 minutes, you will be able to VERY GENTLY lift the cookie cups out of the pan. You can use the tip of a knife to help, but it shouldn't be necessary...just lift with a steady, gentle pressure and they will pop out. I've also had luck turning the pan upside down on a soft towel and tapping it gently...they should pop out.

Isn't Christmas Baking Fun?? November is my baked goods rehearsal month, where I try out new recipes and plan my holiday baking list.

MINI-LINZER TORTE CUPS FOR YOUR CHRISTMAS COOKIE TRAY FOOD RECIPES
By Coleen Marie

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EASY PLAY DOUGH - A GREAT WEEKEND PROJECT FOR THE KIDS or GRANDKIDS

EASY PLAY DOUGH - A GREAT WEEKEND PROJECT FOR THE KIDS or GRANDKIDS Food Recipes, I've tried many play dough recipes over the years and this one is, by far, the best yet. It is made with common pantry items and is ready to play with, literally, in a few minutes!! It's soft, pliable and super easy to work with. When the kids are done with it, recipe says to keep it in an airtight container in the fridge, but with all that salt, I doubt that is necessary.
EASY PLAY DOUGH
2 cups all purpose flour
1 cup table salt
2 cups water
4 teaspoons cream of tartar
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
food coloring (see note)

Put everything in a large, heavy bottomed, sauce pan and cook (stirring) on medium high until this comes away from the sides of the pan and thickens to the consistency of Play Doh (it just takes a couple minutes). Make sure you have a very sturdy wooden spoon to stir this with and it takes a little elbow power at the very end.

Remove the cooked dough from the sauce pan and knead it for a minute or so until it becomes smooth. I did this kneading stage with my stand mixer which cooled the dough down almost immediately (a good thing).

If you want the play dough to be all the same color, add the food coloring with the water before cooking. I wanted to try two colors, so I divided the cooked dough in half and put half in my stand mixer (for the kneading step) and I added food color paste to the dough while the machine was kneading the dough (this step can be done by hand, but I would suggest you use rubber gloves so you don't get green fingernails).

My one concern with using the concentrated food color paste was that it would come off on my hands when I "played" with the final product...it did not!! This is a great weekend project for the kids!!

NOTE: The colors in this photo were obtained by using Wilton frosting color paste, which is very concentrated color. You can use ANY food coloring (or NO food coloring) that you like.
EASY PLAY DOUGH - A GREAT WEEKEND PROJECT FOR THE KIDS or GRANDKIDS FOOD RECIPES
By Coleen Marie

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CREAM CHEESE WAFFLES FOR THIS WEEKEND

CREAM CHEESE WAFFLES FOR THIS WEEKEND Food Recipes, More often than not, we have sourdough waffles or sourdough pancakes on the weekends. However, recently I've been searching for a quick-fix waffle recipe and I have found a great one in our electric co-op newsletter, submitted by a lady named Sarah Wolcoff. Her deliciously moist and fluffy cream cheese waffles are oh so good!!!

1¾ cup all purpose flour
2 tablespoons brown sugar
1 tablespoon baking powder
1/8 teaspoon salt
(1) 3 ounce cream cheese (room temperature)
2 eggs (separated)
1½ cups milk
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
1 teaspoon vanilla extract (my tweak)

Mix the cream cheese and 2 egg yolks together until smooth; stir in milk, vanillaextract and vegetable oil. Add dry ingredients and stir just until combined, it will be a little lumpy. Beat 2 egg whites until stiff peaks form and then fold them gently into the batter, leaving lots of fluffs of egg white (don't over mix). Cook in waffle iron. Recipe makes about 6 good size waffles

CREAM CHEESE WAFFLES FOR THIS WEEKEND FOOD RECIPES
By Coleen Marie

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CHOCOLATE FUDGE & DULCE de LECHE TASSIES

CHOCOLATE FUDGE & DULCE de LECHE TASSIES Food Recipes,

Chocolate Fudge & Dulce de Leche Tassies

PASTRY CRUST
½ cup butter softened
(1) 3 ounce package cream cheese
1 cup all purpose flour
Beat the cream cheese and softened butter with electric mixer until well mixed. Add 1 cup of flour while mixer is on low speed, just until well combined. Cover and chill dough for 30 minutes or until it is easy to handle (I never chill this dough). Divide this dough into 24 balls. Press the balls into the bottom and up the sides of an (UNgreased) mini (1¾ inch) muffin pan (see note).

FILLING
½ cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips
2 tablespoons butter
1/3 cup white sugar
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
1 cup dulce de leche

In a small saucepan, combine the chocolate and butter; heat and stir over low heat until melted. Remove from heat and whisk in sugar, egg and vanilla.

ASSEMBLY
In the bottom of each pastry-lined cup, place a teaspoon of dulce de leche (you can find a super-easy method for making this caramel HERE. Put the chocolate mixture on top of the dulce de leche (filling pastry cups ¾ full).

BAKE
Bake in preheated 325F oven for 25 minutes (mine baked for almost 30 minutes) or until filling is puffed. Cool in pan for five minutes then gently lift them out. If they do not come out easily, use the tip of a butter knife to help you lift them out. Cool on wire rack.

NOTE: I imagine you could use any caramel in this recipe, although the dulce de leche is super thick and does not get runny when baked.
NOTE: I never chill this dough. Instead, I place the ball of dough in the mini-muffin cup and use the rounded end of my wooden meat grinder plunger (fits perfectly). I just push down gently and evenly on the dough and the pastry cup almost forms itself. If you don’t have anything to try this method with, just use your fingers.

CHOCOLATE FUDGE & DULCE de LECHE TASSIES FOOD RECIPES
By Coleen Marie

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CROCK POT BBQ PORK SANDWICHES

CROCK POT BBQ PORK SANDWICHES Food Recipes, This is a great weekend crockpot recipe because you can turn the "extras" into many different things over the weekend. The crockpot method makes the best pork sandwich ever (and there is lots of sauce in the crockpot to make them extra juicy)...plus you can turn the extra pork into tacos, or burritos, or pork and rice just to name a few. I like to make this recipe with pork tenderloin but any pork roast will work.

2½ pound pork tenderloin
2 teaspoons chili powder
1 teaspoon ground cumin
1 teaspoon salt ½ teaspoon black pepper
1 cup favorite barbecue sauce
2 tablespoons honey
¼ teaspoon dried red chili flakes
Our market sells pork tenderloin in 2½ pound packages and there are two tenderloins in each package. Cut each tenderloin in three pieces. If you are using a pork roast, trim obvious fat and cut it into pieces about the size of your fist. Mix the dry ingredients (except for the chili flakes) and rub all surfaces of the meat; place, covered, in refrigerator for an hour or so.

Brown the meat in a couple tablespoons of canola oil then put it in the crockpot. Mix the honey & dried red chili flakes into the barbecue sauce and pour over the meat. Cook on low for six or seven hours - every crockpot is different. To check for readiness, use two forks to see if the pork will pull apart easily.

Remove meat from crockpot and pull apart with two forks. Stir sauce and put the meat back in the sauce to keep it hot.

The above sandwich was made with my bun recipe which you can find HERE

NOTE: It isn't absolutely necessary to put the meat in the fridge after you put the dry rub on it, but it strengthens the flavor.
NOTE: Turn the meat over a couple of times during the cooking cycle...not absolutely necessary.

CROCK POT BBQ PORK SANDWICHES FOOD RECIPES
By Coleen Marie

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