Tips, Gadgets and How To

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Graham Cracker Cookies with a Pecan on Top

Plateful of Yum!!! Great for passing at a dinner party even when having another dessert
Plateful of Yum!!!  Tidbit Tip: Great for passing at a dinner party even when having another dessert. We did this last night and everyone could not resist eating several.  Bet you can’t either!

Hey Everybody, finally I am posting my famous Graham Cracker Cookies.  So many of you have waited for this post.  I have made these cookies for so many years I have lost count. I am known for them and every Christmas they are my  “Joyful Gift from my Kitchen”.   I love them because they are low in sugar and so very delish!!!  You can also make them without the pecans.  One batch makes around 44 cookies so you can get almost 4 dozen in one baking. (Lots of goodness and joy to share, and if you bag 11 cookies to a bag you will have 4 gifts in one baking)  They also keep well so you can make them weeks ahead.  I package them in clear plastic bags with pretty ribbons but this year I embroidered some snowflakes on my embroidery machine and used them to add to the bag.  The snowflakes also serve as a gift to hang on the tree that will bring back memories year after year.  I hope you will make these.  Follow the instructions below then package them in bags or tins.  Be creative and please leave comments on how you packaged them for gifting and with whom you shared them.   We can learn new ideas from each other.   Of course, they are not just for Holiday Time – they are year round cookies.   If you don’t have a recipe that you are known for and one that you spread joy with by sharing – these Graham Cracker Cookies could be the one.

Cookies on sheet
Graham Cracker Cookies on cookie sheet topped with pecans. Notice broken edges on some. It is harder and harder to break them evenly. All good though!!! Tidbit Tip: Use cookie sheet with sides but not too deep.                
Butter and sugar melting. When it start to boil: boil for 3 minutes - Tidbit Tip: Use a non-stick pot.
Butter and sugar melting. When it starts to boil: boil for 3 minutes – Tidbit Tip: Use a non-stick pot.


Cookies with boiled sugar and butter poured over - Ready to go in oven for 12 minutes at 325 degrees. Tidbit Tip: Don't worry if they are not evenly covered. They bubble up in the oven and spread over the cookies. Make sure there is some topping on the pecan to hold it in place.

Cookies covered with the boiled sugar and butter. – Ready to go in oven for 12 minutes at 325 degrees. Tidbit Tip: Don’t worry if they are not evenly covered. They bubble up in the oven and the mixture will spread over the cookies.  Make sure there is some mixture on the pecans to hold them in place.

 

Tidbit Tip: Do this for easier clean up: While cookies are baking prepare your counter top.   Place a layer of paper towels and then cover with wax paper.  I use masking tape to secure the wax paper to the counter top. I then place a hot pad on top of wax paper for the hot cookie sheet.  Tidbit Tip: Spray the spatula with cooking spray 

 

 

 

Using spatula to remove cookies from cookie sheet to place on wax paper for cooling.
Using spatula to remove cookies from cookie sheet to place on wax paper for cooling.
Cookie before trimming the edges.
Cookie before trimming the edges.
Cookies packaged to give as a treat. I love this bowl. It makes me smile. A Bowl full of Joy!!!

Graham Cracker Cookies

Toffee flavored, you can't eat just one, yummy cookies
Print Recipe
Servings: 3 Dozen
Course: Dessert
Ingredients Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 2 sticks butter, make sure it is salted
  • 1/2 cup sugar
  • 1 Package Original Nabisco Grahams Crackers
  • Pecan halves

Method
 

  1. Use cookie sheet with sides. Spray with Pam.
  2. Line bottom of pan with crackers.
  3. Place pecan half on each cracker.
  4. Melt butter, add sugar. Bring to boil and boil exactly 3 minutes.
  5. Pour or spoon over crackers.
  6. Bake for 12 minutes in a pre-heated 325 degree oven.
  7. Remove cookies with a spatula and place on wax paper

Notes

Tidbit Tips:
Nabisco Grahams work best.
It’s important to cook the correct amount of time.  If you don’t cookies will be too chewy.
For easier clean up:   Line your counter top with paper towels and place wax paper on top.   I usually tape it all down with blue painters tape. 
 Let cookies rest on wax paper for a few minutes, then lift off and then let them cool completely.   If you lift them too soon the cracker will break and if you leave too long, they tend to stick to the wax paper. 
After cooling trim the edges. 
 I know this sounds like a lot, but after the first time, it’s really quite easy.   They will be “The Best You Ever Made”   Let me know how you like them. 
 

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Pecan Crusted Chicken and Raspberry Vinaigrette

This is such an easy and delicious way to serve chicken, gluten-free as well,  I know you will enjoy it often.  You can serve it on a field of greens with a raspberry vinaigrette dressing, recipe below, as a main meat or as chicken tenders.  Kids love the honey mustard flavor.  I like serving it on a bed of mixed greens and topping it with roasted nuts, either pecans or walnuts, cucumbers, grape tomatoes and mandarin oranges or any type of fruit.  It makes a great meal for a luncheon because you can cook the chicken ahead of time. It is one of the favorite dishes we serve in our Apples of Gold mentoring, cooking and hospitality classes. We serve it as a salad along with Linguine with a tomato, lemon and butter sauce, Cheese Biscuits and Chocolate Chip Cheesecake.  I promise to get those recipes out to you. I have cooked these recipes so many times, but have no pictures.  Therefore, I am preparing all the food we serve for Apples of Gold and photographing them.  My husband, Bill, is loving it, me too!   My hope and wish is that my blog will be a good resource for all our “Applettes”  and for those following Tidbits of Joy. These are recipes that will fit with your busy life but still allow you to make delicious meals with a little flair.  And as always, make more than you need for the meal you are preparing.  I love having some in the freezer for a quick-lunch or dinner when pushed for time, usually on a Monday night before our small group arrives.  

Ingredients
Tidbit Gadget
Small Food Processor for
grinding the pecans

Must Have For Your Kitchen
Honey and Spicy Mustard
Honey and Spicy Mustard
Mix together
Chicken dipped into Honey Mustard Mixture
Honey/mustard coated chicken being coated with pecans
BakedChicken right out of the oven

 

Pecan Crusted Chicken Salad with Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette

Mixed greens with sliced pecan crusted chicken drizzled with raspberry walnut vinaigrette
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Servings: 6
Course: Main Course
Ingredients Method

Ingredients
  

  • 6 boneless chicken breast or 8 tenderloins
  • 1/2 cup honey
  • 1/2 cup spicy brown mustard
  • 1 cup pecans ground
  • mixed salad greens
  • grape tomatoes
  • fresh cumbers sliced
  • strawberries or fruit of choice
Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette
  • 1/4 cup raspberry vinegar
  • 1 teaspoon sugar
  • 1/2 teaspoon salt
  • 1/8 teaspoon pepper
  • 3 tablespoons finely chopped walnuts or pecans
  • 3/4 cup olive oil

Method
 

  1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Spray 9 X 13 baking dish with Pam
  2. In a shallow dish, combine honey and mustard. Stir to mix
  3. In a separate shallow dish, combine ground pecans and salt to taste
  4. Dip chicken in honey mixture, coat in pecan mixture and place in baking dish
  5. Bake 30 to 35 minutes or until chicken is tender. Set Aside
  6. Arrange greens on individual plates and top with sliced chicken. Drizzle with raspberry walnut vinaigrette and serve fruit on the side.
Raspberry Walnut Vinaigrette: In small mixing bowl, combine vinegar, sugar, salt and pepper. Stir until sugar and salt dissolve. Slowly whisk in olive oil. Add walnuts.

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

     

    Basil, Pesto and Pasta
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    Basil, Pesto and Pasta

    Do you ever wonder what to do with all the basil you have grown in your garden or in a container?   I don’t know about you but I have the most prolific crop this year.  Of course, I love fresh basil on tomatoes with mozzarella cheese, I love it made into pesto and serve with pasta and I love to use it to season soups and sauces.

    Freshly Picked Basil ready to make Pesto

    Freshly Picked Basil ready to make Pesto

    BASIL IS PART OF THE MINT FAMILY  it is an aromatic herb.  It can be eaten fresh or dried. There are so many RECIPES for using basil where to start.  My favorite is on fresh tomatoes and mozzarella cheese.  I pick the fresh leaves,  place several on top of each other, roll them up and then use my kitchen shears  to snip them into small pieces.  Your joyful kitchen should have kitchen shears.  I use mine for all kinds of things, especially cutting raw chicken.  They will cut right through bones making easy work of cutting up a whole chicken.  And, of course that will save you money not having to buy chicken already cut up. Also works great for cutting sausage that is in CASINGS. But I regress, back to BASIL.

     

    2 cups packed Basil

    2 cups packed Basil

     

    Cutting rolled basil with kitchen shears

    Cutting rolled basil with kitchen shears

    Basil growing on the deck.

    Basil growing on the deck

    Basil growing on the deck

    Making your own BASIL PESTO is a great way to enjoy fresh basil into the winter months. I freeze it using ice-cube trays and when frozen pop them out and store them  in plastic containers or bags.  Then you just add some cubes to make PESTO PASTA.  There is nothing better than remembering the lazy, wonderful days of summer when you bite into pesto pasta in the dead of winter made with your own or store-bought pesto. It reminds you of those long evenings before dark when you were leisurely dining enjoying the evening. I also dry basil leaves in my  DEHYDRATOR.   I do not have the patience to gather the stalks of basil, tie them with string and hang in the basement or some other dark out-of-the-way place.  It takes too long and when I have done this I seem to forget about them.  So the DEHYDRATOR works for me .  

     

     

    [yumprint-recipe id=’3′] 

    Pesto in ice cube tray ready for freezer.

    Pesto in ice cube tray ready for freezer.

    My family will  be enjoying pesto pasta salad for the weekend.  I hope you too will be making something yummy in your Joyful  Kitchen, the heart of your home.

    Joy Always, Cissy