 When you go to the ice cream store - which flavor calls your name?🍦 Personally - I'm a chocolate and sweet cream kind of girl.🍫 Double chocolate, mint chocolate and chocolate chip are my go tos. And the chocolate has to be really good quality before I even consider indulging in a scoop. I know - I'm an ice cream snob.😂 I'm a creature of habit so it's rare that I stray away from chocolate in my ice cream but on the rare occasion that I do, it's usually for a toasted coconut or honey almond flavor. Ice cream flavors like butter pecan were never really on my radar until I made this recipe for butter pecan blondies with pecans toasted in rich, salty butter!!🧈 I'll say it again for those in the back - PECANS TOASTED IN BUTTER!!!  Clearly it took me longer than most to grasp the concept of buttered pecans - I mean it's right there in the name after all. 🤦🏻♀️😅 I know. I know. But now that I've started buttering my own pecans - I'm addicted. I've been adding them to all kinds of recipes lately - Pecan, Butterscotch, Dark Chocolate Cookies, Toasted Butter Pecan Cake, Pecan Sour Cream Coffee Cake and Pumpkin Pecan Pancakes. I've basically started toasting my pecans in butter before I adding them to any recipe with pecans in the ingredient list.😬 Safe to say buttered pecans are my newest obsession and this recipe for Butter Pecan Blondies takes that obsession to the next level. Combining browned butter, toffee bits, some of the best dark chocolate and buttered pecans is going to make these blondies the favorite at your Thanksgiving get together.
Butter Pecan Blondies Buttered Pecans 1 Tablespoon butter 1/2 cup pecans, chopped Blondies 8 Tablespoons butter 1 cup brown sugar 1 egg 1 cup flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 cup toffee bits 1 cup dark chocolate chips
 Bake 25 minutes at 350. Cool 20 minutes in pan.  Remove from pan using parchment sling.  Cut into 16 squares.  Ciao!
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 For years, I've set aside at least one day every Fall for apple pie making and it usually coincides with our annual trip to the North Georgia apple orchards.🥧 Some years I've even made it a cooperative effort by inviting friends to join me for a pie baking day.🥧 Baking is always more fun with friends.👩🏻🍳🧑🏻🍳 The day goes like this: I peel and slice TONS of apples.🍎🍏 I put all of my sliced apples and spices into a big dutch oven and cook them down for 10-15 minutes so that they release some of their juices before I add them to my pie. I make my favorite buttery homemade pie crusts. I make pies, cover them with plastic wrap and foil and put them in the freezer so that I can take them out, defrost them and bake them up fresh over the holidays. Before you start to email me, I realize that pre-cooking my apples isn't a typical practice for a lot of apple pie bakers... but it's what works for me.🤷🏻♀️ It keeps my pies from getting soggy and I end up with a pot full of the most deliciously spiced apple juice that I've ever tasted.😋  I'm not one to waste any food and certainly not something as delicious as freshly extracted apple juice. I cook my leftover apple juice down until it's thick and syrupy and perfect to use in recipes like apple cider donuts, apple cider glazed chicken, apple cider caramel rolls or this baked apple cider french toast. You don't have homemade apple cider, you say? No worries. Store bought apple cider works just as well for this recipe. And as an added bonus, you will probably have some leftover cider to try one of my other delicious apple cider recipes too.  Baked Apple Cider French Toast 1 loaf French bread 6 eggs 1 cup apple cider 1 cup whole milk 1/2 cup brown sugar 1/2 teaspoon orange zest 1 teaspoon vanilla 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon salt Cinnamon Apples 1/4 cup butter 4 medium apples, peeled and sliced into 1/4-inch slices 1/4 cup apple cider 1/3 cup brown sugar 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/4 teaspoon ground allspice 1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg 1/8 teaspoon salt 3/4 cup pecan halves Toppings Powdered sugar Maple syrup Salted caramel sauce
 Ciao!
 It's November 3d and Halloween is officially behind us so naturally I launched myself into full Thanksgiving mode today.🦃 This means that I posted my Thanksgiving dinner menu and list of ingredients on my refrigerator and started ironing my tablecloths.😬 Too soon?😂 What can I say? I like to be prepared.🤷🏻♀️ I also like to do as much meal prep as I can ahead of time so I have enough time left over to make Thanksgiving treats for catering clients too.🥧🥮  One of the things that I usually make before Thanksgiving day is the turkey gravy. It's one of the most time consuming side dishes for me to make. Is it even a side dish? Maybe it's a condiment. I don't know. Either way - the process of gravy making takes me a couple of hours so I like to get it done early. My turkey gravy recipe involves using the neck, the giblets and the drippings from a whole bird so I took advantage of the sale on frozen turkeys last week and bought two - one to cook for gravy purposes and the other to save for Thanksgiving. I smoked my first turkey on my Big Green Egg and made some delicious gravy - if I do say so myself 😅 - and then used the turkey meat to make turkey salad, turkey stew and this Turkey Noodle Casserole. If you're planning on having any leftover turkey this year after Thanksgiving dinner, I highly recommend that you save this recipe. You'll be glad you did.😋  Turkey Noodle Casserole 12 ounces egg noodles 6 Tablespoons butter 1 onion, diced 2 carrots, sliced thin 3 stalks celery, sliced thin 1 teaspoon salt 1/4 teaspoon pepper 4 cloves garlic, minced 1/4 cup all-purpose flour 3 cups whole milk 1/4 teaspoon cayenne pepper 4 cups shredded sharp cheddar 4 cups cooked, shredded turkey 1 cup sour cream
 Top with remaining cheese.  Bake 30 minutes at 350 until bubbly and golden.  Ciao!
 Happy Halloween  It's Halloween and I'm gearing up for a fun night of passing out candy to all of the spidermen, princesses, pirates and puppy dogs. I love seeing all of the costumes and it's not unusual for us to get well over 300 trick or treaters in our neighborhood on Halloween night so assuming that I factored in enough extras for my husband, I bought plenty of treats for everyone.😅 Passing out all that candy can be exhausting so I made us a charBooterie tray - you know - to keep our energy levels up.🥨🍪🍫😂  Halloween should be a fun night of indulgence for everyone so if you happen to be escorting young trick or treating through my neighborhood tonight - stop by for a special treat. No need to pick your favorite candy out of your child's pumpkin - I've got extra bags of Halloween toffee just for you.😉  This toffee is super easy to make and even though I made a Halloween themed version for tonight - you could easily make this for any occasion. I'm already thinking about swapping out the orange and yellow sprinkles and candy for red and green Christmas sprinkles or fun Valentine decorations. 😅  Halloween Toffee 35 saltine crackers 1 cup butter 1 cup brown sugar 1 1/4 cups semi sweet chocolate chips Candy eyes Reese’s pieces Halloween sprinkles
 Place in frig until hardened.  Break into pieces.  Happy Halloween - stay safe.
Ciao!  When I think of Halloween - these are the pictures that come to my mind.🐇🦕🐕🦺🎃🤠 (I have no idea where the sombero cowboy costume came from.😂 )
I have mixed feelings about Halloween. There are parts of it that I don't love. I hate scary movies, creepy decorations and the overabundance of sugary treats but there are things about Halloween that I do enjoy. I loved making homemade costumes for the kids, carving jack 0'lanterns and eating roasted pumpkin seeds.🎃  The goal is to hand out all of the candy in our bucket to the trick or treaters on Friday so we don't have leftovers. Speaking only for myself, of course.😅 Not to worry though - I'll be making Halloween CharBOOterie for us to snack on while we pass out treats. What is CharBooterie, you ask?😅 Basically, Halloween themed snacks and goodies like cheese cut into cat shapes and pumpkin shaped sandwiches.🐈⬛🎃 🤣 Halloween is the perfect excuse for me to break out my Jack O'Lantern cookie cutters. I've use this cookie cutter almost every year to make sugar cookies and cut peanut butter and grilled cheese sandwiches. This year I used it to make Chocolate Stuffed Pumpkin Cookies. The lightly spiced dough is the perfect base for the dark chocolate center and browned butter and cinnamon sugar topping. They're amazing and if you happen to knock on my door on Halloween night - I just might put one in your hand too.  Chocolate Stuffed Pumpkin Cookies 1 1/2 cups butter, softened 1 1/4 cups light brown sugar, packed 1 Tablespoon vanilla 2 eggs, room temperature 4 1/2 cups flour 1 teaspoon baking soda 1 teaspoon cinnamon 1/2 teaspoon ginger 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg 1/2 teaspoon salt 12 ounces chocolate, melted Cinnamon Sugar Topping 2 Tablespoons butter 3 Tablespoons cinnamon sugar
 Top each chocolate cookie with a cinnamon sugar cookie.  Ciao!
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