Butterscotch Pecan Chews Recipe

Butterscotch Pecan Chews. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

A perfect excuse to bake (as if you need one): Here's an easy blondie recipe with a surprise ~ no butter. Four eggs hold the brown sugar and flour together and pecans add texture. These bars can be assembled and baked up in under an hour. If they're not gobbled up still warm from the oven, wrap them up tight, refrigerate and send in school lunches throughout the week. Guaranteed lunchtime friend-maker.

Butterscotch Pecan Chews

Non-stick baking spray

4 large eggs

1 pound dark brown sugar

2 1/2 cups self-rising flour

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 cup chopped pecans

1. Preheat oven to 350. Spray 9 inch square pan with baking spray. 

2. In a bowl, stir together eggs, brown sugar, flour and vanilla until smooth and nearly lump-free. Stir in the pecans.

3. Pour batter into greased pan. Bake until golden brown, about 25 minutes. Remove to cooling rack, and cut into squares when barely warm.

Adapted from "Treasured Recipes of the Charleston Cake Lady" by Teresa Pregnall (Hearts Books, 1996)

Text and images copyright 2013, Lucy Mercer.

Emeril's Kicked-Up Sandwiches

Emeril's Kicked-Up Egg Salad Sandwich. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

 

I’m getting serious about sandwiches today, cooking from Emeril Lagasse’s newest cookbook, “Emeril’s Kicked-Up Sandwiches.” I’m so very honored that A Cook and Her Books has been chosen by Morrow Cookbooks to participate in the #SeriousSandwich blogalong marking the publication of Emeril’s newest book.

Twenty-two other bloggers from all walks will cook from the book and write about their experiences over the next few weeks. Look for links to the stories by following #SeriousSandwich on Twitter, on the A Cook and Her Books' Facebook page and also on Morrow Cooks’ Facebook and Twitter pages. 

To start the #SeriousSandwich blogalong off, I made Emeril’s Egg Salad Supreme, a sublime example of how a little bit of chef-ly know-how can knock an everyday sandwich filling out of the ballpark. Perfectly hard-boiled eggs are mixed with mayo (homemade if you’re the type to go to the trouble, and if you want to learn, Emeril will show you how in the book), shallot, green onion, celery, plus the addition of dry mustard and hot Hungarian paprika - and there's the bam, the kick-it-up-a-notch ingredients that make for a memorable sandwich. 

The recipe headnote describes it as reminiscent of horseradish or wasabi – I like to put radishes in my egg salad, so I’m totally on board with the mustard and paprika combo. 

Egg salad, open faced. Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

Egg Salad Supreme

Yield: 6 sandwiches, about 3 cups filling

Here’s a simple, delicious sandwich. The dry mustard and paprika give it a wonderful surprising wasabi-y or horseradish-y accent.

12 hard-boiled eggs*

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon dry mustard

1/2 teaspoon hot Hungarian paprika

¼ cup minced shallot

¼ cup chopped green onion or fresh parsley leaves

¼ cup minced celery

1/2 cup mayonnaise, homemade or store-bought

12 slices White Sandwich Bread (use Emeril's recipe in the book or your favorite white bread)

1. Roughly chop the eggs and place them in a mixing bowl. Add the salt, mustard, paprika, shallot, green onion, celery, and mayonnaise. Stir with a rubber spatula or a spoon until very well blended. Transfer to a container, cover, and refrigerate for at least 2 hours and up to 4 days.

2. Spread 1/4 to 1/2 cup of the egg salad between 2 slices of bread. Repeat with the remaining salad and bread.

*Here’s my favorite method for hard-boiling eggs:

 Start with a saucepan and insert a steamer basket (if you have it - this makes it easier to remove the eggs and also keeps them from bouncing around on the bottom of the pot). Place 6 eggs on opened basket, cover with cold water, bring to a rolling boil, cover and cook for less than a minute. Pull covered pan off the heat and turn kitchen timer to 13 minutes. Some folks say 12 minutes, some say 15. All I know is that mine were cooked perfectly at 13 minutes. Have an ice water bath nearby and plunge the cooked eggs into the cold water. When cool enough to handle, peel away the shells. Old eggs are easier to peel due to the air pocket, fresher eggs stubbornly hang on to their shells.

Look for a giveaway of Emeril's newest cookbook coming up on

 A Cook and Her Books!

 

Emeril’s Kicked-Up Sandwiches (Morrow, $24.99)

Recipe reprinted with permission from Morrow Books.

If you love cookbooks like I do, you gotta follow The Secret Ingredient Blog from Morrow Books.

Images and non-recipe text copyright 2012, Lucy Mercer.

Try this sausage and veggie sandwich

Ukrainian Sausage and Tomato Sandwich by Lucy Mercer/A Cook and Her Books

 My kids are crazy for this sandwich, a discovery made while researching a social studies project. We found the recipe in an internet search for Ukrainian cuisine and it's been requested again and again. This sausage sandwich is tasty and packs well for office brown-baggers and school lunches. It also features the surprising addition of sliced cucumbers for crunch instead of the usual iceberg lettuce. The original is served open face, but I like having a lid - consider it cook's choice.

Ukrainian Sandwich

1 pound turkey kielbasa, sliced

4 ounces cream cheese

2 ounces butter, softened

2 cloves garlic, minced

Salt and pepper to taste

2 loaves soft French bread

1 cucumber, peeled and sliced thin on the bias

2 Roma tomatoes, sliced thin

1. In a skillet over medium heat, cook sausage slices until they are browned. Remove to a paper towel and drain.

2. In a bowl, mix together cream cheese, butter, minced garlic and salt and pepper to taste.

3. Split baguette in half and spread butter mixture evenly across each half. Layer sausage slices, cucumber and tomatoes then grind more black pepper across top. Place lid on sandwich and press firmly together. Wrap sandwich tightly in plastic wrap. Refrigerate until ready to serve. Slice before serving.

Text and images copyright 2010, Lucy Mercer.

Lunch Box Favorite: Sweet potato gingerbread

I love cakes that use a vegetable base, like carrot cake and pumpkin cake. It's a stretch to think of these kinds of cakes as health food, but as a treat, they're different from the usual vanillas and chocolates. This sweet potato gingerbread is just right for these cool autumn days. It's delicious without the frosting, but if you have kids, you can't get away with that, you simply must use the frosting and put a slice in your child's lunchbox every day that you possibly can. Your child will be the envy of the lunchbox crowd.

Sweet Potato Gingerbread with Cream Cheese Frosting

3/4 cup vegetable oil
1 1/2 cups packed light brown sugar
3 large eggs
1 cup baked, mashed sweet potato, at room temperature
1 tablespoon Grandma's molasses (or equivalent mild molasses, don't use blackstrap)
1 tablespoon finely grated fresh ginger
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
1/8 teaspoon ground nutmeg
1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1. Preheat oven to 350. Place rack in center of oven. Lightly grease a 9-inch square baking pan.

2. In a medium bowl, combine brown sugar, oil, and eggs and using a mixer, whisk until the sugar is dissolved. Add sweet potato, molasses, grated ginger, salt, cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg. Add the flour and baking powder and soda to the batter and combine just until blended.

3. Pour batter into pan, using a spatula to evenly spread the batter. Bake until about 45 minutes (I use convection and it was spot on, 45 minutes.) A toothpick inserted in the center will come out quite nearly clean.

4. Let cake cool while you make:

Cream Cheese Frosting

1 (8 oz.) package cream cheese, (I usually have Neufchatel on hand)
1/2 stick (2 ounces) unsalted butter, softened
2 cups or more (to reach the desired consistency) confectioner's sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla

1. In a mixer, combine the butter and cream cheese and whip until smooth. Gradually, on low speed, add the powdered sugar until the frosting reaches the desired consistency. I like this frosting soft and melty.

2. Spread the frosting on the cool cake. Can sit out for a few hours, but put leftovers in the fridge. Subsequent servings from the fridge can be zapped for 10 seconds or so to remove the refrigerator chill.