Pecan Pie Bar Cookie Recipe

Hello, Ladies!

Since I didn't bring my recipe to the shin-dig, I thought I would post it here for anyone who might be interested:

Ingredients:
***Crust***
1 1/4 cup unsalted butter
3/4 cup granulated sugar
2 tablespoons heavy cream
2 egg yolks
2 1/2 cups flour
***Filling***
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
1/4 cup sugar
1/3 cup honey
1/8 cup heavy cream
2 3/4 cups pecan pieces, lightly toasted

Directions:

Crust: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Lightly grease a 15 x 10-inch sheet pan; set aside.

Using an electric mixer, cream together the butter and sugar in a large mixing bowl until smooth. Add 2 tablespoons heavy cream and egg yolks, mixing until smooth. Slowly add flour, mixing until just incorporated. Do not overmix. Press into the prepared sheet pan and bake for 8 to 10 minutes until barely golden. Let cool. Reduce oven temperature to 325 degrees F.

Filling

In a medium saucepan, melt together the butter, brown sugar, sugar and honey. Bring to a boil and boil for 3 minutes. Stir in cream and remove from heat. Stir in pecans and pour into the pre-baked cookie shell. Bake at 325 degrees F for 20 to 25 minutes until bubbling on top. Cool and cut into 1 1/2-inch squares.

Source: Bakery Cafe at El Pedregal, Boulders Resort, Carefree, Arizona.

January meeting?

So, in all of our cookie craziness, we neglected to talk about January's meeting. Mom, Chrissy and I did a little talking at church on Christmas Eve and decided we should meet for Chinese food one evening in January and come with our ideas and calendars and plan our meetings for the year.

I can get the small private room at Helen's Gourmet Chinese at Fresno and Alluvial so we can be loud and silly, like we tend to be.

What do you all think?
Which of the following dates works best for you?

Jan. 5
Jan. 7
Jan. 11

Respond to the blog and as soon as we have a date that seems to work for most of us, I'll make the reservation.

Hope you all had a great Christmas and have a great New Year's holiday as well.

Talk to you soon,
Carey

December's Meeting was a Good Thing...

We had a full house as all The Good Things Girls made it to the party!!!

Dipping into the non-sweets, quite a necessity of the evening...

That's one big pile of gifts to grab...

Did we really try ALL of these cookies? (just one little bite)

Now THAT'S what I call a Cookie Exchange!

Great Job, as usual, GTGF's!!!

Thanks again for such a fun night...

Bless the Bohans

Hello, ladies! I posted this on facebook too, so this will be a repeat to some of you.

Would you like to be a blessing to a dear family in need? We have some dear friends, Chris and Diane Bohan (Diane's maiden name is Dunbar, for all you People's Church youth groupers), who received the news that Chris has liver cancer and must be taken to the Mayo Clinic early next week for a possible transplant. It is very difficult financially for Diane to stay in Arizona with Chris, so I would like to give all my friends the opportunity to bless Diane with one night's stay at a hotel near the hospital. If several of us chip in, she can stay there for the duration of his treatment (about two weeks). Contact me via phone 323-5576, and I can arrange for the blessings to reach Diane. Thank you all in advance!

Cookies and questions

Well girls, we did it again. I don't know how but each year gets better than the last. Thanks for a fabulous night filled with sugar highs and giggles. Tracy, your house was so beautiful and your hospitality appreciated.

I do have a few questions, though:
Chrissy -- Was my breakfast this morning from one of those Amish Friendship starter deals? Do you have starter I can have? I'd love to start that up again. I miss that stuff! And, thanks SO MUCH for the fudge, candies, curd, scarf and all those goodies! You are generous and kind and a very good thing. I'm sorry you're sick!
Suzelle -- Are you ready to abandon us as a group after we made you open all the presents last night?
Cheri -- How does Eric like that apron?
Tracy -- Is Jesus' love surrounding you today? I sure do hope so! :-)
??? -- I don't know who ended up with the cookie jar, but are all those cookies safely inside it this morning, or did the fam rob your stash?

Number of attendees

Hello, Ladies!

Are we all ready for fun and excitement?!

Just thought I'd remind everyone, just in case you didn't see my RSVP before, my mom will be coming to tonight's festivities. We can hardly wait!

Another little thingy....

So, in my Reminders section of the invite...I forgot to include...

Bring 10 copies of your cookie RECIPE to pass out along with your exchange packages
...mine is on a regular size letter size sheet with 3 hole punched sides,
(to go right in your Good Things Recipe Binder)
...but some of the 'more creative types' (like Nola-mom)
cleverly incorporate their recipe into the packaging.
How you do it is up to you!

Hey Carolyn, We want you to attend too! ;o)

Sticky Gingerbread Recipe

Since Chrissy requested the Sticky Gingerbread recipe that I found, I figured I'd post it here:

1 stick + 3 T butter
3/4 C dark corn syrup
3/4 C molasses
2/3 C packed dark brown sugar
2 tsp. finely grated fresh ginger (I used powdered and it tasted fine)
1 tsp ground ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp ground cloves
1 C milk
2 eggs, beaten
1 tsp baking soda, dissolved in 2 T warm water
2 C flour

Preheat oven to 350 and line cake pan with aluminum foil or parchment paper (grease foil).

In saucepan, melt butter over low heat along with syrup, molasses, sugar, fresh and ground gingers, cinnamon, and cloves. Remove from heat, and add milk, eggs, and dissolved baking soda in its water.
Put flour into a bowl, and pour in liquid ingredients, beating until well mixed. (Batter will be very wet.) Pour into pan and bake 45-60 min. until bread rises and is firm on top. Do not over-bake; it will continue to bake as it cools. Transfer pan to wire rack and let cool before cutting gingerbread into squares.

It's December...So you know what that means...

Time for another GOOD THINGS GIRLS GATHERING,
and It's only a week away!

You're invited:
When: Tuesday, December 8th at 7pm
Where: Tracy's House
Why: For the annual Cookie Swap & Gift Grab (Oh, I mean exchange)
Who: Hopefully all 10 of us fun-lovin' Girls

Don't forget:
...to bring a $20ish wrapped Gift (fit for fightin' over)
...to Bake up 6 dozen cookies
(packaged up, 1/2 dz. each to give your GTGFs, but
leaving out 1 dz. to share/taste at the meeting)

Ribbons will be awarded to:

~ Best Decorated Cookie
~ Most Creative Cookie Packaging
~ Yummy-est Tasting
~ Best All Around

Don't worry, I'll have some nibbles of the NOT so sweet variety
in an attempt to balance out the sugar rush!

December is Upon Us, so if you haven't done it already
...get shopping & baking, dear friends
...we've only got 1 weekend left, before our meeting...

Can't wait to share some Holiday Cheer with you!