6 Top pecan recipes

Pecans are one of our favourite nuts; they’re a very versatile ingredient and suit lots of flavour combinations. Coffee, chocolate, maple syrup and coconut are some of the pairings that work really well with pecans.

As a quick and healthy snack, I lightly toast some pecan halves then combine them in with some mixed dried fruit such as raisins, sultanas, dried cranberries and chopped dried apricots. The mixture can also be scattered over cereal or breakfast porridge.

If you fancy including them in cake or cookie dough, These are 6 of our top pecan recipes.

Coffee pecan cake

Pecan blondies

Farmer’s wife’s pecan cookies

Coconut pecan cake

Pecan maple puff pastry plait

Butter pecan skillet cookies

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Cakes & Bakes: Pecan toffee loaf cake

Since lock-down, Justin has been the one that’s been going into the supermarket while I wait in the car outside. Last week, I asked him to get me some walnuts as they’re great in chocolate cake and brownies. When he got back to the car, he said that there weren’t any walnuts, so he bought a bag of pecans.

I love pecans, they’re one of my favourite nuts; I’ve used them in mixed nut brittle, cookies and blondies. This time I’ve made a pecan toffee loaf cake.

The original recipe, from the BBC Good Food website, is double the amount and makes a round cake that serves eight. There are only 2 of us, so I made a little loaf cake. After I’d put it in the oven, I thought that it would have improved it if I’d sprinkled a couple of tablespoons of Demerara sugar over the top first. It would have given an extra crunchy bite… next time, maybe.

It went down a treat with a cupppa (coffee for me, tea for Justin) – the toasted pecan topping, the little bit of mixed spice and drizzle of maple syrup at the end really worked well together. A side serving of vanilla ice cream is another yummy accompaniment.

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Pecan toffee loaf cake

2020-06-10 17:35:41

Serves 8

Cook Time

30 min

Cook Time

30 min

Ingredients

150g/5oz pecan halves
70g/2½oz stoned dates
100g/3½oz butter, softened, plus extra for greasing
100g/3½oz light muscovado sugar
½tsp mixed spice
2 eggs, beaten
70g/2½oz self-raising flour
maple syrup, to serve

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Instructions

Put 50g of the pecans into a food processor and pulse until fine before decanting them into a mixing bowl
Put the dates into a small saucepan with enough water to cover, boil for 5 minutes until very soft. Drain, discarding the liquid, then whizz in the processor until puréed. Leave to cool
Heat your oven to 180ºC/fan 160C/Gas mark4
Butter and line a 500g/1lb loaf tin
Beat the butter, sugar and spice together until lighter and creamy
Tip in the dates, ground pecans, eggs and a pinch of salt and beat briefly until smooth
Fold in the flour with a metal spoon, then spoon into the loaf tin and level the top
Sprinkle the remaining pecans over the top (don't press them in), then bake for 30 mins or until risen and golden and an inserted skewer comes out clean
Allow to cool for a few minutes before removing from the tin, slicing and serving

Notes

Jane Hornby advises to serve warm, with generous drizzles of maple syrup and scoops of maple crunch ice cream
Justin enjoyed it with a scoop of vanilla ice cream

By Jane Hornby

Adapted from BBC Good Food

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Butter pecan skillet cookies

It wasn’t that long ago that I used a bag of pecans in a bake. I still had half a bag left so made this butter pecan skillet cookies recipe that I found on the excellent Bon Appétit website.

Pecans caramelised in maple syrup is a revelation. They’re lovely on their own, folded into or sprinkled on top of vanilla ice cream, added to sweet popcorn or, as they are here, pulsed in a food processor and added to cookie or cake mixture.

I didn’t have quite enough pecans, so I bulked them up with some chopped hazelnuts and almonds. I think the nut mixture worked really well.

I also didn’t have any nibbed sugar. However, my bag of icing sugar had hardened into a bit of a solid block, so I sliced a bit off and crushed it into the right size ‘pebbles’ using the back of a teaspoon in a sieve.

The resulting ‘cookie cakes’ were sweet, nutty and wonderfully moist.

A triangle or two was lovely as a little snack alongside an espresso or milky coffee.

All in all, a very successful bake – and one which will definitely be repeated whenever we notice some nuts that need using up.

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Butter pecan skillet cookies

2020-01-01 16:09:40

Yields 16

Ingredients

160g chopped pecans
4 tbsp maple syrup
2 tsp coarse salt, divided
140g cold butter, cubed
160g plain flour
75g light brown soft sugar
1 large egg
1 tbsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

For the glaze

120g icing sugar
3 tbsp whole milk
¼ tsp salt
1 tsp vanilla extract or vanilla bean paste

To finish

Nibbed sugar

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Instructions

Preheat your oven to 175ºC/350°F/Gas mark 4
Place a shelf in middle of oven
Toss pecans, maple syrup, and ½ tsp of the salt in a medium mixing bowl
Scrape onto a rimmed baking sheet lined with parchment paper and spread the nuts into a single layer
Bake until the pecans are slightly darkened and the syrup is dark and bubbling - about 15-20 minutes
Remove from the oven and carefully toss pecans in the hot syrup to coat again. Allow to cool on the baking sheet until the caramel hardens - about 30 minutes. Break up candied pecans into pieces, discarding any burned bits
Reduce the oven temperature to 160ºC/325°F/ Gas mark 3
Generously grease a 10" cast-iron or stainless-steel skillet; line the bottom with a round of greased parchment paper. Set aside
In a food processor, pulse the flour, brown sugar, half the candied pecans and 1¼ tsp salt until the nuts are finely chopped
Add the egg, vanilla extract/paste and butter and process until a shaggy dough forms
Transfer the dough to a large bowl and knead a couple of times just to bring it together. Using damp hands, pat the dough evenly into the skillet, extending all the way to the sides of the pan Bake the cookie until the edges are golden brown and the centre is slightly puffed - 30-35 minutes
Allow it to cool in the skillet for about an hour
Invert the cookie onto a chopping board and cut into 16 equal triangular wedges
Turn right side up and transfer to a wire rack set inside a rimmed baking sheet

For glaze

In a small, wide mixing bowl, whisk icing sugar, milk, salt and vanilla extract/paste until smooth The glaze should be the consistency of double cream; thin with more milk or thicken with more icing sugar if needed
Transfer half of the glaze to another small wide bowl (you'll need to use 2 bowls as the glaze will start to collect crumbs and you'll want a fresh start)
Working one at a time, lightly dip half of the wedges, top side down, into first bowl of glaze so that only the surface is covered and no glaze drips down the sides. Use a toothpick to pop any bubbles and smooth glaze; coating should be thin enough to see the cookie peeking through
Repeat with the remaining wedges and second bowl of glaze
Top the wedges with remaining candied pecans and let sit for 10 minutes
Sprinkle with the nibbed sugar and allow to sit until the glaze is set - about an hour

Adapted from Bon Appétit

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/

Cakes & Bakes: Pecan maple puff pastry plait

Recently, when we’ve been going back to the North to visit friends & family, we’ve stopped half-way for a comfort break. This generally entails a trip to the loo and a coffee & pastry each.

We often plump for their pecan plaits which make for the perfect, tasty energy boost.

So, with some ready-made, ready rolled pastry sitting in the fridge waiting to be used, I decided to have a go at making my own pecan maple puff pastry plait.

There are lots of tutorials available on YouTube for cutting the pastry and forming the plait – it’s quite easy and straightforward. When it comes to the filling, there’s a good degree of flexibility possible. I went for a combination of pecan & maple with a touch of cinnamon.

The addition of the cinnamon worked fine – however, we both think we might actually prefer the simplicity of the maple & pecan combination alone. There are other options too; incorporating toffee sauces, chocolate, dried fruit and various other types of nut.

There’s all manner of snacks that we enjoy with our coffee, but perhaps nothing beats a crispy, sweet pastry straight from the oven.

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Pecan maple puff pastry plait

2019-12-11 12:55:41

Serves 6

Cook Time

25 min

Cook Time

25 min

Ingredients

200g/7oz pecans
85g/3oz muscovado sugar
¼tsp ground cinnamon
2 tbsp maple syrup
30g/1oz butter, softened
1 pack (320g) pre-made, ready-rolled puff pastry
1 egg, beaten

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Instructions

Preheat your oven to 200ºC/400ºF/Gas mark 6
Finely chop the pecans. I put the pecans into a large mixing bowl and used the butt of my rolling pin. You could also use a large pestle & mortar for the task
In a large mixing bowl, combine 150g/5¼oz of the chopped pecans (reserve the remainder to sprinkle over the top of the plait before it goes into the oven), sugar, cinnamon, maple syrup and butter
Unroll the pastry onto a large baking sheet (still on its parchment paper)
Cut the pastry as shown in the photos (this is a useful video clip to show how it's done [opens in a new tab])
Spoon the sweet pecan filling down the centre of the pastry as shown in the photo
Fold the pastry as shown (also seen in the previously mentioned video)
Brush the top of the plait with some of the beaten egg and sprinkle over the reserved pecans
Cook for 20-25 minutes until the pastry has turned golden brown
Allow to cool on its tray for at least 10 minutes before slicing and serving

H is for Home Harbinger https://hisforhomeblog.com/