Meltaway....absolutely! But where do they re-appear?

I'm thinking my hips & thighs, but that's just a guess. Have you ever really wanted a Whatchamacallit ( my absolute all time favorite chocolate treat) or a KitKat, maybe even a Butterfinger but know they're just not figure friendly?

Not thinking clearly because your thoughts are bombarded with peanut-buttery, crunchy & chocolaty goodness ....you get a Whatchamacallit out of it's 'secret' 'hiding' 'deterrent' spot.

Since you are determined not to eat it, you think of ways to talk yourself out of it. You run the gamut of "a moment on the lips, a lifetime on the hips" to "nothing tastes as good as thin feels" but today the urge is just too strong. You need reinforcements. You need a visual aid.

You go the the drawer and take out the tape. You tape, literally adhere, the oh-so-desired Whatchamacallit onto your body.

You head straight for the mirror and look at yourself, with a chocolate bar taped to your body, from all angles. You take a solid few minutes just staring at your new addition, waiting, hoping, praying, for this craving to subside. No such luck.

What you do come up with is that you are resourceful and smart and for this you deserve a reward. How convenient that you have a candy bar so close by. You tug if off and proceed to enjoy every last morsel.

This never happened to you? No? Well, me neither.

OK, lets get to the Pecan meltaways. I think I forgot to add this to my list of "Iron Chef Pantry" items, but the pecans were in there. You're gonna have to trust me on this one folks. I love super simple recipes and this definitely falls into that category. It has 6 (butter, powered sugar, salt, flour & pecans) ingredients. I uses 1 bowl. If you're going to try any recipe, this would be a great start!

Perfectly light and fluffy.
The consistency you're looking for after you add the flour.
After you add the pecans, wrap in plastic wrap.
After the dough has chilled, roll into 1 inch balls, or use a scoop like I did here.
Place on ungreased baking sheet, or silpat like I used. Once they're baked, but still warm, roll in powered sugar. That's it- really! That's all there is to it!
I'm very happy that I know where the recipe came from this time. More often then not, I cut something out of a magazine but not the name of the mag, and the same with copying a recipe from online, usually forgetting to include the author.

This is from Taste of Home magazine December & January 2010 issue. ( yay! go me!)

Pecan Meltaways

1 cup butter, softened
1/2 cup confectioners' sugar
1 tsp. vanilla extract
2-1/4 cups AP flour
1/4 tsp. salt
3/4 cup pecans, chopped
additional confectioners' sugar for dusting/rolling/covering


Cream the butter, sugar and vanilla until light and fluffy. Combine flour and salt; gradually add to creamed mixture and mix well. Stir in pecans. Refrigerate until chilled.

Roll, or scoop into 1 inch balls and place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350 for 8-12 minutes or until set. Roll warm cookies in additional confectioners' sugar; cool completely on wire racks. Roll cooled cookies again in confectioners' sugar.

Enjoy!

These little cookies may very well be easy, but they are sinfully delicious!!

Thanks so much for stopping by! As always, I'd love to see pics if you make these cookies and please feel free to ask any questions; I'm always here to help!

Mama said there'd be days like this

Has your pantry ever looked like it just threw up? Well, apparently mine has the flu. I knew it wasn't feeling well when I started taking things out of it and it would spit out one thing before I closed the door. Unfortunately, I didn't pick up on the initial symptoms until it was too late. I pulled out a few things, lined then up nicely and just stared at them for a while. Tilting my head to the right, then back to the left. What was I waiting for? I'm not sure really. Although about 2 minutes into staring at my counter it hit me!! Iron chef! Now even though I'm enamoured with the concept, being a vegetarian, I can't always watch the show. They have some freaky secret ingredients!And I mean freaky in caps, bold, italicized and underlined! I wanted to come up with recipes using as many of these ingredients as possible.

So this is just a quick post kind of like a preview of whats to come.

The one i'm most excited about is the first one!

#1- pumpkin whoopie pies with maple marshmallow frosting!!! ( that takes care of 2 at once)

#2- Sun-dried tomato and onion bread! ( that also takes care of two at once)

#3- Caramel ( I want to go old school with this one and try the boil the can of sweetened condensed milk for hours & hope it doesnt explode method)

#4- mint chocolate chip cookies ( I found those scrumptious dark chocolate and mint chips a while ago, now its time to use them)

#5- Almond butter buttercream ( I love almond butter, in any way shape or form, although I usually just smear it on toast. This time I am going to make it into a buttercream & I think, I hope, WASC cupcakes would be just perfect!)

I hope you stay tuned to see how they all turn out. Also, just so you know, this was only the bottom shelf in the pantry. There are 4 more shelves that I havent 'thrown up' on my counter yet!

I love to challenge myself and I also very much want to use up what I have before I buy anything else.

Thanks so much for stopping by and I hope you check back soon. I am very passionate about fondant and I would like to add tutorials about the figures that I make. Pictorials actually.

As always, if you have any questions, any at all, please feel free to ask! Im always happy to help any way that I can!

Bake happy!

Jess