Southern Pecan Anything…

It’s no surprise that I love Pecans!  Around here, you feel blessed to have a Pecan Tree in your own backyard.  To me, it’s even better than having that long-standing strong Oak.  The house we used to rent was fortunate enough to have two Pecan Trees on it’s property.  We didn’t know the first thing about Pecan Trees then.  So we relied heavily on Mom and Maw-Maw to equip us with the proper tools.  We had a pecan picker-upper thingy, we had different things to shell the pecans, we had it all! 

We eventually learned shelling these precious gems was much more hard work than we expected just to accomplish one cup of chopped pecans for a recipe.  Fortunately for us, Maw-Maw knew a man with a lot of Pecan Trees on his land.  He shells them and looks them before vacuum sealing them for freshness.  Then I keep them in the freezer until I’m ready to use them.  They are huge, perfect, and meaty Pecans.  He charges $6.25 for a pound.  Well worth every penny for Pecans of this caliber!

You really can use Pecans in everything from a spicy, savory dish to a sweet and succulent dish.  They are so versatile and fun to get creative with.  After thinking about these gems recently, I decided to finally break into my first bag of them.  I had a can of pumpkin and fresh Pecans, a perfect set-up for a cold morning.  Oh yeah, and coffee too!  A little bit later, I had produced glorious Pumpkin Pancakes with a warm Maple Pecan Syrup. 

The recipe comes from Betty Crocker, and is surely not on my healthy foods list.  The positive part…they were so filling, I could only eat about half of the three I had planned to consume this morning.  This is a must try recipe…very warming!

Pumpkin Pancakes with a Maple-Pecan Syrup

Maple-Pecan Syrup

• 1 cup maple-flavored syrup (I used Lite Syrup)
• 1 tablespoon butter or margarine (I used Brummel and Brown)
• 1/4 cup chopped pecans (Ha! A 1/4 cup? I used almost a whole cup!)

Pancakes

• 2 1/3 cups Original Bisquick® mix (I only had Jiffy Baking Mix available in my pantry)
• 1/3 cup canned pumpkin (not pumpkin pie mix) (I must find something to do with the remaining amount from the can)
• 1 1/4 cups milk
• 1/4 cup vegetable oil
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
• 2 eggs (I used egg-substitute, 1/2 cup)

1. In 1-quart saucepan, heat syrup and butter until butter is melted, stirring constantly. Remove from heat; stir in pecans.
2. Heat griddle or skillet over medium heat or to 375°F. Grease griddle with vegetable oil if necessary. In medium bowl, stir all pancake ingredients until well blended. For each pancake, pour slightly less than 1/4 cup batter onto hot griddle.
3. Cook until edges are dry. Turn; cook other sides until golden brown. Serve with syrup.

 

As you can see in one shot below, Cinder wasn’t too happy that we didn’t have Bacon (her favorite) this morning…

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