Infused sugars and the May Day Art Faire.

I was surprised to realize that I have not posted since April 22. Mostly this is due to art fair last weekend, I was busy making things to sell there. I had my usual assortment of jams and jellies, a few body products and my photo cards. It was a fun two day show with lots of friends coming by to shop and support local artisans !

There was so much beautiful art, this fused glass work by Randie Silverstein.

These adorable bags by Dawn O'Regan.

Our hostess, Nancy Howells is queen of pique assiette or broken plate mosaic.

I was happy with how well I did considering it was my first time at the this show. I do still have jams for sale in case you missed it: sunrise marmalade, rose champagne jelly, apple pear butter, hot pepper jelly, pumpkin chutney and raspberry jam.

It was fun to introduce a couple of new products at this show: infused sugars ! They are all the rage in the foodie world, you can use them for tea or coffee, mixed drink or in baking.

I offered three flavors: fresh lemon, mandarin orange and cardamom. Each uses a slightly different technique. For the fresh lemon I used fresh peel with the sugar in the food processor. The mandarin sugar has peel that I dried and powdered, it also has a couple of drops of orange extract. The cardamom uses the whole crushed pods as well as some of the powdered spice. Each jar comes with a recipe. The lemon sugar has my favorite lemonade. The mandarin sugar is great in the orange cake I recently posted. My chai spice cookies are divine with the cardamom infused sugar. I made the cake and cookies as treats for the shoppers at the show.

You might notice that there is a jar of brown sugar in the photo, that's another thing I wanted to try. I always make my own brown sugar, and while it is relatively easy, most people won't go to the trouble to do it. Homemade brown sugar tastes so much better than what you buy at the store, it makes your morning hot cereal a gourmet meal.

Look for these new items to be at my show in November !!

Salted Pecan Pie Bars

I made a pecan pie this Thanksgiving that was pretty darn good, I have been too busy to post it and it still needed some tweaking.

Then I had a craving for pecan pie bars...off to search recipes online. I finally found one that was simple to make and to modify. Her photos are more beautiful but I only had to make my version once to be totally satisfied ;-)

My expert cookie maker brother agreed with me when he sampled the one I managed to save for him. These bars have the perfect balance of crust to filling, better even than a pecan pie in my estimation. And the coarse salt on top is a nice touch.

Make these and give them to your friends and family as holiday gifts, it will make them very happy !
Add a bag of pecans, some agave, the recipe and they will ecstatic ;-)

Salted Pecan Pie Bars

Alert : These cookies need to cool completely before you cut them. At least four or five hours in a cool house, longer if it is warm inside or refrigerate them overnight. 
They need time to set the filling.

Ingredients

Crust

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 cup packed brown sugar
• 2 cups flour 

Filling

• 2 large eggs
• ¾ cup agave sweetener
• ¾ cup packed brown sugar
• 2 tablespoons maple syrup
• 1 teaspoon vanilla
• 2 cups pecans

1) Preheat the oven to 375 F.
2) In a large mixing bowl, cream the butter and sugar.

3)Add the flour and beat until coarse crumbs form. If the mixture is too soft, add a little more flour. It should be crumbly but stick together when pressed.

4) Press the crust into a 9×13 baking dish.

5) Bake for 14-15 minutes or until top appears dry and slightly puffed.

6)For the filling, whisk the two eggs, agave, brown sugar, maple syrup, and vanilla. 

7) Stir in the pecans and pour the mixture over the crust. The filling should not be more than just a light layer of sauce over the crust. 

8) Arrange any stray pecans and return to the oven for 18-20 minutes. Remove from oven when the filling appears mostly set. 

9) Sprinkle with coarse sea salt.

10) Now comes the hardest part, they must cool for four to five hours or longer before you can cut them and eat them, otherwise they will not be set enough. They are worth the wait !!

Gift idea #5- homemade brown sugar

If you have a friend or family member who likes to bake, this is a fun and easy gift.
Make a batch of brown sugar , place it in a decorative jar.

Combine it with a couple of printed recipes that use brown sugar like: chocolate chip bars, apple butter, oatmeal cookies or old fashioned gingerbread, you could even add some of the other ingredients like chocolate chips or apples or nuts or candied ginger.
Put it together in a basket , you will have a lovely homemade gift !!
Homemade brown sugar tastes so much better than what you can buy !!!