I love pecans. Love them. But somehow I forget about that fact for roughly 90% of the year, remembering only when a family member requests that I bring my favorite pecan pie for Thanksgiving. But then it's all pecans all the time...until I run out of my Thanksgiving pecan bulk buy. What do you do with your leftover pecans?
Once toasted in the oven, I find that pecans have the best crunch of all the nuts. They're great on their own as a pre-dinner snack or tossed into salads, but also retain their buttery crunch when baked into loaves of bread and cookies. I also love all the nooks and crannies in the top, which are perfect for collecting spices or holding a bit of sauce.
Pecans are actually a member of the hickory family, and the trees can continue producing nuts for hundreds of years. Pecan harvest happens in the fall, which is probably why pecan pie became such a prominent Thanksgiving staple. These nuts have a high fat content, which can cause them to quickly go rancid. Be sure to buy nuts as fresh as you can find them and then keep the nuts in the freezer for longer-term storage.
What are your favorite recipes with pecans?
More Pecan Recipes and Ideas:
• Old-Fashioned Pecan Pie
• Classic Southern Pralines
• Pearl Couscous with Mint and Pecans
• Goat Cheese Pops with Herbs, Bacon, and Pecans
• Savory Spiced Pecans
• Steel-Cut Oats with Dates, Coconut, Cinnamon, and Pecans
• Chocolate Chip Oatmeal Cookies with Cherries and Pecans
Related: Kitchen Science: Why Toast Nuts Before Baking?
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Spicy Maple Pecans from Nigella Lawson. I serve these at my annual holiday party, and they always get eaten up!
I make Perky Pecans, an easy recipe using egg whites and cinnamon sugar. Oh so good and leftovers can be chopped and thrown into a spinach or Waldorf salad. The recipe can be found in a Google search.
Pecans are a great way to bulk up oatmeal. I also add sliced bananas, blueberries and cinnamon.
I love pecans! I'm a vegetarian, so I always have loads of nuts around for cooking and baking. Pecans are among my favorite, but they're a bit of a splurge! This is the time of year for them, though!
I put them in salads, savory pastries, creamy sauces, soups...
I recently made a thanksgiving-inspired savory pie with sweet potatoes, turnips, pecans smoked gouda and cranberry sauce...
http://outoftheordinaryfood.com/2012/11/13/savory-sweet-potato-turnip-and-pecan-galette-with-smoked-gouda-and-cranberry-sauce/
One of my favorite dishes, though quite simple, is collards with pecans, tomatoes and olives.
http://outoftheordinaryfood.com/2012/10/11/collards-tomatoes-olives-and-pecans-and-the-ordinary-manifesto/
I made a roasted butternut and portobello tart with ground pecans in the crust...
http://outoftheordinaryfood.com/2012/10/04/roasted-butternut-portobello-tart-with-a-pecan-crust/
I made a sort of pecan frangipane in this greens, olives and pecan tart with a tall crispy crust.
http://outoftheordinaryfood.com/2012/10/18/greens-olives-pecan-tart/
A creamy (cream-free) roasted red pepper and pecan sauce...
http://outoftheordinaryfood.com/2012/03/15/roasted-red-pepper-pecan-sauce/
I love to use nuts in soup to make them creamy without cream and add protein and flavor...here's one with pecans, spinach and white beans...
http://outoftheordinaryfood.com/2012/01/22/spinach-white-bean-pecan-bisque/
Sorry to have posted so many! I could go on and on, but I won't!
I love them because they look like tiny monkey feet.
Your recipes sound delicious!
I LOVE pecans as well...strangely enough I rarely cook with them! I'm contented by adding them to granola, cereal, pudding, or simply stuffing them into dried figs for a quick snack. The next recipe to-make on my list is pecan pie!!!!
My go to casual gathering snack is Ina Garten's chiptole rosemary spiced nuts:
http://www.thekitchn.com/ina-gartens-chipotle-rosemary-133191
I always substitute pecans for the walnuts, and sometimes when I'm feeling decadent, I substitute pecans for the cashews and almonds too. That's what everyone is always digging around the bowl for anyway.
"What do you do with your leftover pecans?"
Now there's two terms I've never seen used in the same sentence....leftover and pecans! I grew up in a hundred + yr old farmhouse built on the site of what was once a pecan orchard. (Hear me when I say I'd rather pick 'em up than pick 'em out.) Pecans are a *freezer staple* to me.
Off to have some fun with a couple of those recipes Claireooto shared.
LOL, like discerning above I have never heard of leftover pecans. For thanksgiving this year I made spicy pecans for an appetizer, I'm putting them in the salad and the stuffing and my grandma is bringing a pecan pie...My grandma also makes pecan balls for Christmas!
Thank you. I just love pecans! And most nuts, actually...
Bacon pecan shortbread.