Food, cooking, eating, and me

I made a crustless pecan pie for the holiday. The inspiration was in the right place, but it was very hard to dish up and eat. The pecans on top were truly addictive, though.

So today I thought it would be a good time to try a variation on caramel and pecans. I toasted 2 cups of pecans in the oven at 325° in a nonstick pan and melted together 1/2 cup light brown sugar, 1/2 cup dark corn syrup, 3 tablespoons butter, and 1/4 teaspoon salt. When the pecans were toasted I mixed in the syrup and popped them back in the oven, stirring every 5 minutes until the pecans stuck securely to the plastic spatula I was using. I scraped them onto a silicone sheet and stirred to break them up while they were still warm.

When cold they were quite candied, with a buttery/caramelly taste - and just a touch of molasses. Looking at them last night, I said to myself, “They’re not photogenic, being brown on brown.” But by the light of day, they looked very different, so I snapped a pic and made one of those “up close and personal food porn” links for you. It’s ok to drool over the full-sized photo linked to the bottom pic. Yep, they’re yummy.