pecan bars

The original recipe came from Betty Crocker's website and it's called "Scandinavian Almond Cookies" and because of my creative mind, others might call it failure to follow instructions, I just couldn't leave it alone! So I substituted a few ingredients and viola! Pecan Bars. They are one of my family's and co-workers favorites. And as we learned from my previous post (which I thought was hilarious!) red and green cookies have fewer calories, I made sure green and red were seen from space.

Ingredients:
1 pouch of Betty Crocker sugar cookie mix

1/3 cup butter, softened

1 egg

2 tablespoons all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon of vanilla extract

3 teaspoons of milk


*Glaze:

1 cup of powdered sugar

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

5-6 teaspoons of milk

1 cup of finely chopped pecans

Red or Green food coloring gels

*Bakers note: the original recipe calls for 1 cup of powdered sugar, but every time I make these cookies I end up making a second batch of the glaze. It might be a good idea to double up on the glaze recipe from the beginning.

Heat oven to 375°F.

In large bowl, stir cookie mix, butter, egg, flour and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract until dough forms.

Divide dough into 3 equal parts; place on parchment lined cookie sheets. Press each into 12x3-inch rectangle. I like to use either plastic wrap or wax paper to press the dough. Less sticky mess to deal with. Brush each rectangle with 1 teaspoon of milk;

Sprinkle with 1/3 cup of pecans;

Bake for about 10 to 12 minutes or until edges are light golden brown;

Mhhh! The smell emanating from the kitchen announcing that the cookies are done it's addicting. It makes you want to eat the air.

Cool for about one minute and remove from the cookie sheet, parchment paper and all, and while they're still warm, cut into 1 inch diagonal slices;

Move to wire rack for a complete cool down, about 30 minutes.

In a small bowl, stir powdered sugar, 1/4- tsp vanilla extract and 5-6 tsp of milk until you achieve the desired consistency. Normally I would stop at this point and drizzle the glaze, however in honor of the season, we decided to add some festive colors to the bars. Divide the glaze into two equal parts. One I left au naturale and the other one I colored green (I was out of red coloring or I would have done both). Add food coloring until you reach the desired hues and drizzle over cookies. I sprinkled some magic red dust to make up for the lack of red glze and here the are...

Let them sit for a few hours or overnight so the glaze can set. Store in an air tight container, share with your friends, or enjoy with a nice tall glass of milk.

Ahhh....cookie heaven!