Salted Buttered Pecans With Orange And Nutmeg Food

SEA SALT-ROASTED PECANS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325°F. Toss pecans and melted butter in medium bowl to coat. Add sea salt and toss. Spread pecans in single layer on rimmed baking sheet.
• Bake until fragrant and slightly darkened in color, about 15 minutes. Cool pecans on baking sheet.

SALTED BUTTERED PECANS WITH ORANGE AND NUTMEG

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F. Toss pecans, butter, nutmeg, and 1/2 tsp. salt on a rimmed baking sheet to coat. Bake, tossing once, until deepened in color and fragrant, 8-10 minutes. Remove from oven and toss with orange zest and remaining 1/2 tsp. salt. Let cool before eating all of them.
• Do Ahead
• Pecans can be made 3 days ahead. Store airtight at room temperature.

TOASTED PECANS

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 275 degrees F (135 degrees C).
• Pour the butter into a medium bowl, and mix in the pecans. Stir until the pecans are well coated.
• Arrange coated pecans in a single layer on one or two medium baking sheets. Sprinkle with salt.
• Bake in the preheated oven approximately 1 hour, stirring occasionally. Remove from heat, cool and store in covered containers.

SWEET POTATO CASSEROLE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 375°F Wrap sweet potatoes in foil and bake until soft, about 1 hour.
• Reset oven to 350F degrees.
• Slip sweet potatoes out of their skins and mash, adding butter, half and half, and Madeira.
• Add cinnamon, salt, nutmeg, and orange rind.
• Adjust seasonings and place in a buttered baking dish.
• Dot with butter, sprinkle with pecans and bake for 25 minutes.

ORANGE-PECAN-SPICE POUND CAKE

Steps:

• Sprinkle 1 1/4 cups finely chopped pecans into a generously buttered 10-inch tube pan; shake to evenly coat bottom and sides of pan. (The food processor is great for chopping those nuts!)
• (Excess nuts will fall to bottom of pan. Make certain nuts are in an even layer in bottom of pan.) Set aside. Preheat oven to 300°F.
• Beat butter at medium speed with an electric mixer until creamy; gradually add sugar, beating well.
• Add eggs, 1 at a time; beating until blended after each addition.
• Combine flour, salt and baking powder; add to butter mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour mixture.
• Beat at low speed until blended after each addition.
• Stir in remaining 3/4 cup pecans, grated orange rind, cinnamon, nutmeg, and next 4 ingredients.
• Spoon batter evenly into prepared pan.
• Bake at 300°F for about 1 1/2 hours or until wooden pick inserted in center comes out clean.
• While cake is baking, prepare Orange Syrup (see below).
• Cool in pan on wire rack for 20 minutes.
• Remove cake from pan; invert cake, pecan crust-side-up onto a wire rack.
• While cake is cooling, bake Glazed Pecan Halves (see below).
• Brush top and sides of pound cake gently several times with hot Orange Syrup, using a pastry brush and allowing cake to absorb the Orange Syrup after each brushing. (Do not pour syrup over the cake).
• Let cake cool completely on wire rack.
• Arrange Glazed Pecan Halves around top of cake, if desired, or place on each piece as they are served.
• For Orange Syrup: Remove rind from orange with a vegetable peeler, being careful not to get the bitter white pith.
• Set orange rind aside.
• Squeeze orange to get 1/2 cup juice.
• Combine orange rind, juice and sugar in a small saucepan and cook over low heat, stirring until sugar dissolves.
• Bring mixture to a boil over medium high heat, and boil 2 minutes.
• Makes about 1 cup.
• For Glazed Pecan Halves: Combine pecan halves and corn syrup, stirring ot coat pecans.
• Line a 15- x 10-inch jellyroll pan with parchment paper; coat with cooking spray.
• Arrange pecan halves in an even layer in a pan.
• Bake at 350°F for 12 minutes; stir using a rubber spatula.
• Remove from oven, stir, arrange in an even layer on wax paper and let cool completely.

BANANA BREAD WITH WALNUTS AND ORANGE ZEST

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350°F Butter and flour a 9X5 loaf pan.
• In a small bowl using a fork, mash the bananas. You should have 11/3 cups. In a separate bowl, stir together the all purpose flour, whole-wheat flour, baking powder baking soda, salt, nutmeg, orange zest and nuts, set aside.
• In a large bowl, whisk the eggs until blended. Stir the brown sugar, butter, and milk. Add the dry ingredients in 3 batches alternatively with the mashed bananas in 2 batches, beginning and ending with the dry ingredients, just until moistened. Be careful not to overmix!
• Pour the batter into the prepared pan smoothing the top with a rubber spatula. Bake for 55-60 minutes or until toothpick inserted into center comes out clean. If the top begins to brown too much, cover with a sheet of aluminum foil the last 15 minutes of baking.
• Transfer to a wire rack and let cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Turn out into wire rack and let cool completely, before slicing.

BAKED CROISSANT BLUEBERRY FRENCH TOAST WITH CRISPY PECANS

Steps:

• For the French toast: Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking dish. Arrange the croissant halves in the baking dish. In a large bowl, whisk together the eggs, milk, half-and-half, nutmeg, vanilla, Grand Marnier, orange zest, 1/4 cup brown sugar, white sugar and salt. Pour this mixture over the croissants. Cover the baking dish and chill until all of the liquid is absorbed, at least 2 hours.
• For the topping: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. In a shallow baking pan, spread the pecans evenly and toast until fragrant, about 4 to 5 minutes. Remove from the oven and toss pecans with the 1 teaspoon butter and salt.
• Increase the oven temperature to 400 degrees F. Sprinkle the blueberries evenly over the croissant mixture. Melt 1/4 cup butter with 1/4 cup brown sugar, stirring until the butter is melted. Drizzle this mixture over the baking dish and bake for 20 inutes, or until the liquid from the blueberries is bubbling.
• For the blueberry syrup: In a small saucepan, cook blueberries and maple syrup over moderate heat until berries have burst, about 3 minutes. Pour syrup through a sieve; stir in the lemon juice.
• Sprinkle the croissant French toast with toasted pecans. Serve with the syrup.