Looking For A Delicious Dessert? Try Chocolate Pecan Pie

Dear Laura: Please print a Chocolate Pecan Pie recipe for me. Thanks. - Thelma, Walla Walla

Dear Thelma: This version is adapted from a Pillsbury recipe.

Chocolate Pecan Pie

Pastry for 9-inch single-crust pie

1/2 cup semisweet chocolate chips

2 tablespoons butter or margarine

3 eggs

1/2 cup sugar

1 cup light or dark corn syrup

1 teaspoon vanilla

1-1/2 cup pecan halves

Prepare pie crust and line 9-inch pie plate, finishing edge as desired. Set aside. Heat oven to 350 degrees.

Melt chocolate chips and butter together; let cool slightly.

Beat eggs slightly in a medium mixing bowl. Add sugar and corn syrup, melted chocolate mixture and vanilla. Stir to blend completely. Stir in pecans. Pour into pastry-lined pie plate.

Bake at 350 degrees for 50 to 55 minutes, or until filling is set around edge and slightly soft in center. Cool completely on wire rack. Store in refrigerator.

Yield: 8 servings.

Dear Laura: I don’t have a request today. I just want to thank you for the Chocolate Sauerkraut Cake recipe (printed Jan. 29). I lost the one I had. I also thought you might enjoy a story about it.

Years ago I worked in the Sunset School kitchen. The cooks tried out new recipes and increased them as needed for the school. I took a sample of this cake and the recipe. The cook liked it and made it. The kids all loved it. A teacher came to see if there were any seconds on it. He didn’t see how the school could afford coconut. When he found out what it was, he wouldn’t eat it again. But the kids all did!

I don’t remember if there was a cookie recipe using kraut, too, or not. I am sending you a recipe for applesauce cookies. My dad always said, “Cookies are for kids to crumble,” but these he liked. - Doris, Spokane Doris

Schmitt’s Applesauce Cookies

2 cups sugar

1 cup butter

3 cups sieved applesauce

2 cups oatmeal

2 teaspoons vanilla

4-1/2 cups flour

4 teaspoons baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1 teaspoon EACH cloves, nutmeg, salt

1 cup nuts, chopped

1-1/2 cups raisins

Cream together sugar and butter. Stir in applesauce, oatmeal and vanilla.

In a separate bowl combine remaining ingredients; stir to mix well. Stir into creamed mixture. Bake in a moderate oven.

Note: My guess is that Doris drops the cookie dough by heaping teaspoonfuls onto a lightly greased cookie sheet and bakes them at 350 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes, or until lightly browned.

Dear Laura: I thought maybe J.W.G. of Cusick, Wash. might enjoy this Maple Bar recipe. They are wonderfully delicious, simple to make and do not require deep-fat frying. Thanks. - M.V.B., Spokane

Maple Bars

1/2 cup warm (not hot) water

2 packets active dry yeast

1-1/2 cups lukewarm milk

1/2 cup sugar

2 teaspoons salt

2 eggs, slightly beaten

1/2 cup soft shortening or 1/3 cup vegetable oil

Flour, about 3-1/2 cups

Melted butter or margarine, about 1/4 cup

Easy Maple Frosting:

1/2 cup butter or margarine

3/4 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup milk

2 cups powdered sugar

1 tablespoon maple flavoring

Combine warm water and yeast in large mixing bowl; let stand 5 minutes to soften and dissolve. Add lukewarm milk, sugar, salt, eggs, shortening and 2 cups flour. Mix until smooth. Add enough additional flour to make dough easy to handle, but not stiff. Knead on lightly floured board until smooth. Place dough in lightly greased bowl, cover and let rise until double in size.

Punch down and spread dough into a 12- by 17-inch baking pan. Brush with melted butter and cut into bars (use a sharp knife, kitchen shears or pizza cutter). Cover and let rise until double in bulk. Bake at 375 degrees for 10 to 15 minutes. Remove to cooling racks. Frost when cool.

For frosting, combine butter, brown sugar and milk in medium saucepan. Cook over medium heat, stirring constantly, until mixture boils. Remove from heat; cool to lukewarm. Transfer to mixer bowl and gradually beat in powdered sugar and maple flavoring. Beat until mixture reaches spreading consistency. If icing becomes too stiff, add a bit of hot water.

Yield: About 1-1/2 dozen.

, DataTimes MEMO: Have a food question? Looking for a recipe? Laura Carnie, a certified family and consumer scientist and food consultant in Coeur d’Alene, would like to hear from you. Write to Cook’s Notebook, Features Department, The Spokesman-Review, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. As many letters as possible will be answered in this column; sorry, no individual replies.

The following fields overflowed: CREDIT = Laura Carnie The Spokesman-Review