The Southern Pecan: the Critical Ingredient for Holiday Baking

            Tis the season to harvest pecans. That skill I have honed since I was able to toddle along behind my mother and grandmother, picking up pecans that had fallen from the pecan trees canopying the corner of Harrison and Jefferson in Camden, Arkansas.

            Tuesday afternoon, we gathered pecans from Mrs. Gatewood’s trees in her back yard and were able to gather about half a bucket full. The trees are still heavily laden with the delicious symbol of fall harvest.

Rock Fest 2008

            Every holiday dessert I was raised on contained pecans. Even fruit salad had chopped pecans. Cookie tins brimming with salted pecans were a constant throughout fall and into winter. Fondant ovals colored deep pink and mint green were sandwiched between two pecan pieces. Karo Nut Pie, erroneously called Pecan Pie by my northern friends, Pineapple Upside Down Cake, Icebox Cookies, and the Gordon family’s famous Rocks are filled with the nutty delicacy. Oh, pecans!

            I’ve used all the pecans I had in the freezer, so I purchased a bag of chopped pecans, a bag of pecan halves at each of my grocery store ventures. Now, any recipe calling for any amount or style of pecans is under control.

            Until today, that is. I’d read a recipe in the newspaper during early November. The ingredients of a delicious sounding pecan pastry were listed and knew I had all items available and was ready to bake today. It’s a good thing I was planning a day at home because what I did not read was “this recipe will take you the whole live-long-day.” The newsprint continued with “pulse until the mixture looks like coarse meal…” “You may have to divide the recipe into two parts,” the fine print suggested.

The dough formed quite well as did the filling, but here came the kicker. “Cover the rolled out dough with plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 – 40 minutes before transferring the trays to the freezer for another 15 minutes.”  After all that rig-a-ma-role, I was instructed to roll out the dough into a rectangle at least double the size and shape it originally formed. Spreading the filling and folding the dough came next and then another stint in the refrigerator for the two crescent shaped pastries.  “Refrigerate the formed crescents for between 4 and 12 hours.” 

Say W H A T!  Will I be awake?

            I gave the critters 4 hours and then brushed them with an egg wash and popped them into the preheated oven, rotated them, turned them, flipped them alternately every 15-20 minutes for a total of 40-50 minutes. After they came out of the oven, they were to cool on a wire rack for another 30 minutes then be glazed and “allow the glaze to set” for 10 additional minutes. Whew!

            They tasted great. As they baked, they gave the house a holiday aroma. But, when God made pastry dough and filling, He also made pastry chefs and bakeries.  As long as I can throw a few fingertips of flour in my face, as long as I can heat a pan of water with delicious smelling cinnamon sticks, and as long as Wal-Mart and Bath & Body Works make caramel vanilla and cinnamon spice heat activated aroma devices, I’ll use my time to harvest pecans and prepare for making Gordon Rocks, 

            It's almost time for Rock-Fest 2015!