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These white chocolate chip cranberry pecan cookies are a good alternative to regular chocolate chip cookies, and they work especially well for the upcoming holiday gift-giving (if they last that long!). The white chocolate and red craisins also work well for a Valentine’s Day treat.

White Chocolate Chip Cranberry Pecan Cookies

3 cups all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
3/4 tsp salt
1 cup unsalted butter
1 cup brown sugar
3/4 cup sugar
2 eggs
1 tablespoons vanilla
1 cup dried cranberries (Craisins)
1 1/2 cups white chocolate chips
1 cup pecans, chopped

Preheat oven to 350 degrees and line baking sheets with parchment paper. Cream butter and sugars until fluffy. Beat in the eggs and vanilla.

In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, and salt. Slowly add the flour mixture to the cream mixture and stir until almost incorporated. Add the Craisins, white chocolate, and pecans. Mix until everything is just together.

Roll into heaping spoonfuls and bake at 350 degrees. Bake for 11-15 minutes.

The poor kids — I’m on a soup kick lately. Well, a soup/stew/chili kick, anyway. Our fall here is so brief that I take advantage of it any way I can, and that includes dinners that take hours to cook and fill up the house with yummy smells. Thankfully, everyone humors me because they know that it also means a lot of baking, too — bread, cookies, you name it.

Anyway, Mike asked me a couple of weeks ago if I’d find a split pea soup recipe, and here it is. We had it last night with a nice homemade loaf of bread (and freshly baked chocolate chip cookies for dessert. See how that works out?).

Peas don’t need to soak like beans do, so after you’ve sorted and rinsed them they can go directly into the crock pot. Also, make sure you add everything into the crock pot in the order given, and don’t mix it up when you’re done. It’s important that the peas stay submerged for as long as possible to soften up.

Once it’s done I transfer about 3/4 of it (minus the ham, if I can help it) into a blender to puree, and then add back into the crockpot for another half hour or so. You don’t need to do this but we like it on the creamier side. An immersion blender would work perfectly for this, but I can’t find mine.

You can also make it vegetarian by omitting the ham and using vegetable stock. If you don’t add ham, up the broth to four cups and use only 1 cup of water.

Split Pea Soup

1 lb dry split peas, rinsed and sorted
1-1/2 cups cooked ham, cubed (or 1 ham hock)
1 cup chopped onion
1/4 tsp pepper
2 cups chicken broth
3 cups water

After cooking:
salt to taste
1 cup heavy cream

Layer ingredients into the crock pot in the order given above. Do not mix. Cook on low for 6-8 hours or high for 4-6 hours.
About half an hour before you’re ready to eat, add the salt as needed and heavy cream.

I made these last year when I needed a small treat to make for one of my daughters’ classes for a Thanksgiving party. I’ve made them several times since for dessert nights or snacks and they’re always a hit.

I don’t have any tweaks except that I wouldn’t fill the mini tins up all the way with the filling, probably just enough to cover the crust a bit, otherwise it’s really gooey and the filling overpowers the crust.

Mini Pecan Pumpkin Pies
from Sunny Anderson

For the dough:

1/4 cup pecans
1/4 cup sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
3/4 cups all-purpose flour, plus extra for shaping dough
6 tablespoons butter, ice cold
2 to 3 tablespoons ice cold water

For the filling:

1 egg, plus 1 egg yolk
1/2 cup dark corn syrup
1 tablespoon sugar
1/2 cup canned pumpkin filling
1 teaspoon vanilla
1/4 cup pecans, chopped plus 24 halves for garnish

1 24-cup mini muffin tin

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Spray the bottoms and sides of the mini muffin tins with cooking spray.

For the dough: In a food processor, pulse pecans with the sugar, salt, and flour, until the nuts are ground and the ingredients are combined. Add in butter and pulse until dough resembles coarse meal. Slowly pour in ice water through the feed tube, pulsing, until the dough comes together. Remove from processor bowl onto clean work surface sprinkled with flour.

Form dough into a ball and divide evenly into 24 pieces. Roll each piece into a ball and evenly press into each cup, until the bottom is covered. If the dough is sticky, dip your finger in flour first.

Bake 15 to 18 minutes, until the crusts are very golden. Check periodically to make sure they don’t get too brown.

Meanwhile, make the filling: In a medium bowl, whisk the egg and yolk with the corn syrup, sugar, pumpkin filling and vanilla. Stir in the chopped pecans.

Remove dough from oven and spoon 1 tablespoon of the filling into each cup. Top each with one pecan half. Return the pans to the oven and continue baking for 12 to 15 minutes more, or until the pumpkin filling is set. Allow to cool before removing from the pans.