Pecan Cookie Recipe

Did You Know? 

September 21 is National Pecan Cookie Day

It is no secret that we love Pecans here! We sell all sorts of nutcrackers and Nut Wizards to make gathering, cracking, and shelling them a breeze, but what will you do with them after that? There are endless possibilities. We love to add them into candies, pies, breads, and, of course, cookies. In honor of National Pecan Cookie Day we want to share this recipe from Martha Stewart that is simple and we enjoy.

Butter Pecan Cookies

From: MarthaStewart.com

These delicate, buttery cookies, which get their crunchy texture from toasted pecans and a sugar coating, practically melt in your mouth. Makes 12.

3/4 cup pecans
1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
1/3 cup sugar, plus more for coating
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/8 teaspoon salt
1 cup all-purpose flour

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. On a baking sheet, toast pecans until fragrant, about 6 minutes. Let cool completely; finely chop.

With an electric mixer, cream butter and 1/3 cup sugar until light, about 1 minute. Beat in vanilla, salt, and flour, scraping down sides of bowl, just until dough comes together. Fold in pecans.

Separate dough into 12 pieces; squeeze dough to shape into balls. Roll in sugar. Place, 3 inches apart, on a baking sheet. Gently flatten with the bottom of a glass (reshape sides if necessary). Sprinkle with sugar.

Bake until golden brown, rotating sheet halfway through, about 15 minutes. Sprinkle with more sugar. Cool cookies on a wire rack.

These little cookies will just melt in your mouth! To chop our toasted Pecans, we use a Nut Chopper. In no time we have all the chopped pecans we could ever want. You can find the chopper on  

www.lawn-gardening-tools.com

If you need help gathering your harvest of Pecans, check out

 www.855sheller.com 

 for all of your nutcracker and nut gathering needs.

Enjoy National Pecan Cookie Day and let us 

know what kind of cookies you made!

Happy National Peanut Day! September 13

 National Peanut Day

No secrets here, we LOVE nuts! A secret you may not know is that we are located in the heart of Peanut country! Our city is actually known as the Peanut Capital of the world! We have a festival every year with pageants and a parade as well. We LOVE peanuts! To celebrate National Peanut Day, I want to share some of our fun landmarks with you and a little peanut trivia!

Our town came together and put special landmarks all over the area. They are fun ways to represent and remember area events. You will notice that they are all giant painted peanuts!

Those are just a few of the more than 60 painted nuts around town. If you ever visit, you should see how many you can snap a photo with.

Did You Know?

• There are enough peanuts in one acre to make 30,000 peanut butter sandwiches.
• Peanuts are the #1 snack nut consumed in the U.S., accounting for two-thirds of the snack nut market.
• Two peanut farmers have been elected president of the USA – Thomas Jefferson and Jimmy Carter.
• Astronaut Alan Shepard brought a peanut with him to the moon.
• Rumor says that there’s enough mental stimulation in one peanut to produce 30 minutes of serious thinking. That may or may not be true, but peanuts are a good source of protein and the B vitamins, nutrients that help prevent “brain fatigue”.

 Let me share a well loved recipe with you for Peanut Brittle. Simple and easy...as well as a Southern favorite.

Ingredients:

• 1 cup sugar
• 1/2 cup light corn syrup
• 1/8 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups shelled raw peanuts
• 1 tablespoon butter
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon baking soda

Preparation:

1. Microwave first 3 ingredients in a 2-quart glass bowl on HIGH 5 minutes, using an 1100-watt microwave oven. (Microwave 1 more minute if using a 700-watt microwave.)
2.  Stir in peanuts. Microwave 3 more minutes in an 1100-watt oven (add 1 more minute in 700-watt oven)
3.  Stir in butter and vanilla. Microwave 45 seconds in an 1100-watt oven (add 1 more minute in 700-watt oven) or until candy is the color of peanut butter.
4.  Stir in baking soda (mixture will bubble). Working quickly, spread hot candy in a thin layer onto a lightly greased baking sheet using two metal forks.
5. Cool completely and break into pieces.

I prefer my peanuts to be chopped up and I use a Food Chopper to do that. If you plant your own peanuts and want a little help harvesting them, then we have a handy bag that frees up both hands for you called the Gardener's Hollow Leg.

  Both of these products and so much more can be found right on our website www.lawn-gardening-tools.com

Macadamia Nut Day! September 4

 Happy Macadamia Nut Day!

It is no secret that we love nuts here so when we heard it was National Macadamia Nut Day, we could barely contain ourselves. Macadamias are usually eaten own their own by cracking with a nutcracker, then enjoyed raw, roasted, salted, or sweetened. Also, besides pairing them with white chocolate for a great cookie, we wanted to share some other benefits of this little nut with you. So, without further delay..... 

Did You Know?

• Macadamia oil has close similarities as that of olive oil. Added to dishes, it imparts sweet delicious flavor to a wide variety of foods. It is widely applied as cooking and dressing oil in the preparations of vegetables, seafood and meat dishes in many cuisines.
  
  
  • Since macadamia is free from gluten, it is one of the popular ingredients in the preparation of gluten-free food formulas. Such formula preparations are a healthy alternative in patients with wheat gluten allergy and celiac disease.
  
  
  • A serving of Macadamia nuts contain 7% of your daily dietary fiber and are packed with protein.
  
  
  • They are a great source of antioxidants, palmitoleic acid, and omega 7. The antioxidants help protect the body from various diseases while it destroys bad free radicals that may be lurking around. The omega 7 helps to burn fat while curbing your appetite while the palmitoleic acid increases fat metabolism and reduces fat storage.
  
  
  • Macadamia are 100% cholesterol free and even aid in reducing cholesterol levels.
    

This is just a short list of the great value of Macadamia nuts. Aside from just eating them or chopping to add to dishes and goodies, you can make butter and oil from them as well to use in even more ways to increase the benefits you will gain from them. 

There have been claims that Macadamia Oil can help dry skin, acne, and wrinkles, even as a deep conditioner for dry hair!


Replace your Peanut Butter with Macadamia Nut Butter for a pleasant treat as well. It is also easy to make right at home.

Who knew such a little nut could pack such a big punch?

What is your favorite way to use Macadamia? 

Do you need a little help gathering or cracking all those nuts?
 We have you covered over at www.855sheller.com with a variety of nutcrackers and Nut Wizards.