My first bundt cake

I made a yellow cake from scratch and covered it with cream cheese icing.  I added the blueberries to make it a little prettier.  Everyone liked it.  My grandmother would be proud.

Butter Cookies (Recipe by Renee Nemeth)

1 1/4 cups butter or margarine, softened

2 cups all-purpose flour (My mistake happened here, I used Self-Rising flour!)

1/2 cup sugar

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.  Mix thoroughly all ingredients.  Roll dough into small balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet.  Press each ball with a spoon to flatten (Also here, I didn’t even do this step).  Bake 15 minutes or until cookies start to brown around the edges.

I added about 1 1/2 cups of chopped pecans, a little bit of dark brown syrup and brown sugar.

Here is the result:

They look and taste more like pecan biscuits.

So I sort of freaked out because I had about 20 minutes before my meeting and my ugly cookie/biscuits were really embarrassing or maybe I had too much Red Bull to think clearly.  But my wonderful husband saved the day, once again.

He suggested we put them on this beautiful tray we received from our friends Bill and Susan for our wedding and to put honey on top of them.  I love him.

People actually ate them and some people told me they were good.

This honey that my husband and I bought while on our honeymoon in Savannah is our secret to fixing everything.  Savannah Bee Company’s Tupelo Honey is so great.  If you haven’t tried it, you should.  It is kosher and this small jar is only $5.  Oh and this tray is Good Earth Pottery, which is made by two fellows in Starkville, MS.

Everyone keeps saying, “You will get better” or “it takes practice.”  I appreciate my friends trying to encourage my new hobby but maybe I’m just meant to bring the napkins and forks.

I do not blame this cookbook or the Junior Auxiliary of Starkville, MS for any cooking mishaps that occurred while using one of their recipes

Side note:  I love pecan pie.  It is probably my favorite pie. Our house came with many pecan trees and ever since we moved in my plan was to bake my very first pecan pie with my very own pecans.  Because of overactive squirrels, I made this pie with about 20 of my pecans and about 25 or so Wal-Mart pecans (judging me is a sin).  As a southern woman, I would love to be able to bake a decent pecan pie.  So people would say things like, “faye please make that lovely pecan pie for Thanksgiving this year.” My first mistake was thinking that I could crack and shell pecans with a hammer.  What a horrible idea!  Thanks Nikki for suggesting I purchase a pecan opening device.

This part took forever.

Pecan Pie (Recipe by Diane Keith)

1/2 cup butter or margarine

1 cup sugar

3 eggs, slightly beaten

3/4 cup dark corn syrup

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla

1 1/2 cups chopped pecans

1 unbaked 9 inch pie shell

pecan halves

whipped cream (optional, but who ever opts out?)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Cream Butter.  Add sugar gradually and continue beating until light and fluffy.  Add next 5 ingredients and mix well.  Pour into pie shell.  Bake for 40 to 45.  Decorate edge of pie with pecan halves.  Serve with whipped cream, if desired.

It looks like I know what I am doing.

Here is the result:

My first Pecan Pie

It is not a very pretty pie, but at least it tastes good right?  It looks more like a pecan cobbler or something.

This doesn't look like any pecan pie I have ever had!

I’m not pretending to be Julia Child.  So if anyone knows what I did wrong please let me know.