By Andy Bedwell
Pecan Cake Bars
Four eggs
One cup white sugar
One cup brown sugar
One cup Crisco oil
1 ½ cups self-rising flour
Two cups pecans, chopped
One teaspoon vanilla flavoring
Mix and pour into a greased 9×13-inch pan.
Bake at 350 degrees for 30-35 minutes. Do not over bake. After 25 minutes, check to see if it is done.
Andy’s note: This recipe is fantastic. Great as a muffin served with a hot cup of coffee. I can imagine this on a beautiful vintage plate with some fresh strawberries topped with fresh whipped cream.
Coconut-Caramel Pecan Pies
¾ stick margarine
1 (7-ounce) package of coconut (not frozen)
1 cup pecans, chopped
1 can sweetened condensed milk
1 (8-ounce) cream cheese, softened
1 (16-ounce) Cool Whip
1 (12-ounce) jar ice cream caramel topping
2 deep-dish baked pie shells
Melt margarine in a large skillet. Add coconut and pecans and stir until coconut is toasted. Do not leave this mixture unsupervised, as it burns easily. In a mixer, combine cream cheese and milk; beat until smooth. Fold in Cool Whip. Place about one-fourth of cream cheese mixture in each baked pie shell. Top with one-fourth of coconut and pecan mixture. Drizzle with one-fourth of caramel topping. Repeat layers in both pies, ending with topping. Freeze and serve frozen.
Andy’s note: I call these my freezer pies. They are my claim to fame. Anytime that I make these pies for company, they request the recipe and have seconds. After freezing them for several hours uncovered, they slide easily into gallon freezer bags.
Orange Slice Cookies
1 Duncan Hines yellow cake mix
¾ cup Crisco oil
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
Orange slice candy, chopped (use as many as you like)
1 cup pecans, chopped
Mix ingredients together, except the orange slice candy and pecans. Bake on a greased cookie sheet at 325 degrees for about 12 minutes. Do not over bake.
Andy’s note: My sister Mary Fielder loves this cookie. I love to bake cookies, so I created this cookie recipe using all of the ingredients that I liked.
Happy cooking!
“Southern Cooking with Andy Bedwell” can be purchased at Alabama Gift Company in downtown Gadsden and The Messenger on Rainbow Drive.