Mama Huang's Cookbook

Ingredients:

1 stick unsalted butter, room temperature
1/2 C tahini, well stirred
1 C sugar
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
1 t vanilla
1 C plus 2 T all-purpose flour (or matzo cake meal if making for Passover)
1/2 t baking soda
1/2 t baking powder
1 t kosher /sea salt
1 3/4 C dark chocolate chips or chunks (about 2/3 bag  of a 12oz bag of chips)
Flaky salt or coarse sea salt

Preparation:

Cream butter, tahini and sugar at med speed till light and fluffy, about 5 mins.
Add egg, egg yolk and vanilla and continue mixing for 5 more mins.
Mix flour, bs, bp, salt in a bowl; add to butter mixture and mix at low speed until just combined.
Fold in chocolate chips. Dough will be soft, not stiff. refrigerate at least 12 hrs – this ensures tender cookies.
Heat oven to 325 deg. Line baking sheet with parchment.
Make balls with 2 T of dough. Will make about 20-25 balls.
Place dough at least 3″ apart, bake 13-16 mins or until just golden brown around the edges but still pale in the middle to make thick, soft cookies.
As cookies come out of the oven, sprinkle sparsely with salt.
Let cool on wire racks.

Yield: 14-16 cups

Ingredients:
(still needs tweaking!)

8 C chopped lemons, pieces about 1/4″ x 1/2″ (about 14 lemons)
2 C honey
5-6 C sugar
3-4 C water
1/2 C Ball Classic Pectin (powder)

Instructions:

– Cut lemons into quarters and remove and save seeds.
– Chop lemons manually or in a food processor.
– Put all seeds in a small muslin spice pouch.
– Sterilize canning jars.
– Combine lemons, seed pouch (seeds help release pectin from fruit), honey, sugar               and  water together in a pot, Bring to a boil, stirring occasionally, then simmer for 30-60   mins until peel is of desired softness.
– Adjust sweetness and sourness with more sugar and/or  water.
– Put pectin in a small bowl, gradually add and stir in 1-2 C of the hot mixture, then  stir      this pectin mix into the pot.
– Gently boil and stir for 5 more minutes.
– Fill jars and process in water bath for 10 mins. Turn heat off, leave in bath for 5               more mins before removing jars from water.

Adapted from recipe by Martha Stewart.

1 pie crust dough (I use pillsbury, homemade may be better)

4 cups pecan halves, toasted (300 deg, 10 min)
4 large eggs, lightly beaten
1 C packed dark brown sugar
1 C light corn syrup
1/2 C (1stick) unsalted butter, melted and allowed to cool to just barely warm
2-3 t vanilla
1/2 t salt

Pick the prettiest 1 1/4 C of the pecans and set aside.

Coarsely chop the remaining 2 3/4 C of the pecans.

Roll out pie crust dough into a 13-inch round and fit into a 9-inch pie plate. Turn the overhang under, flush with edge. Flute the edge. Refrigerate 30 mins.

Preheat oven to 325 deg.

In a medium bowl, stir together the eggs, brown sugar, corn syrup, butter, vanilla and salt until well combined. Stir in the chopped pecans and pour mixture into the prepared pie shell.

Arrange the reserved pecan halves on top in concentric circles until surface is completely covered.

Place pie on a rimmed baking sheet, and bake until filling is just set and crust is golden brown , about 90 mins. (If nuts are getting too dark, tent foil loosely over pie. If crust is getting too dark, cover that with foil)

Cool on wire rack, before serving. Pie can be stored at room temp, loosely covered, up to  1 day.