Walnut Pie

My granddaughter and I havested a whole tree's worth of walnuts as a fun activity. It was like an Easter egg hunt and then whey they were all off the ground, it was like an Easter egg hunt with sticks, knocking them out of the tree.

But then, what do you do with them?

We made pie! It was an old pecan pie recipe we used and swapped out pecan with walnuts.

Walnut Pie Recipe

3/4 cup unsalted butter (softened to room temperature)

1 1/2 cups brown sugar

4 eggs, beaten

1 cup dark corn syrup

1/4 tsp. salt

2 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 tsp. walnut extract (if you don’t have walnut, you can use almond or omit)

2 cups walnuts, some chopped, some whole

1/2 pie shell (9” pan, unbaked)

Preheat oven to 350 degrees.

Cream together sugar and butter until combined and fluffy.

Add beaten eggs, corn syrup, salt and extracts and mix until well combined but do not whip in extra air.

Fold in walnuts until they are well distributed.

Pour into unbaked pastry shell.

Place pie on backing sheet lined with parchment paper in case you have any spill overs. This step makes cleanup much easier.

Bake on lower shelf 375 F about 60 minutes, rotating half way through, until filling is firm but is still just slightly jiggly when moved.

You can double this recipe if you have two pie shells.

Chocolate Cherry Pie Donut Recipe

Description –

This is an easy, easy dessert and it combines two of my favorite flavors – chocolate and cherries. The cherry pie filling adds a lot of color and flavor.

The chocolate donut can be one left over from the office and the chocolate top doesn’t have to look perfect because it is going to be covered in the pie filling.

With only two ingredients (three if you count the whipped cream), this is a fast and easy dessert.

Whole donuts can be served or slice each one like a cake (this is a very filling dessert).

           

Ingredients –

6 chocolate round donuts

1 can cherry pie filling

Whipped cream (optional)

Directions –

Slice donuts in half and place the bottoms on serving dishes. Spoon half of the cherry pie filling over each of the bottoms. Place the tops on the donuts and spoon the remaining cherry pie filling over the top. 

Put a shot of whipped cream on each donut.

           

Variations –

Top with whipped cream if you want to add a little more color and flavor. You can also add a layer of whipped cream before putting the tops back on to add a white stripe on the donuts.

You can also use other pie fillings. Blueberry pie filling works well. Apple pie filling works but the apples can be a bit on the heavy side so cut them up into smaller pieces.

Would I Make It Again?

I would make this every time we have left over donuts. Here’s a little trick – you can freeze the chocolate donuts and keep them in the freezer and pull them out and thaw when you need a quick dessert.

           

Taco Bell Rattlesnake Fries

Taco Bell Rattlesnake Fries Tries To Take A Bite Out of You

The first thing you will notice about Taco Bell’s new rattlesnake fries is there is definitely no rattlesnake in them. You can choose beef or chicken but no serpent meat.

The rattlesnake comes in the form of spicy pickled jalapeno peppers and a hot pepper cheese sauce.

Which is too bad, because serving rattlesnake at an American fast food restaurant would be something different.

So, What Is Different About It

It was probably inevitable that Taco Bell would add something to its revived seasoned fries. They came up with the nacho fries, but of course that’s pretty similar to what everyone else does. Pouring cheese sauce and adding meat (usually bacon) over fries is everywhere now.

Taco Bell’s Tex-Mex roots allow it to dip into a different palette of ingredients so they went with jalapeno peppers.

The first time I tried it, the Taco Bellian who assembled it , didn’t put the lid on tight and the contents shifted to one side and spilled out a bit.

Adding spicy cheese makes the fries moist so they don’t need a dipping sauce but adding a packet of fire sauce really spices it up but it will never get too hot.

I once told my son when he was growing up that no nationwide chain would serve a food so hot it would make its eaters cry. He was disappointed with a burger that he had seen on tv commercials where they exaggerated its ultimate spiciness and how it would make you cry. Of course, it wasn’t even close to being as advertised. Especially for his tastes which ran pretty hot.

The closest anything has come to I has been buffalo chicken wings.

Would I Buy It Again?

Yes, I probably would if I wanted a little spice.  Taco Bell also offers a rattlesnake fries burrito. It’s frankly just a spicy potato and meat burrito, but “rattlesnake fries burrito” sound better.

By the way, I had a double-decker taco. I also had a spare tortilla.