CHOCOLATE PECAN PIE

In my house, chocolate rules!

But at this time of the year, pecan joins in.

My husband loves it when I make pecan pie.

He has told lots of people that mine is the best he has had.

That makes me so very happy.

So this year I decided to combine both his favorite ingredients.

Here's the recipe:

1 (9-inch) unbaked pie crust
1/3 cup butter, melted
2/3 cup sugar
3 eggs
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 cup light corn syrup
1 teaspoon instant coffee (optional)
1 cup chopped pecans
1 cup chocolate chips

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C.) In a medium saucepan, melt the butter over low heat. Stir in sugar, and set aside to cool.
2. In a mixing bowl, beat eggs well. Stir in salt, corn syrup and melted butter mixture. Add coffee powder mixed with 1 teaspoon water, if desired. Stir in the chopped pecans. (I didn't chop my pecans, I left them whole because that's how my husband likes it)
3. Spread chocolate chips evenly over the bottom of the pie crust. Pour pecan mixture over the crust.
4. Bake at 375 degrees F (190 degrees C) for 45 to 50 minutes, or until set. Cover and let stand at room temperature about 8 hours before serving. Pie will be soft. 

HOLIDAY MUG RUG TUTORIAL

It has been several months since I posted anything on my blog.

With Christmas right around the corner,

 I wanted to share a couple of gift ideas.

Since I had hand surgery a week ago,

I was limited to what I could do.

I had heard so much about mug rugs that I decided to do one.

I found the instructions for this one online and 

I'm going to share with you how this was made.

It took me less than an hour to make one.

So if you want to make one, it is quick and easy.

Assorted fabric scraps for mug rug and 9″ x 12″ piece of batting and backing
You’ll need to cut the following pieces:

• (1) 5 ” square (snowball center)
• (4) 2″ squares (snowball corners)
• (1) 2″ x 5″ rectangle (bottom of snowball unit)
• Tree pieces:  (1) 2″ x 3 1/2″ rectangle, (1) 2″ x 4″ rectangle and (1) 2″ x 5″ rectangle
• (1) 1 1/2″ x 2″ rectangle (tree trunk)
• Tree background pieces: (2) 2″ squares, (2) 2″ x 2 1/4″ rectangles, (2) 2″ x 2 3/4″ rectangles (2) 2″ x 2 1/2″ rectangles

Step 1:  Make the snowball:  Draw a diagonal line on the (4) 2″ snowball squares and pin to each corner of the 5″ square.  Stitch just to the right of the drawn line.  Press towards the outer corners and trim.

 

Step 2:  Make the tree.  Draw a diagonal line on the remaining background squares/rectangles.  For the rectangles, place the background rectangle on top of the green rectangle so that the top edges line up and you can see where the bottom edges intersect.  Draw the line from top corner to bottom intersection as shown.  Do this for both sides of the tree.  Trim making sure all the segments of the tree measure 2"x5" and the snowball block measures 5"x5".

 

  

Step 3:  Assemble the mug rug unit.  Arrange the tree rectangles in order. Stitch together the tree pieces.  Press seam of tree trunk unit up towards tree. The other tree seams can be pressed either way.

Step 4:  Stitch the two halves together, nesting the lower rectangle seams and pinning first.  Press seam to either side.

Step 5:  Layer top, batting and backing together and quilt as desired.

For the binding, I decided to wrap the backing fabric around the edges to form the binding.  I do not have the Quick Easy Mitered-Binding Tool but I used my ruler and placed it on a 45 degree angle.  You can find a tutorial for that here.

Here is the finished product.