Where Are The Chocolate Chips?

I don't have a Houston kitchen anymore but it wouldn't feel like Christmas if I didn't do a bit of cooking. So yesterday at Son #1's house I make my "famous" pecan sandies and fudge.

The pecan sandy recipe came from a Better Homes and Garden recipe book I received when we married. Over the years it has been modified a bit but it is one of my favorites and it is a favorite of my daughter-in-law #1. (By the Way, the #1, #2 and #3 designations have nothing to do with where they stand with me but have to do with the order that they came into the family) Yesterday daughter-in-law #1 confessed that after she and Son #1 were married, she would sometimes get up during the night when they were visiting and go eat some pecan sandies because she didn't want to be seen putting away so many of them since she was new in the family. That cracked me up. I knew my sons wandered around at night eating cookies and candies but I didn't know she picked up the habit too.

The recipe for Pecan Sandies with my adjustments is pretty simple:
Cream 1 cup of butter
1/2 cup of powdered sugar

Add 1 Tablespoon vanilla and 1 Tablespoon water

Add 2 cups of sifted flour
After it is mixed in add 1 cup + a bit of chopped pecans

Roll into 1-1/2 inch logs and put on ungreased cookie sheet
Bake in 325 degree oven for 20-30 minutes. I don't really time them. When the bottoms start to turn a pale golden brown they are done.

Immediately roll in powdered sugar.

The other thing I made was fudge. Ned's mother always made fudge and she could make it so well. So of course after we married I tried to be a fudge maker. I wasn't too bad until we moved into a house with an electric stove. After that my fudge was either the kind you eat with a spoon or it took a hatchet to break apart. I was the butt of many jokes by my family so I quit making fudge.

Thirty years or so later when we moved into a different house with a gas stove, I gave fudge making another try. Now we aren't talking about just any fudge but Hershey's Cocoa Fudge. The old fashioned recipe with sugar, cocoa and milk. The kind that melts on your tongue as smooth as butter and chocolate but this time I armed myself with a candy thermometer and DA DAAAAAAA......I'm a fudge maker again. The grandsons love fudge just like their father.

So yesterday, I made up these recipes. This morning I called and asked son #1 how he like the fudge. He said it was good but he asked, "Where are the Chocolate chip cookies?"

Oops, I use to have to make about four batches of them to get us through Christmas. So I'm going to be cooking again today. Another batch of pecan sandies, another batch of fudge but this one will have pecans, and at least one batch of Chocolate Chip cookies.