Cookie Friday: Butter-Pecan Turtle Bars

Happy Cookie Friday, everyone!  I don't know about you, but I'm so ready for the weekend.  I've been working all week on deadline, so I'm looking forward to kicking back and relaxing, maybe seeing if there's anything fun to do in Des Moines this weekend.

I'm so excited to share this recipe with you.  I recently sorted through my huge stack of cookbooks and rediscovered the Ocheyedan United Methodist Church Cookbook, a wedding gift from a family member.

I found this gem of a recipe, Butter-Pecan Turtle Bars.  At first, I was skeptical that the bars would turn out, because one of the steps in the recipe is boiling brown sugar and butter, and I have terrible luck with making caramel.  And the cookie crust seemed a little dry when I was mixing it up.

But I'm telling you, you have to try these bars.  They are so rich and so good.  When my husband smelled the bars baking in the oven, he thought I was making toffee.  And it does taste like toffee, even though I was expecting gooey caramel like my favorite turtle candies.

The best part was they were so quick to make.  I baked them up on a weeknight. They would be perfect for unexpected treat days at work.  I already had all of the ingredients in my cupboard.  I love it when I don't have to make an extra trip to the grocery store.

Enjoy!

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Butter-Pecan Turtle Bars
From Ocheyedan Methodist Church Cookbook

• 2 C. flour
• 1/2 C. butter or margarine
• 1 C. brown sugar
• 1 C. pecan halves
• 1/2 C. brown sugar
• 2/3 C. butter or margarine
• 1 C. milk chocolate chips

In mixer, combine flour, butter and brown sugar. Pat into 9x13-inch pan. Sprinkle pecans over unbaked crust.

Cook brown sugar and butter over medium heat.  Boil 30 to 60 seconds, stirring constantly.  Pour mixture over pecans and bake at 350 degrees for 18 to 22 mintues, or until caramel layer is bubbly.  Remove from oven and sprinkle with chocolate chips.  Wait 2 to 3 minutes and swirl chips.  Cool and cut into bars.

Strawberry pickin'

I took the day off work recently to visit a local U-Pick farm, Berry Patch Farm in Nevada, Iowa, to get my hands on the first strawberries of the season.  I asked my sister to join me, partly for the company, but mostly because I wanted another pair of hands so I could double my strawberry haul.

The weather was perfect for a day out in the strawberry patch.  And the strawberries were definitely ripe and ready to be picked.

We ended up picking about 10 pounds of strawberries.  Before we headed home, we stopped by Starbuck's Diner in Nevada.  No, it's not the Starbuck's you are thinking of.  Starbuck's Diner was Starbuck's before there was a Starbuck's.  (Did that make any sense?)

The menu is typical Iowa diner fare -- pork tenderloin sandwiches, hamburgers, hot dogs, chicken strips and ice cream.  I ordered the mushroom swiss burger and a side of waffle fries.  So good!  We couldn't leave without ordering ice cream.  We both ordered cookie dough "Cyclones," which are basically Blizzard knock-offs, but named Cyclones because Nevada is near Iowa State University in Ames.  Go Cyclones!

Seriously, this was the best cookie dough ice cream I've ever had, and I consider myself a cookie dough connoisseur.  I can't wait to find an excuse to go back to Starbuck's to get another.  (Again, I mean the diner, not the coffee, although I do enjoy a good latte.)

As soon as I got home, I realized that the strawberries were super ripe and needed to be handled immediately.  So I started making strawberry jam. The jam turned out beautiful, but I realized the next day that it looked a little runny in the jars.  Guess I added to many strawberries, or did I not boil it enough?

I've still got a ton of rhubarb growing in my backyard, so I quickly whipped up a strawberry-rhubarb pie to use up the berries.  I guess I worked a little too quickly, though, because when my husband cut into the beautiful pie, the filling was runny (just like the jam).  And the rhubarb was super tart.  Guess I needed to add more sugar?

We also tried to dehydrate the remaining strawberries.  I took my husband's advice and sliced the strawberries thin, but I guess it was too thin, because the dried strawberries ended up just a little thicker than a sheet of paper.  I'll probably try to add the dried berries to a batch of granola.  Until then, I'm storing them in a plastic baggie.

I'm feeling a little bummed that I took a day off and spent $40 (yikes!) on strawberries, only to have such bad luck with my strawberry recipes.  But I still want to find another time to pick more strawberries. I guess the fun is in trying sometimes.

Iowa Road Trip: Dubuque

A few weekends ago, I took advantage of an opportunity to meet my dad and a few of his friends in Dubuque for an Iowa-style road trip.  I met my dad for lunch at Breitbach's Country Restaurant, known as the oldest restaurant west of the Mississippi River.

The restaurant was featured in an episode of the Alton Brown show where he rode along the Mississippi on a motorcyle (I've forgotten the name of the show).  Breitbach's Country Dining also won a James Beard award for its authentic Midwestern food.

Once again, I was embarrassed to take pictures of the food in front of my family, so I'll just have to tell you what was on my plate.  The restaurant offers an all-you-can-eat buffet of fried chicken, ham, mashed potatoes, sweet corn, homemade dinner rolls, homemade soups and an amazing salad bar with such local favorites as pickled beets, chow-chow and marshmallow fluff pudding salad.  Oh how I love a salad with marshmallows!  I went back for seconds.

There were huge crowds of motorcycles parked outside the restaurant.

The bikers were all here for the view.

Easy to see where Iowa painter Grant Wood got his inspiration.

After lunch, we visited a dairy farm (as you can see from my early post) so my dad could scout a few alfalfa fields.  (He's a hay and forage seed salesman.)  We stayed on the farm for quite a while, so we didn't have time to do much sightseeing that night.  But we stopped at the famous Fenelon Place Elevator, the world's shortest, steepest scenic railway.

It was built in the 1800s by a local banker who wanted a quicker way to get to his home up on the bluffs so he could eat lunch and take a nap.  True story!

The elevator offered the best views of Dubuque and the Mississippi River valley, hands down.

In the morning, we decided to stop at the National Mississippi River Museum, since my dad and I are history buffs.

We got to tour an old steam boat and learn about how Dubuque was once the center of the riverboat construction in the late 1800s to early 1900s.  I'm fascinated with anything to do with the Mississippi River, so I'm so glad we stopped.  It's a must see!

Thank you, Dubuque!  We had a great time!