From Our Kitchens: These pecan crisps will disappear before kickoff

These Spicy Sausage Cheddar Pecan Crisps may be a little labor intensive at the onset. But they are absolutely perfect when pulling out a roll from the freezer, and wowing your friends at a last-minute get together, impressing your husband’s game-day buddies or sending off a box of these lovelies with your kids after they come home from college to wash clothes.  

They are great to give to friends at church or for office parties. And they are oh so addictive.  They will be gobbled up before kickoff with your friends clamoring for more.  

I package these for my husband to take to the various offices he travels to for his job.  

Year after year, he receives repeated requests for a new batch to make it back with him.  

I recently made these for a game night with friends and they were a total hit. Pecan crisps and poker chips are a perfect combo.

Spicy Sausage Cheddar Pecan Crisps

 Makes about 100 crisps (2”x2” round)

Ingredients

• 1 roll spicy breakfast sausage cooked crumbled
• 1.5 softened butter
• 8 oz softened cream cheese
• 4 cups freshly shredded extra sharp cheddar cheese
• 2.5 cups freshly milled soft white wheat flour
• 2 cups almond flour
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ½ teaspoon cayenne powder
• 1 cup toasted pecans – finely chopped 

Directions

Cream butter and cream cheese until light and fluffy.  Stir in sharp cheddar.

In a separate bowl, whisk together both flours, garlic powder and cayenne.

Slowly combine wet and dry ingredients.

Fold in pecans.

Shape into 4-6 logs about 8-10 inches long and 2 inches wide.

Wrap in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least two hours.

Slice into ¼ inch wafers and place on parchment lined baking sheets.

Bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes until the tops are browned and crispy, rotating pans and swapping shelves half way through.

Freeze remaining logs wrapped in plastic wrap and sealed in freezer bags. Let thaw in the fridge overnight to cook.

Michelle Hornaday is a Macon native who only learned to cook after getting married to her “first, last and only husband” seven years ago.  For the last 25 years, she has proudly displayed a wooden plaque in her kitchen: “I only have a kitchen because it came with the house.”  And it was fact until meeting her husband on a church pew one Sunday morning in January 2018.  They were married and her cooking journey began six months later.  She is a self-taught cook, and enjoys making dishes for her church family and local friends, giving thousands of meals since getting married — out of gratitude to God for her new family.