Her Modern Kitchen

Eating & Living in Austin, Texas

sea salt

Homemade Sea Salt Vanilla Pecan Butter

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Deliciously easy, homemade pecan butter with roasted pecans and a hint of sea salt and vanilla.

Homemade pecan butter

I always wondered why nut butters (other than PB) were so expensive and now I finally know why.  It’s not because nut butter is expensive to make, it’s because shelling those darn nuts is SO time-consuming. 

My colleague at work has pecan trees in his backyard and graciously donated an entire large grocery bag of pecans to my office.  Although the nuts were cracked, they’ weren’t shelled and no one in the office was specifically interested in them.

Fresh Pecans

So after watching the bag go mainly untouched for two days, I decided to haul it home myself.

Check out my colleague’s own blog, The Small Farm Life.  I loved their goat photos and learning about rendering beeswax.

My Social Distancing Activity

The bag sat in my pantry for ~3 weeks before I finally found time to sit down and shell the pecans (thank you COVID-19) so this Saturday I plopped myself in front of the TV, turned on some trashy Bravo shows, that I absolutely needed to catch up on, (Very Cavalleri if you must know) and spent an hour and a half shelling pecans.

Roasted Pecans

Pecan Butter in food processor

The result was 10 cups of beautifully fresh organic pecans.  Not certified organic but the nuts didn’t have a lick of pesticides or chemicals used on them, so let’s go with organic.

Do you know how much 10 cups of pecans are worth on the nut market? 

That’s ~5 pounds of nuts and according to Nuts.com, that’s about $110. Danngggggg. (Thank you Greg, if you’re reading this!)

Homemade pecan butter

So with my 10 cups worth of organic pecans, I decided to use half to make homemade nut butter, because I’ve never made nut butter before and wanted to try something new.  And the other half I stashed away for a rainy day when I want to do some baking.

My nut butter tips:

  • You can use the nut butter recipe below for any nut you have on hand
  • Definitely roast your nuts before making your butter
    • Just roast them for 15-20 minutes at 325F, tossing every 5 minutes
  • Always let your nuts cool completely after roasting before making your butter
    • Using hot nuts will result is something that is NOT nut butter
    • Wait at least an hour to be safe
  • A quality food processor or a high-speed blender works great
    • I used my food processor and had zero issues

Homemade pecan butter

How I’m enjoying my nut butter:

  • Straight up on a spoon!
  • Spread on a graham cracker
  • Morning toast with banana slices
  • Mixed into oatmeal & smoothies

Looking for nut butter recipes? Try my PB scones or PB Lovers Monster Cookies.

Homemade pecan butter pinterest

Homemade Sea Salt Vanilla Pecan Butter
 
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Homemade Sea Salt Vanilla Pecan Butter Author: Alyssa Prep time: 10 mins Cook time: 20 mins Total time: 30 mins Serves: 1 cup
Author:
Serves: 1 cup
Ingredients
  • 5 cups shelled pecan halves
  • ½-3/4 teaspoon sea salt
  • ¾ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
  • 3-5 drops stevia, optional
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 325F
  2. Place your pecan halves on the baking sheet in a single layer and bake in the oven for 15-20 minutes, tossing every 5 minutes to ensure they brown evenly
  3. Remove nuts from the oven and allow them to cool completely before making your nut butter (do not skip this step!)
  4. Place the nuts in your food processor (or high-speed blender)
  5. Allow the food processor to run on high continuously 5-7 minutes, scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl every minute or so until a smooth, creamy nut butter forms
  6. Once you reach your desired consistency, add the salt, vanilla, and stevia if using. Start with the minimal amount of salt and stevia then adjust to your liking
  7. Enjoy immediately and store in a clean jar in the fridge for 2-3 weeks

 

Grilled Mediterranean Zucchini featuring Morton Salt Coarse Sea Salt

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Nail your 4th of July party menu with this recipe for Grilled Mediterranean Zucchini starring Morton Salt Coarse Sea Salt, fresh herbs and goat cheese crumbles.

This post is sponsored by Morton Salt. All opinions, recipe, and photos are my own.
Thanks for supporting the brands that support Her Modern Kitchen.

Grilled Mediterranean Zucchini

Since most 4th of July parties already involve firing up the BBQ, adding grilled vegetables to the menu is an easy, no hassle side dish. For Grilled Mediterranean Zucchini with Herbed Sea Salt, Morton Coarse Sea Salt is used to deliver a burst of flavor to otherwise mild zucchini when mixed with fresh, seasonal herbs.

To finish the dish, roasted tomatoes, goat cheese crumbles, and walnuts are added giving the dish texture and zest. You can serve the zucchini as an herby summertime side dish or make it a creative main meal for your vegetarian visitors.

Why choose coarse sea salt for this dish?

It’s common knowledge that salt is an important ingredient when cooking, in fact, rarely do you see a sweet or savory recipe without it. Salt has the ability to enhance flavor and when mixed with food, it helps the food release aromas that elevate the perception of taste, making us want to indulge in the food.

Herbed salt

This dish features zucchini but the star is truly the Coarse Sea Salt from Morton Salt which is used to deliver the mix of fresh basil, oregano, and lemon zest. The coarse sea salt provides a more dramatic impact when compared to a finer grain of salt.  It also adds a note of texture to the zucchini.

Grilled zucchini

In my opinion, coarse salt allows you to spread the salt flavor across the dish without overpowering the dish. This is why coarse salt works so well for for the Grilled Mediterranean Zucchini, delivering those small bursts of flavor in each bite making it delicious!

Grilled Mediterranean Zucchini

Prep in advance so you can enjoy the party too!

When I entertain, I like to balance the time I spend cooking and mingling while enjoying the party with my guests.  It’s especially important during the 4th of July season when there’s so much emphasis on relaxing and having a good time with family and friends.

Her Modern Kitchen

All the components of this Grilled Mediterranean Zucchini dish can be prepared ahead of time so all you have to do when it’s time to eat is grill the zucchini. Once the zucchini is grilled, the dish is quick and easy to assemble while entertaining guests.

4th of July Table for Grilled Mediterranean Zucchini

To prep ahead of time

  • Roast the tomatoes the day before your party and refrigerate them until serving
  • Prep the herbed sea salt the day-of and store covered in the refrigerator
  • Slice the zucchini, brush them with the olive oil, garlic, and black pepper mixture then cover the zucchini until it’s time to grill

When you’re ready to eat, heat the grill and cook the zucchini. Finish the dish by topping each zucchini half with the herbed sea salt, goat cheese crumbles, chopped walnuts, and roasted tomatoes.

So here’s to delicious food, lots of time with family & friends and a happy 4th of July!

Grilled Mediterranean Zucchini

5.0 from 4 reviews
Grilled Mediterranean Zucchini with Herbed Morton Coarse Sea Salt for easy entertaining
 
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Author:
Serves: 6
Ingredients
  • 3 large zucchinis
  • 1 tablespoon olive oil
  • 1 large garlic clove, minced
  • ½ teaspoon black pepper
  • 2 teaspoons Morton Coarse Sea Salt
  • 4-5 sprigs fresh oregano plus more for garnish
  • 6-8 large basil leaves plus more for garnish
  • 1 teaspoon lemon zest
  • ¼ cup goat cheese crumbles
  • 2 tablespoons roughly chopped walnuts
  • roasted cherry tomatoes, optional for serving*
  • lemon slices, optional for serving
Instructions
  1. Prepare the zucchini by slicing each squash in half lengthwise
  2. Mix together the olive oil, minced garlic, and black pepper in a small bowl
  3. Lightly brush the olive oil mixture over both sides of the zucchinis
  4. Prep the herbs for the herbed sea salt by stripping the oregano leaves from the stems
  5. Finely mince the basil leaves and oregano until you have roughly 2 tablespoons of finely chopped herbs
  6. In a small bowl, stir together the herbs, lemon zest, and Morton Coarse Sea Salt
  7. When ready to eat, heat the grill to ~450°F
  8. Place the zucchinis cut side down over medium-high flame and cook covered for 5-6 minutes
  9. Flip the zucchini over and grill the outside for another 3-5 minutes until the zucchini halves are soft and give when pricked with a fork
  10. Place the cooked zucchini on a serving tray, cut side up
  11. Generously sprinkle the herbed sea salt over top of the zucchini followed by the goat cheese crumbles, chopped walnuts, and roasted cherry tomatoes, if using
  12. Garnish with lemon slices and additional herbs before serving
Notes
*To make the roasted cherry tomatoes, toss 1 cup cherry tomatoes with 1 teaspoon olive oil, a pinch of Morton Coarse Sea Salt and black pepper. Roast for 10 minutes in the oven at 425°F or until tomatoes burst.

 

My Perfect Cookie: Double Chocolate Chip Sea Salt Cookies

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Double Chocolate Chip Sea Salt Cookies are cookie perfection — slightly crisp yet chewy, loaded with two types of chocolate and a pinch sea salt.

If I could make a list of my most prized (dessert) recipes, it would be a toss-up between these Double Chocolate Chip Sea Salt Cookies and my Bakery-Style Oatmeal Raisin Cookies.

Now, I know what you’re thinking, another chocolate chip cookie recipe? Does the world really need another chocolate chip cookie recipe?

Yes, yes it does because it doesn’t have THIS one. This one, I promise you, will be your favorite chocolate chip cookie recipe.

This chocolate chip cookie recipe is slightly crisp on the outside, chewy in the middle, loaded with two types of chocolate and a pinch of sea salt.

It’s chocolate chip cookie perfection.

Growing up, my Mom had a go-to chocolate chip cookie recipe. And, as much as I love Mom’s cookie recipe, it wasn’t my to die for chocolate chip cookie recipe. I mean, it’s realllyyyy good, it’s nostalgic, and if my Mom sends me some, I’m definitely eating at least 3 or 4 of them because I miss my Mom and eating her food helps me feel closer to her.

But if I’m craving a chocolate chip cookie and willing to make my own, I’m totally making my recipe for Double Chocolate Chip Sea Salt Cookies. Not only because it’s delicious but because it’s the easiest recipe!

The secret to this recipe is in the eggs & sugar. Rather than using two whole eggs, my recipe uses 2 egg yolks and 1 whole egg. The addition of the egg yolks makes the cookies richer and chewier in the middle when baked.

When it comes to the sugar, I use a mix of granulated sugar, powdered sugar and a heavy measure of brown sugar. Much like in my Oatmeal Raisin Cookies, using a greater amount of brown sugar (which contains molasses) helps the cookies outer edges become crispy as the sugar caramelizes. These crispy outer edges make my Double Chocolate Chip Sea Salt Cookies perfect for dunking (because you’re never too old to dunk!) without the cookie falling to pieces in your glass of milk.

The use of powdered sugar in a cookie recipe may sound a bit odd but this smidge of powdered sugar allows for a more tender cookie center. In powdered sugar, the sugar crystals are smaller and finer than granulated sugar. These smaller crystals more easily bind with the protein from the egg yolks and gluten in the flour (hello, baking is chemistry!) creating a softer, chewier cookie. So please, don’t skip the powdered sugar!

It may seem like any old chocolate will do for a chocolate chip cookie recipe but for this recipe, I wanted a mix of flavors and chose both semisweet chocolate chips and dark chocolate chunks. I love the big bites of dark chocolate throughout the cookie with the slightly sweeter, smoother semisweet chocolate chips. And of course, sweet & salty are like the PB&J of cookies so I sprinkled a heavy pinch of course sea salt on top of the cookies before they baked so when you bite into the cookie you get hints of sea salt.

The mix of chocolates, crispy edges, soft chewy centers and touch of sea salt seriously make my Double Chocolate Chip Sea Salt Cookies love at first bite!

Double Chocolate Chip Sea Salt Cookies Pin
5.0 from 1 reviews
Double Chocolate Chip Sea Salt Cookies
 
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Author:
Serves: 30
Ingredients
  • ½ cup unsalted butter, softened
  • ¾ cup brown sugar
  • ½ cup granulated sugar
  • ¼ cup powdered sugar
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 whole egg
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
  • 1½ cups all-purpose flour
  • 1 teaspoon baking powder
  • ½ teaspoon salt
  • ¼ teaspoon baking soda
  • 5 ounces semisweet chocolate chips
  • 5 ounces dark chocolate chips
  • course sea salt (about 1 tablespoon)
Instructions
  1. Preheat the oven to 375*F
  2. Line two cookie sheets with parchment paper or silicon baking mats and set aside.
  3. In a large mixing bowl, cream the softened butter until smooth.
  4. Add in the brown sugar, granulated sugar, and powdered sugar. Cream until light and fluffy, about 2-3 minutes.
  5. One at a time, with the mixer on low, beat in the egg yolks followed by the whole egg. Scraping down the sides between each addition. Add in the vanilla and mix until combined.
  6. In a separate medium-sized bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt.
  7. Turn your mixer on low and in 3 separate additions, slowly add the flour mixture to the butter, sugar, and eggs, scraping down the side of the bowl between each addition.
  8. Add in the chocolate and mix on low until just combined.
  9. Using a tablespoon sized scoop, scoop the cookie dough onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving 2 inches between each mound.
  10. Sprinkle a pinch of coarse sea salt onto the top of each mound, lightly tapping the sea salt into place.
  11. Bake at 375*F for 11-12 minutes, rotating the pan half walk through if you are not using a convection oven.
  12. Once lightly golden around the edges, remove the cookies from the oven and let them rest for 2-3 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool.
  13. Store in a cool, dry place for up to a week or freeze for 2-3 months.