8 Fall-winter recipes using Dallas Farmers Market produce 

This fall, the COURIER DFW collaborated with the Dallas Farmers Market to bring you original recipes using their seasonal produce stars. COURIER featured an ingredient a week in a four-week series. Now you can access all the recipes here. Be sure to keep up with all the vendors, new items, and events by tapping into the Dallas Farmers Market blog and free newsletter. Make sure you’re subscribed to the free COURIER DFW newsletter for more fun collaborations like this.

Pecans

North Texas Pecans is a 50-acre pecan farm in Comanche, Texas, that’s been run by Russell Helge for nearly 30 years now. Most of Helge’s 1,500 trees are Pawnee pecans, and those will be the star of today’s recipes. Learn more about North Texas Pecans and what’s fresh at the Dallas Farmers Market.

Pecan syrup

Pecan syrup is great additions to an iced latte or on top of French toast and waffles, but you could also use this syrup in over bread pudding, mixed into your burger patty, or atop some vanilla ice cream, with a tablespoon of rum or whiskey for an adult sundae.

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup of pecans
• 1 1/2 cups of pure maple syrup
• 1/4 cup of water
• 1/3 cup of unsalted butter
• 1/4 t of vanilla extract
• pinch of sea salt

Roast your pecans in an oven for 10 minutes or so at 350 degrees.

Once they cool, chop them up if you want texture or put them in a food processor if you want them as fine as possible.

Add your pecans, water, and maple syrup to a medium pot and bring to a simmer for 6-7 minutes. Cube your butter and begin adding it into the mixture, stirring regularly.

After 5 minutes or so, your mixture should darken, and you can pull it off the stove and let it cool for a few minutes.

Once cooled, add your vanilla and salt to taste. Refrigerate before use if you’d like it thickened.

Pecan Pesto

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup of pecans
• 2 garlic cloves
• 2 cups of fresh basil leaves
• 1/3 cup of Parmesan
• 1/2 cup of high-quality olive oil
• Season to taste

Roast your pecans on the stovetop until the nuts start to darken slightly.

After the nuts cool, add them to a food processor or blender with the basil, garlic, and cheese.

After a quick blend, add in the water and the olive oil and blend again. Keep the pesto texture chunky. You can add in seasonings here or at the end.

Add pesto to warm pasta of your choice.

Sweet Potatoes

Brown butter sweet potato latkes

Ingredients

• 1-2 sweet potatoes, depending on how much you want to make
• About 4 T of unsalted butter
• A handful of sliced onions
• Herbs and seasonings of your choice
• An egg or two, depending on batch size
• (optional) 2 T of flour

Peel the skin off of your raw potatoes and then peel them into thin slices, chopping those slices up to make more narrow strips.

Mix your slices in a bowl with egg and seasonings of your choice. I used a combo of dried thyme, rosemary, garlic, and a healthy hit of sea salt and pepper.

Combine your mixture. You can add in the flour if you want to thicken the mixture.

Brown your butter in a pan on low, stirring constantly until the butter is fragrant and collects little toasted butter crumbs in the pan.

When the butter is browned, add your potato mixture to the pan and fry both sides. Let cool on a wire rack to drain the excess butter. You can serve with sour cream, yogurt, or a sauce of your liking.

Sweet potato chili 

Ingredients

• Ground meat of your choice
• 2-3 sweet potatoes, depending on meal size
• 1 can of red beans
• 1 can of northern white beans
• 1/2 of a large onion
• 1 can of tomato paste with veggie or beef broth to thin it
• 1 can of crushed or cubed tomato
• 3 T of minced garlic
• A chili seasoning packet
• Other seasoning of your choice

Peel and chop your sweet potatoes into small cubes and add them to a large pot with chopped onion, seasoning, and oil.

Continue stirring, and after the potatoes cook for a few minutes, add your meat, some of the chili seasoning, and the garlic, and let that brown while stirring.

Add your beans, tomato paste, broth, canned tomatoes, and the rest of the chili packet and bring the entire mixture to a light boil.

Simmer your chili for 10-15 min. on low, stirring regularly.

Pears

A savory pear and brie crostata

Ingredients

• 1 Bartlett pear
• Half a wheel of buttery red brie
• Raw pie crust
• 1/4 cup of corn starch or flour
• 1/4 of a teaspoon of allspice
• 2 tablespoons of white sugar
• 2 tablespoons of brown sugar
• 1 tablespoon of butter
• 3 tablespoons of lemon juice
• 1 egg
• pinch of salt

Slice your pear and your brie thinly. I kept the skin and rind on mine, but you can peel it off if you’d like.

Toss your pears in a bowl with your corn starch, your sugars, allspice, and lemon juice.

Arrange your pear slices in your pie crust, weaving in your brie slices and a thin slice of butter here and there.

Fold your pie crust over the edges to secure the mixture and an egg wash over the crust. Bake at 350˚ for 30-35 minutes.

Pear caramel snickerdoodles

Ingredients

• 1 cup of peeled and diced pears
• 3 cups of flour
• 2 teaspoons of cream of tartar or baking powder
• 1 teaspoon of baking soda
• 2 sticks of softened butter
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1 room temp egg
• A dozen caramel candies chopped into small pieces
• A few pinches of salt

Use a mixer to blend your butter and sugar on high for a minute or two, and then add in your egg and vanilla.

Mix all your other dry ingredients separately and mix in little by little.

Stir in your chopped pears and caramels to the mixture, then form dough balls and roll in a cinnamon sugar mixture before baking.

Bake at 375˚ for 8-10 minutes. Let cool and add an optional caramel drizzle.

Granny Smith Apples

There is a lot of attention on apples this time of year, but very little on Granny Smiths. The more sour flavor makes the variety often overlooked in cooking, when it can be just what a recipe needs to add brightness.

You’ll want to make a puree for the following recipes. That will include:

• Peeling your apple and then chopping it up into small pieces
• Adding those pieces to a small saucepan with a dash of cinnamon and a little water, and letting it all boil for a few minutes
• As the mixture is boiling down, you can add a bit of butter or a tablespoon of maple—but these aren’t necessary
• Once the mixture has boiled for about 5-6 minutes, you can puree it in a blender

Granny cakes

1. Make your typical pancake batter or use a box mix.
2. Place a scoop of pancake batter in a buttered pan and add a scoop of your puree in the middle of the pancake, and then cover with more batter. *I added a little caramel syrup to the middle, but not necessary.
3. After cooking your pancake like normal, you can add sliced apples on top or more puree and real maple syrup, and the stack is delightful on any fall or winter day.

Caramel apple latte

Ingredients

• Your apple puree
• Milk of your choice
• Your coffee or espresso
• Caramel syrup

Add your puree mixture to the bottom of your glass and use a frother or hand blender to mix the puree with your milk (I added almond milk and evaporated oat milk for a thicker consistency.)

Once you have the consistency you want, adding more milk if needed, add some caramel syrup around the inside of the glass.

Then add your ice and your coffee, topping with a complimentary creamer of your choice (I used a bit of coffee cake creamer to bring in more cinnamon) and enjoy!