Pecan Cherry Shortbread Bites & Texas Road-Trippin’

Tomayto, tomahto, potayto, potahto… George and Ira Gershwin’s “tomayto vs. tomahto” song is on repeat in my mind. Fortunately, enunciating tomatoes and potatoes isn’t an argument starter in our house. But pecans are! I say “puh-kahn.” Clearly, The Hubby thinks I’ve been saying pecan wrong for way too long. “Pee-kan” is the correct way to say pecan according to him. Good thing we haven’t called the whole thing off! If so, our latest trip to the San Antonio, Texas area wouldn’t have happened.

Traveling during these ‘Rona Times is different. Folks are out and about, but it’s a mixed bag of mask or no masks. To pass the time cruising down I-30, we played a game of counting people wearing masks in their own cars. Mask = 1 point. Mask AND gloves = 2 points. It was a fine line between casually glancing and gawking at people we passed! Final score: 8 points. All masks, no gloves.

Since we were in Texas, we were also on the look-out for Buc-ee’s! If you haven’t been to one, you should stop for gas and an experience. The bathrooms are immaculate, jerky and fudge varieties are impressive, and shop-a-holics can get their groove on in the homewares, sporting goods and clothing departments!

Recent news headlines and our location on the map were also pretty coincidental. Quaker Oats had just announced they were dropping the Aunt Jemima image from their famous pancake and syrup lines. Starting in 1893 at the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago, R.T. Davis Milling Company launched the careers for what would be 8 women portraying the Aunt Jemima character for the iconic pancake mix. One of these 8 ladies was Lillian Richard, who played the Quaker Oaks controversial “mammy” figure for 23 years (1925 to 1948). Her hometown was Hawkins, Texas. We decided to take a detour.

Hawkins, Texas is about 20 miles north of Tyler and the University of Texas @ Tyler. Home to 1,278 residents and one stop light, Hawkins was named the “Pancake Capital of Texas” by the Texas legislature in 1995. Nearby Lake Hawkins seemed like it would be a nice place to camp, boat, and catch a few fish. Overall, Hawkins appeared to be a quaint town, like many other small towns across the United States.

Heading westbound on Texas State Highway 30 is Corsicana (see map above if curious). The birthplace of country musician Lefty Frizzell, and home to Navarro Pecan Company, and the famous Collin Street Bakery. There are four Collin Street Bakery locations around Texas, but the original location is in downtown Corsicana. Since 1896, all of their baked goods are made here, including their world famous fruitcakes. The Apricot Pecan Cake is delightful! But what we thoroughly enjoyed were their cookies! We happily munched on pecan shortbread, cherry icebox, puh-kahn crinkles and chocolate pee-kan pillows all the way down to San Antonio.

San Antonio is mostly notably known for The Alamo and it’s Riverwalk. The ‘Rona Times have definitely made their impact on these normally bustling tourist destinations!

One location in northern Downtown San Antonio, off the tourist-beaten path is the Pearl District. On a non-‘Rona year, you can take in live music in green spaces, window shop at any of the upscale retail stores or Farmer’s Market, visit the Culinary Institute of America’s campus, or eat at one of the many swanky restaurants. We opted to stroll around the Pearl’s lesser-known stretches of the San Antonio Riverwalk.

On the 10 hour ride home, my mind strolled around ways to recreate one of the many tasty goodies we gluttoned on during this visit. The 42″ mega pizza from Big Lou’s? The beautifully scrumptious rainbow sugar cookies from Bakery Lorraine? Black’s famous BBQ brisket? Nope. My tastebuds craved those icebox cherry and pecan cookies from Collin Street Bakery!

Wha-la! Pecan Cherry Shortbread Bites are the result! A buttery crisp brown-sugar shortbread dough loaded with roasted pecans and topped with tangy-sweet cherry preserves.

Toasting the finely chopped pecans is a must. The richness of the roasted pee-kans enhances the buttery richness of the shortbread dough. I used a nut grinder to finely and evenly chop the puh-kahns. Doing this before roasting them cuts their bake time in half.

Collin Street Bakery’s cherry icebox cookies appeared to be maraschino cherries, giving this sugar cookie dough an extra sweetness. However for my Pecan Cherry Shortbread Bites, I didn’t want the cherry flavor to be overpowering. Our local grocery store sells cherry preserves, which filled these cookie thumbprints perfectly! You can use homemade cherry preserves (or any other flavor) if you have it.

Here’s to a great, albeit oddly-strange, summer visit to San Antonio and Texas! I hope you enjoy too!