November 2024

The holidays are full of many memories, smells, and flavors. They are also brimming with family traditions and recipes that have been carefully crafted and passed on for generations.

Texas trees generate a $41.6 billion economic impact and many essential ingredients for some of our favorite foods, including syrup, flavoring extracts and spices, pecans, nuts, citrus fruits, and much more.

Trees also provide structure and texture enhancements in foods through their cellulose—a compound that provides trees and plants with cell wall structure and strength. Food products made with cellulose include grated cheeses, ice cream, breads, diet foods, frozen dinners, sauces, and salad dressings.

While not replacing your traditional recipes, we have compiled a few of our favorites that include tree product ingredients. Many of our favorite recipes include ingredients that can even be gathered in the yards of many, including pecans. They can also be used in the whole form to provide sweet to peppery smoke-flavored meats when smoking. 

Chocolate Pecan Pie

 Ingredients:

• 1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 2 teaspoons sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
• 1 stick (4 ounces) cold unsalted butter, cut into pieces
• 1/4 cup ice water

Filling:

• 2 cups pecans (about 7 ounces)
• 3 large eggs
• 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
• 2/3 cup light corn syrup
• 1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted
• 3 tablespoons bourbon
• 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
• 3/4 cup semisweet or bittersweet chocolate chips

Directions:

1. Make the pie crust.
2. Pulse together the flour, sugar and salt in a food processor.
3. Add the butter and pulse until the mixture resembles coarse meal.
4. Transfer to a bowl and stir in the ice water.
5. Knead the dough two or three times on a lightly floured surface and pat into a disk. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.
6. On a lightly floured surface, roll out the dough to a 12-inch round.
7. Fit the dough into a 9-inch glass pie plate. Trim the overhang to 1/2 inch, fold the edge under itself, and crimp decoratively. Refrigerate until firm.

Make the filling:

1. Preheat the oven to 375°F. On a rimmed baking sheet, toast the pecans for about 8 minutes or until fragrant; coarsely chop.
2. In a large bowl, whisk the eggs with the brown sugar, corn syrup, vanilla, melted butter, bourbon, and salt until blended.
3. Stir in the pecans and chocolate chips until evenly distributed.

Bake:

1. Pour the filling into the pie shell. Bake on the bottom shelf of the oven for about 55 minutes, or until the center of the pie is set. If the edge is browning too quickly, tent the crust with foil halfway through the baking time.
2. Transfer the pie to a rack and let cool for at least 1 hour before serving.

Smoked Brisket

When selecting the wood or wood pellets to use when smoking meats like brisket, it is important to consider what type of flavor and heat intensity you want. Woods like hickory will provide a lower, constant heat with a sweeter flavor while mesquite will provide a larger volume of smoke with an earthy flavor.

Ingredients:

• 12-18 pound full packer brisket
• Kosher salt
• Coarse ground black pepper
• Garlic powder
• Yellow mustard

Directions:

1. Heat your smoker to 250-275°F.

2. Add a thin layer of mustard as a binder, and then season it with coarse salt and pepper along with garlic powder.
3. Insert the brisket into the smoker for four hours untouched.
4. After four hours, spritz the edges of the brisket with a mixture of water and apple cider vinegar.
5. After the brisket has developed a dark outer bark, usually around 170-180°F internally, wrap it tightly in butcher paper and return it to the smoker.
6. After the brisket reaches 195-210°F, remove it from the smoker and let it rest on the counter for a minimum of 45 minutes to an hour.
7. When serving the brisket, remember to slice against the grain. 

Sweet potato casserole with pecan crumble

Ingredients:

• 4 large sweet potatoes
• ¼ cup melted butter
• 1/3 cup brown sugar
• ¼ cup milk
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• ½ tsp cinnamon
• ¼ tsp nutmeg
• Pinch of salt

Pecan crumble ingredients:

• 1 cup chopped pecans
• ½ cup brown sugar
• 1/3 cup flower
• ¼ cup melted butter

Instructions:

1. Peel and cube sweet potatoes, then boil until tender—about 15 minutes
2. Drain potatoes and mash until smooth.
3. Preheat the oven to 375°F
4. Mix mashed sweet potatoes with melted butter, brown sugar, milk, vanilla, cinnamon, nutmeg and salt.
5. Spread the mixture into a greased 9x13-inch baking dish.
6. Combine pecans, brown sugar and melted butter in a bowl and mix.
7. Sprinkle the crumble topping over the sweet potato mixture.
8. Bake uncovered for 25-30 minutes, or until the topping is golden.