Holiday Pecans and Candy Kissed Twists! (And the Del Sinchak Band!)

These recipes come from NSS LIFE, published by the National Slovak Society but I have made a change or two. These recipes were poplar in Pennsylvania when I was a kid, in one form or another. The recipe for the candy kissed twists calls for Hershey's products. I use Hershey's because their products are union made. I think that any union made chocolate bits will work.

Candy Kissed Twists

You will need:

* 1 bag of small pretzel twists
* 1 13-ounce bag of Hershey's Kisses milk chocolate
* 1 10-ounce bag of Hershey's Holiday Bits

Heat your oven to 350. Place the pretzels on a nonstick cookie sheet. Place an unwrapped Hershey's Kiss on each pretzel and bake 5 minutes or just until the chocolate is soft but not melting. Keep an eye on what you're doing. Remove the sheet from the oven and press the Holiday Bits on top of the Kisses. Be gentle, don't smash the pretzels or get chocolate on your fingers if you can avoid that. Let it cool and put it out.

Holiday ("Christmas") Pecans

You will need;

* 4 cups of pecan halves
* 1 cup of sugar
* 2 egg whites, stiffly beaten
* One-half-cup of butter

Toast your pecans at 325 for about 20 minutes or until light brown. Fold your sugar into the beaten egg whites. Beat that to create a meringue. Melt your butter in a large baking pan or in a microwave. Spread the nut mixture over the butter and bake that at 325 for about 50 or 60 minutes. Turn the nuts over every 10 minutes or so with a spatula, keeping an eye on how the mixture is working. Let this cool on a brown paper bag or on lint-free towels.

And now for some Slovak American joy!

PolkaFest Illinois - Del Sinchak Band - Mozart Polka