Our daughter returned from spending most of June in Europe, seeing a few cathedrals along the way.  When she returned we headed straight for the beach for time with family.  Each of the cousins took turns sharing their summer adventures on designated nights, and for our daughter’s special evening I whipped up a light, sweet, summer dessert called a Huguenot Torte, inspired by her visit to France, and with consideration of another cousin’s Huguenot heritage (French Huguenots of the 1700s were a severely persecuted Protestant people under Catholic  France for thetheir Reformation theology, an irony not lost on this Iowa raised Catholic).

Enjoy this Midwestern twist on an old Southern favorite, and while you do, remember that the religious freedoms we now enjoy were paid for by people of faith who came before us.

Tread carefully…

Step one:

Candied Pecans

Heat skillet to very hot, place two handfuls of pecans and one cup of sugar.  Keep a wooden spoon stirring and start lightly spraying with water.  Watch closely as the pecans carmelize and lower the heat slowly.  The whole process is very quick keep watching closely and stirring.  Place candied pecans on marble to cool.

4 eggs

3 cups of Splenda  ( A couple of people at the beach house were watching sugars and this substitution was not noticed by anyone to my great surprise)

8 -10 tbsp. flour

5 tsp. baking powder    ( you may also use 1/4 tsp. of baking soda and 5/8 tsp. creme of tartar for each tsp.) for leavening agent

1/2 teaspoon of salt

1 cups of chopped apples/ 1 cup of chopped pears

1 tsp. vanilla

Combine everything in blender, but fold in apples and pears,  pour into a 9 * 13 pan.

Place candied pecans in a bag and hammer into broken pieces.  Toss pieces gently on top the batter.  Place in oven for 35-40 minutes at 350 degrees.