No Pecans in this Pecan Pie! (618 words) by: Joyce Moseley Pierce

I used to think I was only one who liked gooey filling in pecan pie but hated pecans on top. That all changed when one of my co-workers commented one day that he, too, hated picking through pecans to get to good stuff.

For his birthday, I decided my contribution to birthday treat table would be a pecan-free pecan pie. I got out my trusty Betty Crocker cookbook and looked up "Pecan Pie." I considered just baking it and leaving pecans out, but was delighted to find a "Coconut-Oatmeal Pie." Having seen pecan pies before and marveled at craftmanship involved in arranging all of those pecan halves on top made me wonder how I would ever place those tiny pieces of coconut and oatmeal on top of this pie without using tweezers!

Not being one who generally reads entire recipe before plowing right into it, you can imagine my delight when I got to part that said to "stir in coconut and oatmeal." I paced around oven anticipating how it would all come together and to my surprise, magic occurred! The coconut and oatmeal joined during baking to form a beautiful crisp, lacey topping.

Part of hesitation in making caramel corn is sticky, gooey mess that remains once you've finished making it. You almost need a blow torch to remove hardened sugary stuff from your pans.

Help is on way! This recipe can be made in your microwave, and when you're finished, you can just throw paper sack away.

This doesn't mean that it doesn't take a little preparation time, but at least you can relax and enjoy finished product without having to worry about a lot of cleanup.

Next time you go to grocery store, ask for your groceries in paper bags. You'll need one bag per batch.

Here's what you'll need: 3-4 quarts popped corn

1 stick of butter (no substitutes!) 3/4 cup brown sugar 1/2 tsp salt 1/4 cup Karo Syrup

1 tsp baking soda - add last