As you may know, I love vintage clothes. Especially my mother’s coats from the 70’s. So I thought I’d try a vintage recipe — from my grandmother’s 1964 edition of the Joy of Cooking.

Apparently this recipe has sold “many a copy” of Joy of Cooking. Or at least it had in 1964. They are called pecan or angel slices in the cookbook, but I renamed them since they kind of look like wings.

Yep, starting with butter again. I’m starting to feel like Paula Deen, y’all.

This recipe called for “pecan meats.” It didn’t say what state said meats should be in. But I think chopped is your best bet.

I really had no idea how these were going to come out, so I was kind of surprised when I pulled this out of the oven:

Kinda looks like cake! But you’re not done yet. There’s still some (simple) lemon icing.

This makes them look more like angel wings (I say as though I had actually seen angel wings), and gives them an unexpected twist.

I made these kind of late at night and I didn’t wait until they had cooled completely before icing and cutting them.  Yours may look less crinkly if you wait.

Pecan slices/angel slices/angel wings (adapted from the 1964 edition of Joy of Cooking)
Base
1/2 cup butter
1/4 cup sugar
1 egg
1 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/8 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Cream together butter and sugar, then beat in egg. Sift flour and salt together, then add to butter mixture in three parts, blending well. Work in vanilla.

Pat dough evenly into a 9 x 12-inch cake pan. Bake for about 15 minutes. Make filling while pastry base is baking.

Pecan layer
2 eggs
1 1/2 cups packed brown sugar
1/2 cup sweetened flake coconut (don’t get the generic kind, you’ll regret it)*
1 cup chopped pecans
2 tablespoons flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla

Beat eggs, then stir in other ingredients. Spread mixture over warm pastry base. Bake at 350 degrees for about 25 minutes. Allow to cool.

Icing
1 1/2 cups powdered sugar
Enough lemon juice to make the icing spreadable (I used the juice of 1 lemon)

Whisk or stir lemon juice into powdered sugar gradually, until icing is thin enough to spread. Pour and spread over cooled pecan bars. Allow icing to dry, then cut into triangles.

*If you are anti-coconut, you can skip it and use 1 1/2 cups of chopped pecans.