Pecan Sandies
Pecan Sandies
This Pecan Sandies recipe is a shortbread type cookie. Using granulated sugar and a few other adjustments to a standard shortbread recipe makes a cookie up to the standards of the Keebler Elves. One of the adjustments, along with the addition of a little water and vanilla extract, is creaming the butter and sugar. See Creaming Butter and Sugar.
1 cup butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 tsp water
2 tsp vanilla
2 tsp. water
2 cups flour sifted
1 cup chopped pecans
Preheat oven to 325 degrees.
Cream 1 cup butter and 1/2 cup sugar. Add 2 teaspoons water and 2 teaspoons vanilla. Add 2 cups sifted flour and 1 cup chopped pecans.
Chill 3-4 hours. Form balls and place on an ungreased cookie sheet. You can bake them as balls or flatten them out to a more traditional cookie shape.
Bake at 325 degrees for about 20 minutes.
Makes about 36 cookies.
Pecan Sandies
from The Cookiepedia, by Stacy Adimando, copyright (c) 2011. Published by Quirk Books
Giant toasted pecan halves top these nutty, buttery shortbread cookies along with a blizzard of granulated sugar.
1 1/2 cups pecans, dry-toasted in a skillet
1/3 cup powdered sugar
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour, plus 1 or 2 tablespoons for dusting
1/2 teaspoon coarse salt
3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons cold unsalted butter, cut into 1-inch cubes
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
About 30 pecan halves for decorating
Sugar for dusting
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F.
In a food processor, finely grind the pecans with sugars.
Add the flour and salt and buzz again until combined. Add the butter and process until the mixture start to look sort of pebbly, like coarse crumbs. Then you can add the egg and vanilla. Keep processing until the dough comes together.
Lightly dust a clean surface with the remaining flour and turn out the dough on top. Form the dough into a ball and then flatten it into a disk, working in some of the flour from the table, as needed. Wrap in plastic wrap and place in the freezer for about 30 minutes or in the refrigerator for about 1 hour. The dough should be slightly firm so you can roll it with a rolling pin.
Roll about 1/4-inch thick, sprinkling the surface and the rolling pin with flour if it starts to stick. Cut out cookies from the chilled dough with a 2-inch cookie cutter. Space them about an inch apart on parchment-paper-lined baking sheets.
Place one of the beautiful toasted pecan halves in the center of each cookie and dust with a light sprinkling of sugar. Bake 18 to 20 minutes, or until the cookies are a lovely sandy color, rotating the sheets halfway through baking. Cool the cookies completely before storing them in airtight containers of vintage tins.
Makes 2 1/2 Dozen
