MONDAY RECIPE POST - BUTTER PECAN COOKIES

Today's recipe came from Baker by Nature, hosted by Ashley.  Thank you Ashley for this very yummy cookie.  I have just found that Ashley’s site is undergoing maintenance, according to what it says when I tried this link.  I will try again later to see if it is working.   

Butter Pecan Cookies - makes 16 

Preparation time:  20 minutes

Cooking time: 10 minutes

Inactive time: 2 hours

Total time: 2 hours, 30 minutes

Author: Ashley Manila

Ingredients

For the Buttered Pecans:

1 and 1/2 cups pecan halves, finely chopped

1 and 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter

For the Butter Pecan Cookies:

2 and 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

2 and 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch

1 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 sticks (8 ounces) unsalted butter, melted until browned

1 cup dark brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

2 large eggs, at room temperature

16 pecan halves, for decoration, optional

Instructions

For the Buttered Pecans:

Melt the butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add in chopped pecans and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 to 5 minutes, or until lightly toasted. Set aside until needed.

For the Butter Pecan Cookies:

In a large bowl combine flour, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda; whisk well to combine and set aside until needed.

Melt butter in a skillet over medium heat; continue cooking, stirring occasionally, until golden brown. 

Remove pan from heat and pour butter into a large, heatproof mixing bowl. 

Add in both sugars and whisk well to combine. 

Add in vanilla. 

Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating until eggs are just combined.

Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour, stirring until just combined. 

Fold in the buttered pecans.

Cover bowl and refrigerate for at least 4 hours, and up to 2 days. 

If you refrigerate for more than 4 hours, you'll need to let the dough sit at room temperature until it's scoopable.

To Bake:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees (F). Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.

Scoop 3 tablespoon sized rounds of dough onto the prepared sheet, leaving 2 inches in between each cookie for spreading. Firmly press a pecan half on top of each ball of cookie dough, if desired, then bake in preheated oven for 9 minutes, or until edges are set and the center is still a little jiggly. Sprinkle warm cookies with a little granulated sugar, if desired. Allow cookies to cool on the pan for 15 minutes, then carefully transfer to a cooling rack. Repeat with remaining cookie dough.

Notes

Cookies will stay "fresh" for 3 days when stored in an airtight container.

Cookie dough will keep in the fridge for 48 hours. 

You can make smaller sized cookies, but you'll need to decrease the bake time by a minute or two.

For decoration, you can sprinkle granulated sugar on the cookies right when they come out of the oven.

It is not too often that I make cookies, but it is very nice to enjoy a freshly baked one.  I like to have a cup of tea an hour or so after dinner, along with a cookie if we have any.  Hubby also enjoys a sweet treat every now and again.  He likes them fairly crispy so I keep them in the oven a minute or so longer than suggested.

They can be frozen before baking.  I use a large narrow cutting board covered with parchment paper, scoop the suggested amount and put them on the board, flatten slightly and put into the freezer on a flat surface area to flash freeze.  Once frozen I put the cookies into freezer bags in a single layer, with a piece of parchment paper between the layers which have been cut to almost the size of the freezer bag.  I keep layering until the bag is full.  The frozen cookie dough can be kept up to 2 months.  You just need to add a couple of minutes to the cooking time when cooking from frozen.