It’s Christmas baking time! We love this time of year because it means lots of time spent together baking in the kitchen. Some years mom and I are very organized and know exactly what to bake. Other years everything goes as planned and other years are more chaotic. It all depends on where Christmas falls in the month and what we have going on. This year it seems to be going well, perhaps because we haven’t put any pressure on ourselves and have started with a cookie we bake every holiday season, pecan sandies.
Although a family favourite now, and a cookie we bake every year this was not always the case. Mom believes that she was first introduced to this delicious shortbread cookie packed with pecans and covered in icing sugar while she worked with her mother at a local bakery. Both my grandma and Mom added this shortbread cookie to their holiday baking list and for as long as I can remember this cookie was always on Santa’s plate of cookies on Christmas Eve.
Back when I was still young enough to believe in Santa Claus, Mom shaped the cookies in crescent shapes, so I always knew them as pecan crescents. Some years later Mom thought it would be easier to shape them in balls instead, and after coming across a similar recipe calling them sandies, we too started to call them pecan sandies. My cousin still makes them in the crescent shape because it reminds her of our grandmother who always shaped them in crescents, but we have decided to stick with the balls. The great thing about this cookie is that it doesn’t matter how you shape them they taste delicious. It’s nice to have the option of making them in any shape you like, especially if you plan to make more than one type of shortbread and want to differentiate them. I’m sure one year the crescents will make another appearance.
Like all shortbreads we thought we should mention that if you want your shortbread to taste great you need to let it age. Shortbread always tastes better when it sits. This year after we baked up a batch I brought them back to my place to store in my cold room for a week, then I popped them in the freezer to bring out just in time for Christmas. If you plan on freezing your cookies, we recommend that you layer your cookies between wax paper or plastic wrap and choose a container that is just the right size if you can. When you go to thaw these cookies, you may notice that some of the icing sugar has been knocked off or even dissolved into the cookie. That is okay you can always sprinkle some more icing sugar on them before serving.
We hope that you give these cookies a try and consider adding them to your baking list. Either way we would love to hear from you. What’s on your baking list this Holiday season?
1 cup butter
½ cup granulated sugar
2 tsp water
2 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups sifted all purpose flour
1 cup chopped pecans
If you’re like us and love to watch all the baking competitions this time of year then you know how important it is to toast your nuts. So your first step will be to toast your pecans. We toasted ours whole on a baking sheet in a 325°F oven for approximately 8 minutes. How long it takes depends on how light or dark your pan is. This is not the time to multi task, always start with 5 minutes and check then maybe put another 2 on your timer. You will know when they are done when you can smell the pecans and they will have darkened in colour slightly.
Let them cool before chopping them. We use a mini food processer my mom has had for over 30 years. If you don’t have a food processer you can chop them with a knife. We chopped ours up coarsely. You don’t want them too big but you also don’t want to chop them so small that you have created pecan flour.
In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar with your hand mixer before adding the water and vanilla extract.
On low speed gently stir in the flour and pecans. When everything is mostly combined switch to gently stirring with a spatula. You want to ensure you are not over working the batter.
Next you will roll out 1 tablespoon of the batter into a ball. We have learnt to roll ours until smooth if you want a smooth cookie.
This year we tried something different and weighed the batter to make more consistent sized cookies. If you have a scale then you should give it a try, we weighed ours out to 20 grams before rolling them.
Bake in a 325°F oven for about 20 minutes. We will sometimes bake them a bit longer to about 23 minutes.
Let them cool on a rack until they are just warm to the touch. Remove any crumbs along the edge and roll in some icing sugar. If the cookie is too hot the icing sugar will melt. Let the other cookies cool a bit more before trying again. It helps to do the first coat while they are warm because the icing sugar will stick to the cookie. Once cooled we will usually roll them a second time in the icing sugar to ensure they are thoroughly coated.
You will notice we did not tell you how much icing sugar to use. We recommend you start with ½ cup of icing sugar and just add to your bowl as needed. Enjoy!
Pecan Sandies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp water
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup chopped pecans
Instructions
- Toast pecans on a baking sheet in a 325°F oven for approximately 8 minutes. How long it takes depends on how light or dark your pan is. This is not the time to multi task, always start with 5 minutes and check then maybe put another 2 on your timer. You will know when they are done when you can smell the pecans and they will have darkened in colour slightly.
- Let them cool before chopping them. We use a mini food processer my mom has had for over 30 years. If you don't have a food processer you can chop them with a knife. We chopped ours up coarsely. You don't want them too big but you also don't want to chop them so small that you have created pecan flour.
- In a large bowl cream together butter and sugar with your hand mixer before adding the water and vanilla extract.
- On low speed gently stir in the flour and pecans. When everything is mostly combined switch to gently stirring with a spatula. You want to ensure you are not over working the batter.
- Next you will roll out 1 tablespoon of the batter into a ball. We have learnt to roll ours until smooth if you want a smooth cookie.This year we tried something different and weighed the batter to make more consistent sized cookies. If you have a scale then you should give it a try, we weighed ours out to 20 grams before rolling them.
- Bake in a 325°F oven for about 20 minutes. We will sometimes bake them a bit longer to about 23 minutes.
- Let them cool on a rack until they are just warm to the touch. Remove any crumbs along the edge and roll in some icing sugar. If the cookie is too hot the icing sugar will melt. Let the other cookies cool a bit more before trying again. It helps to do the first coat while they are warm because the icing sugar will stick to the cookie. Once cooled we will usually roll them a second time in the icing sugar to ensure they are thoroughly coated.
- You will notice we did not tell you how much icing sugar to use. We recommend you start with ½ cup of icing sugar and just add to your bowl as needed. Enjoy!
