Butter Pecan Shortbread Cookies

Submitted by Annacia

"Shortbread cookies are a must to make for the holidays, and these pecan-filled, buttery biscuits are simply irresistible. Be sure to use real butter, not margarine, for best flavor. PLEASE, watch them as they bake. Reviewers are reporting baking times from 12 to 20 mins and I have changed the baking time from the original 30 mins to 15 mins."

 

• Ready In: 55mins
• Ingredients: 6
• Yields: 2 1/2 dozen
• Serves: 18

ingredients

• 1 cup unsalted butter
• 1⁄2 cup light brown sugar
• 2 cups flour
• 1 cup ground pecans
• 2 teaspoons vanilla
• 1 pinch salt

directions

1. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or silicon mat.
2. In a large bowl with an electric mixer or a food processor, beat together butter and brown sugar until creamy.
3. Add flour, ground pecans, vanilla and salt and beat just until it forms a smooth dough.
4. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for 30 minutes to 1 hour to allow it to firm up just enough to shape.
5. Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (160 degrees C).
6. By hand, roll dough into 1-inch balls.
7. Place them on the prepared cookie sheet and flatten very slightly (to about 1/2-inch thickness) with the bottom of a glass that has been dipped in flour to prevent the dough from sticking to the glass (If you have a cookie stamp, you can use it to flatten the cookies instead of the glass).
8. Place in the oven and bake for 12 minutes or until set and very lightly browned on the bottom.
9. Remove from pan and let cool on a rack.

Reviews

[Michelle Figueroa]

I was so happy to have stumbled across this recipe. My daughter has egg and soy allergies and we had been buying a very expensive brand of pecan shortbread cookies which came 9 to a box for about $5-$6. I came to my trusted and most favorite recipe Web site and found this delicious recipe. I used about 1 3/4 cups flour and a little more than a cup of pecans. When I crushed my pecans with my nutri bullet, I almost made pecan butter...so be careful if you use that appliance. I also used salted butter, as it was what I had on hand. My cookies were perfect at 15 minutes. I personally thought they needed just a little more sugar but my husband and daughter say they are perfect. I used a tablespoon cookie scoop and got 42 cookies. I plan to freeze them so they will last a while. Thank you so much! Edited 4/23 to add that these are great frozen. Once baked, I cooked and froze and we eat them whenever we like. I have also used these for a base for fruit pizza and they were incredible!

 

[Felix4067]

These were pretty good, but I'm glad I read the reviews and only baked them 15 minutes. Even that was too long as the bottoms were almost burned, so on the next batches I went 12 minutes. They taste almost exactly like Keebler Pecan Sandies, but a lot drier and more crumbly. I doubled the recipe and got just under six dozen cookies.

 

[jrobinski]

Good, buttery shortbread cookie, but to me the flavors were a little bland. With unsalted butter I think it needs a little more than a pinch of salt, so I gave it 4 stars. To bring out the flavor in the remainder of the batch, I sprinkled just a tiny bit of salt on top of each cookie --- not too much! I had some glazed pecan halves on hand which I cut into quarters and added 4-5 of these pieces on top of each cookie. For me, this made it a great recipe!

 

[Marg (CaymanDesigns)]

Love, love, love pecan shortbread cookies! These were easy to make and delicious. I only had dark brown sugar, so I used 1/4 cup of it and 1/4 cup of white sugar. I didn't line my cookie sheets with anything and they did fine. Took about 13 minutes per batch to bake. I made 50 small cookies since it was for a party. Everyone loved them.

 

[Tea Jenny]

I made these for my guests that were coming a very long drive to visit us, and these went down a real treat with a nice cup of tea when they arrived. I made them to the recipe with no changes and they were very nice, buttery and nutty. I had one as I am a diabetic and was only allowed one to try, but my guests loved them, and went away home with what was left for the kids. thank you for posting.