Butter Pecan Shortbread Cookies

Annacia's Note:

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.

• Total Time: 55 mins
• Prep Time: 30 mins
• Cook Time: 25 mins

Ingredients:

Serves: 18

Yield: 2.5 dozen

• 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

[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.

[kannEvore]

Wow! I had to improvise a little using 2T shortning with the butter and, a little white sugar to complete the 1/2 c of dark brown that I had. Time to stock up the pantry for me ;) I did'nt have parchment but, they were fine on the sheet and moved to a rack right away. I pressed them to appx. 1/4 inch. The first ones took about 15 min the last few I upped the temp to 350 and they were done in 12.

[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.