Buttery pecan shortbread cookies or pecan sandies if the Keebler elves were as big of a part of your childhood as they were mine. I remember pecan sandies were my dad’s favorite or one of them at least. He doesn’t discriminate when it comes to cookies. He’ll pretty much eat them all. And as a child, I grew quite fond of the nutty, buttery deliciousness of a pecan shortbread. Until now, I hadn’t attempted making homemade pecan shortbread, but when I was working on my Twix shortbread cookies a couple of years ago, my mind drifted from the sweet caramel and chocolate drizzle over to a nutty and crunchy pecan and sugar-crusted version. So this year, I made a batch of my basic shortbread cookie recipe and threw in a handful of chopped pecans and a splash of maple extract. And then, for good measure, I mixed sparkling sugar and finely chopped pecans and rolled my shortbread log in them to make them even more delicious. And the results were phenomenal. We shared these with both sides of our family, and they were a huge hit with our parents. These are undoubtedly more sophisticated, grown-up cookies, and I don’t think Santa will complain about that!
What do you need to make homemade pecan shortbread cookies?
Softened butter: I like to use salted butter for this recipe as it gives these cookies that perfectly buttery, sweet flavor. If you don’t have salted butter on hand, you can add in ½ teaspoon of kosher salt.Powdered sugar: I prefer powdered sugar for this recipe instead of granulated sugar because it contains a teeny tiny amount of cornstarch. The cornstarch makes the cookie dough easier to handle and prevents it from spreading too much in the oven.Extracts: I use a combination of vanilla and maple extract for this recipe. Along with the ground cinnamon, these flavors really amp up the natural pecan flavor. Ground cinnamon: Just a hint of ground cinnamon to bring out the natural flavors of pecan. You can omit this if you aren’t a fan, but I shared these cookies with someone who doesn’t like cinnamon, and they thought these cookies were delicious as is!All-purpose flour: both bleached and unbleached flour will work for this recipe. I usually have unbleached flour on hand, and that’s what I used!Finely chopped pecans: we’ll use these both in the actual cookie dough and then to make them extra nutty and indulgent, we’ll roll the logs of cookie dough in coarse sugar and pecan mixture before we slice and bake.Coarse sugar: The coarse sugar is purely for decoration. I usually have sparkling sugar on hand, so I used that, but Demerara (turbinado) sugar would also work!
How to make slice and bake pecan shortbread cookies (aka pecan sandies):
Other cookie recipes you might like:
Twix shortbread cookiesExtra Chewy Chocolate Chip CookiesLoaded Dark Chocolate Chip Oatmeal CookiesRaspberry Almond LinzerThumbprint CookiesHomemade Fudge
