Cooking Lesson #218: Pecan Sandies

… from the California Kitchen

How you doin’? You don’t have to be one of the Keebler elves to whip up a batch of these cookies. A Pecan Sandie is basically a simple type of shortbread cookie made with pecans… rich, buttery, and delicious. Pecan Sandies may have originated in Arab cuisine hundreds of years ago. They are an American staple and are called Sandies because of their color and their “sandy,” crumby, shortbread-like texture. This version has ground up pecans inside which not only adds flavor but makes them super crumbly and buttery and they just melt in your mouth!
 
Cookies that have a sandy texture are made with dry dough with more fat content, less sugar and less liquid. The more you cream the sugar with butter, the more the cookie will spread because additional air is incorporated, which expands when baked.
 
These sugar cookies are quick and easy to make and all the ingredients for this recipe are probably in your pantry and fridge—butter, sugar, flour, vanilla extract and citrus zest. In less than 30 minutes you will be serving warm, soft, buttery pecan cookies.
 
Prep time:  5 minutes
Bake time:  15 to 20 minutes
Yield:  24 cookies
 
Ingredients
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened, room temperature
2/3 cup granulated sugar, plus additional sugar for rolling/topping (optional)
2 cups all-purpose flour
3 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1 teaspoon citrus zest, such as lemon, lime, or orange
1 cup finely chopped pecans, roasted
1/4 cup Demerara sugar (or raw sugar)
 
Directions

1. Preheat the oven to 325⁰ F.
2. Place the softened butter and sugar in the bowl of a stand mixer (or hand mixer). Using the whisk attachment, cream the mixture until it's light and fluffy, about 3 minutes at medium speed.
3. In a separate bowl, sift the flour using a fine-mesh strainer or a flour sifter. Add half the flour to the butter mixture and mix it in before adding the second addition of flour.
4. Add the vanilla extract, citrus zest and chopped pecans.
5. Form the cookies into 1-inch balls and roll each ball in demerara sugar.
6. Place the cookie balls on an ungreased baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart. Gently flatten the cookies with your palm after adding the sugar, lightly pushing the sugar into the dough so it sticks.
7. Bake the cookies for 15 to 20 minutes, until the edges are lightly golden. Rotate the sheet pans halfway through the bake.
8. Let the cookies rest on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before carefully removing them to a wire rack. They will be very crumbly when they're warm, so be careful when moving them.
9. You can enjoy the cookies warm.
10. Let the cookies cool completely if storing them in an airtight container. Store them in a single layer with a piece of wax paper in between the layers.
11. These cookies last at room temperature for up to four weeks; in the freezer the cookies for up to six months.

ChefSecret:  You can use other chopped nuts or even mini chocolate chips as a replacement or an addition.

Covid-19 Quip of the Day:  “Did you hear the one about the priest who baptized a baby with a Super Soaker to follow social distancing guidelines?”
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