Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Pecan Pie Cookies

Awesome, that is the one word that came to mind when I bit into this cookie the first time. Totally awesome. The cookie part is tender and buttery and the filling is a cross between pecan pralines and pecan pie filling. Delicious.


Here is the pecan pie filling ready to be spooned into the cookie "pie shell".


And the cookie dough ready to receive said filling. I used the round end of a lemon zester to make the cavity in the cookie dough, but the hole didn't look big enough so I used my fingers to widen and deepen the depression.


Then I heaped the cavities with the pecan mixture. Don't be scared to overfill. The filling is well behaved and didn't over flow the cookie shells (too much).


Yummm.... What a flavor combination. But as a true connoisseur of all things pecan, I think the filling taste more like pecan pralines than pecan pie. But regardless of the name you use, they are fantastic.



The original recipe came from Land O’ Lakes, and I made just a few tweaks.


Cookie Ingredients:

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 cup unsalted Butter, softened
1 large egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
pinch of salt


Filling Ingredients:

1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup whipping cream
1 tablespoon light corn syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla


Heat oven to 350°F.
In a medium bowl whisk flour, baking power and salt.
In another blow combine butter and brown sugar and beat until light and fluffy.
Add egg and vanilla to butter/sugar mixture and mix until combined.
Reduce speed to low; add flour mixture. Beat until well mixed.

Shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls (approximately 1 generous Tablespoon of dough). Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Make indentation in each cookie, and then hollow and widen the indentation with your thumb.

Combine all filling ingredients in small bowl.
Fill each cookie with 1 rounded teaspoon of filling.
Bake for 8 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned (I baked mine for 12 minutes and they were perfect.)
Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets.