Pecan Sandies Cookie Recipe
These easy Pecan sandies are a delicious, buttery shortbread cookies filled with pecans. They are easy to make and most ingredients for these cookies can be found in your pantry.
Pecan Sandies
Ingredients
½ cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
¼ cup brown sugar, packed
1 tsp vanilla extract
½ tsp salt
1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour
¼ cup pecans, chopped into bits
Yields: 15-18 cookies
Instructions
Add butter and brown sugar to a large bowl and use an electric mixer to cream together.
Add vanilla extract to the butter and cream sugar.
In a separate bowl, whisk together salt and flour. Slowly add salt and flour combination to the wet ingredients, using the electric mixer to combine all ingredients.
Fold pecans into the cookie mixture.
Pour cookie dough onto a layer of plastic wrap. Dough will most likely be crumbly, so take your time to bring it together and form it into a log, about 5-7 inches in length.
Wrap the log in plastic and refrigerate for at least one hour (you can also chill it overnight, but make sure to leave it out for about 30 minutes before baking).
Preheat oven to 325 degrees F and line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
Unwrap the covered log and slice cookies so they’re about 1/3 of an inch thick.
Carefully place each cookie onto the lined baking sheet, about 1 ½ to 2 inches apart from each other.
Bake for 20 minutes and allow to cool before serving. Enjoy!
How to Bake in Batches to Make the Most of Your Baking Time
One way to handle your holiday baking is to bake in batches, then freeze and store for the big day. You can do this successfully over a couple of weeks with batch baking and batch preparing.
The biggest thing to remember is to only try a few different types of things in one day, or focus on just one type of baked good in one day. For example, you might want to bake all your quick breads in one day. Another day you can prepare all your cookie dough. Yet another time, you can bake all your fruit pies and so forth. This process makes the most of the time you have, the space you have, and your skill level.
Be Prepared
Don’t try batch baking without a plan of action. Be sure to write down your plans in advance so that you are sure you have enough time to do everything that you’ve planned. To figure out a basic time line, add up the prep time, the baking time for each oven full, and then multiply that by 1.5 to account for a little extra issues happening. Then you should be sure that you have enough time.
Get Everything Ready to Go
Your kitchen should be spotless when you start, and ensure that you have all the ingredients and appliances necessary to make each item ready to go. If you know, for example, that today you’ll be using about 10 pounds of flour, consider using a large bowl to hold the flour so you can easily spoon the flour into the measuring cup, flatten off over the bowl, without having to get into the bag over and over which usually means spillage.
Clean as You Go
Fill your sink immediately with hot soapy water so you can clean as you go. You will want to wash your mixing dishes and other utensils during the baking process so that you can use them again. There’s no point in totally destroying your kitchen as you batch bake, and you don’t have to. Set out a draining board, fill the sink with hot soapy water, and wash as you go. There are many opportunities during baking to wash a couple of dishes, and this will make the clean-up faster, and the process more organized.
All Day Batch Baking
You can set aside a day for batch baking such as a Saturday. Plan for all day baking, which usually entails 8 to 10 hours of work. Ensure that any other chores are done, including the shopping, and the kitchen is clean and ready prior to baking day. It’s important to organize your recipes with some logic behind them. For example, if you need dough to rise, start that first, so that it can be rising as you are preparing other things such as cookie dough or pie crusts. Both can be put in the refrigerator or freezer after preparation while you bake the bread, then baked after you bake the bread while the oven is still hot and ready.