Monday, May 19, 2008

TWD brown sugar-pecan shortbread...







This week the recipe chosen by Tara of Smells Like Home is for Madeleine cookies OR any TWD recipe that has been previously baked. I have to say that I have had my eye on these shortbread cookies from the very beginning so this was an easy choice for me. These are a gourmet, homemade version of the good old, store bought pecan sandies that I have always loved. I really had a hard time limiting my intake of these..SO FABULOUS!! The recipe was very easy to put together, and tasted even better then I imagined they would.


1 1/2 cups flour


1/4 cup cornstarch


1/2 tsp salt


Pinch of ground cloves


2 sticks butter; room temp


3/4 cup packed brown sugar


1/2 cup finely ground pecans


Sift together flour, cornstarch, salt & cloves. Beat butter and brown sugar on med. speed for about 3 min, until the mixture is very smooth. Reduce speed and add the dry ingredients, mixing only until they disappear into the dough. Add the pecans and give the mixer a couple of turns, just to get the nuts into the dough.


Using a rubber spatula, transfer the soft dough to a gallon-size ziploc bag. Put the bag on a flat surface, leaving the top open, and roll the dough into a 9 x 10 1/2 inch rectangle that is 1/4 inch thick. As you roll, turn the bag occasionally and lift the plastic from the dough so it doesn't cause creases. When you get the right size thickness, seal the bag, pressing out as much air as possible, and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours.


Bake at 350 degrees for 18-20 min. The shortbread should be very pale-they shouldn't take on a lot of color. Transfer to a rack and cool completely.


23 comments:

diane said...

Lovely, little beauties!!

Mumsy said...

Yours turned out great! I made some of those cookies, too, but they turned out awful!!! I'll try them again another time, I'm sure it was my error. They tasted good in any case. :)

Engineer Baker said...

Great choice to go back and bake!

Lori said...

These cookies have been talking to me for quite a while. Every time I get the book out they say, Make me make me. THis was a great choice. One that I will definitely do soon.

THEY LOOK GREAT!

Gretchen Noelle said...

Adorable little shortbreads! I need to make these soon!

Melissa said...

Those look wonderful!

Jacque said...

Mmmm, those look fantastic! I've wanted to try those too, thanks for sharing, I was wondering how they were.

mimi said...

great sandies, i've wanted to try this recipe too, glad to know you liked them so much!

Anonymous said...

I keep meaning to try these. You're making them look soooo easy. ;)

Anonymous said...

Stunning!

Unknown said...

Beautiful cookies! I can't wait to try this recipe.

Cheryl said...

Yum! They look awesome!

Garrett said...

It's nice to see that your shortbread came out in the nice square shape! Some people were having problems with it blobbing all over the place.

CB said...

Oh dang. You said they taste like sandies? I AM SOLD! Definitely wanna add these to my must-bake list now! Great job!
Clara @ I♥food4thought

April said...

This looks wonderful! I haven't made these yet, I will know have to bump them to the top of the list!

Jennie said...

I NEED MORE

LyB said...

I've been meaning to make these for a while too. They look so delicious, you're tempting me!

Mary Ann said...

they look perfect! I am going to have to make these, soon!

Jaime said...

they look just as pretty as the ones in the book!

Anonymous said...

I love the photos in this post. Your cookies look great.

Jules Someone said...

I made these and they totally failed (http://someonekitchen.blogspot.com/ blog link with my photos). It does not look like we followed the same recipe. I want your cookies!

sackings said...

These look great; something I'd like to try to bake myself.

Mari said...

I'm such a fan of Pecan Sandies, I'll have to give these a go as well!