My Nana Jeanie married the most incredible man a girl could ever hope to call Grandpa. I adored my Papa so much. He was gentle, sweet and always had me in giggles with his humor. I can still hear him jingling the ever present change in his pocket and belting out Frank Sinatra tunes around the house. The man also seriously loved his Pecan Sandies. They were his favorite cookie in the world and I grew up loving them too. So I made a homemade version of amazing pecan shortbread cookies! I adapted this recipe from a recipe in the New York Times, who in turn had adapted it from a recipe by my baking hero Dorie Greenspan. The dough came together easily!
The pecan shortbread cookies baked for about 20 minutes to become gorgeously golden. I didn’t want them to get too brown though. While they were still warm I dusted them generously with powdered sugar just to finish them nicely. Oh my goodness, when I bit in I was instantly transported to snacking on Pecan Sandies and milk with my Papa as a little girl. He would have loved this homemade version. Hope you all do too! xoxo
These pecan shortbread cookies are so buttery with a great depth of flavor from brown sugar, spices and ground pecans! They're incredible with tea.
- 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/4 cup corn starch
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon nutmeg
- 1 pinch salt
- 2 sticks butter softened to room temperature
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1/2 cup finely ground pecans
- powdered sugar for dusting
- First, prepare the easy dough. Whisk the flour, corn starch, cinnamon, nutmeg, and salt together in a bowl to aerate them. Set the bowl aside. Set up a stand mixer and combine the butter and sugar in its bowl. Beat them together until fluffy, pushing the sides down occasionally. Turn the speed to low and slowly add in the dry ingredients just until they are combined in. Finally, add in the ground pecans and let them just get combined in.
- Turn the dough out onto a sheet of plastic wrap and gently form it into a long, square log. The square should be roughly 2 inches on each side and the log should be about 12-14 inches long. Wrap the log in the plastic wrap and refrigerate it for at least 2 hours. When the time is up, pre-heat the oven to 350 and line 2 sheet trays with silicone mats or parchment paper.
- Slice the log into roughly 1/2 inch thick cookies and lay them out evenly on the sheet trays. Leave a little room between each of them, about 20 should fit well per sheet. This recipe yields about 40 cookies. Use a fork to pierce each cookie twice to make the signature shortbread tine marks, then bake them for about 20 minutes. They should be golden but not brown. Let them cool for a few minutes on the sheet trays and dust them with powdered sugar. Then transfer them to racks to finish cooling. Store them in airtight containers until you are ready to serve them!
looks yummy! would like one of these now with a cup of tea! 🙂
Thank you so much!! 🙂
What a wonderful memory to have of your grandpa! I love that these cookies were inspired by him.
Thank you so much, he was a truly special man :-).
Oh my goodness, I have a huge sweet tooth. This look delicious!
Thank you so much!!
I could have used these for the Royal wedding! They look delish!
I could have too, ha!! Thanks very much :-).
I haven’t tried to make short bread cookies before. These look divine and perfect to have with tea.
Oh they definitely are, thanks very much!!
Your recipes are always so wonderful! I’m pinning this one to make for my mom because she loves both shortbread and pecan pie so this is the perfect combination.
Oh thank you so much, Jazz!! That means a lot, I hope you enjoy this one when you make it :-).
I really have a soft spot for pecan nuts, so yummy
Same!!
These cookies sound delicious, the perfect treat 🙂
Thanks very much!!
These cookies sound so delicious. I need to make them for my family very soon.
Thank you so much!!
I can’t get enough of pecan and these cookies look delicious! I bet they would be perfect with a hot cup of coffee!
Oh yes, these are SO good with coffee! Thanks so much!
I LOVE shortbread cookies because they’re not heavy. I’ve never made them with pecans, though, so I’m excited to try this.
Thanks, Marta!! Let me know what you think of them :-).