Pecan Shortbread Cookies
Ingredients
- ¾ cup chopped pecans
- 10 tablespoons (1¼ sticks) unsalted butter, softened
- ½ cup confectioners' sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- Scant ¾ teaspoon kosher salt
- 1½ cups all-purpose flour, spooned into measuring cup and leveled-off, plus more for dusting
- 1 egg yolk, beaten
- ¼ cup demerara or turbinado sugar (You'll use less than this, but you need extra to roll the dough in)
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and set an oven rack in the middle position.
- Place the pecans on a baking sheet and toast for around 5 minutes, until fragrant. Cool on the baking sheet. (The nuts can be toasted and stored at room temperature.)
- In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream the butter, confectioners' sugar, vanilla, and salt until smooth and lightened a bit, two to three minutes. Scrape the bowl with a spatula. Add the flour and mix on low just until fully combined. Add the pecans and mix until evenly combined.
- Turn the dough onto a clean countertop lightly dusted with flour. Dust the dough with a little flour. Shape and roll into a squared log between 1½ to 2 in (4 to 5 cm) wide and 1½ to 2 in (4 to 5 cm) high, dusting with more flour as necessary. Wrap the dough in plastic wrap or parchment paper and chill for at least one hour or overnight, until the dough has gotten very firm.
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (175°C) and set two oven racks in the centermost positions. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Lightly beat the egg yolk and ½ teaspoon of water in a small bowl and set aside. Pour the demerara sugar into a rimmed baking sheet or shallow casserole pan. Slice the chilled log in half to make it more manageable. Working with one log at a time, brush all sides of the log with the egg yolk mixture, then roll in the demerara sugar, pressing as necessary, until fully coated. If there are any areas of the log that are bare, sprinkle with the demerara sugar to cover.
- Use a serrated knife to slice each log into about 12 individual cookies, each about ½-in (13-mm) thick. Place the cookie slices onto the prepared baking sheets, leaving about 2 inches of space between each. Bake, rotating from top to bottom and front to back halfway through, until lightly golden, 18 to 20 minutes. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheets for a few minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely. The cookies will keep in a covered container at room temperature for up to a week.
Notes
Nutrition Information
This website is written and produced for informational purposes only. I am not a certified nutritionist and the nutritional data on this site has not been evaluated or approved by a nutritionist or the Food and Drug Administration. Nutritional information is offered as a courtesy and should not be construed as a guarantee. The data is calculated through an online nutritional calculator, Edamam.com. Although I do my best to provide accurate nutritional information, these figures should be considered estimates only. Varying factors such as product types or brands purchased, natural fluctuations in fresh produce, and the way ingredients are processed change the effective nutritional information in any given recipe. Furthermore, different online calculators provide different results depending on their own nutrition fact sources and algorithms. To obtain the most accurate nutritional information in a given recipe, you should calculate the nutritional information with the actual ingredients used in your recipe, using your preferred nutrition calculator.