This Farmer’s wife’s pecan cookies recipe is taken from Maida Heatter’s Cookies book. Heatter is an award-winning American chef and author who specialises in cakes, cookies and desserts. She’s 102-years-old – so she must be cooking and eating something right!
I chose it as this week’s Cakes & Bakes dish because they could be made in a jiffy. We’ve been away from home for a spell – spending a few days in rural Wales – returning yesterday afternoon.
The recipe makes 36 cookies – way too many for the two of us. Rather than scaling the recipe down, I’ve reserved & refrigerated about half the cookie dough. When the 15 that I’ve baked off have been eaten (the way things are going, it may be as soon as tomorrow) I can rustle up another batch in about a quarter of an hour. They’re absolutely delicious – and perfect with tea, coffee or glass of milk.
Click here to save Maida Heatter’s farmer’s wife’s pecan cookies recipe to Pinterest
- 200g/7oz plain flour, sifted
- ¼ tsp baking soda
- 1/8 tsp salt
- 115g/4oz butter
- 250g/9oz light brown sugar
- ½ tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 64g/2¼oz pecans, touch chopped
- 36 pecan halves
- Adjust two racks to divide the oven into thirds and preheat the oven to 175ºC/350ºF/Gas mark 4
- Line cookie sheets with parchment paper
- Sift together the flour, baking soda and salt and set aside
- Cut the butter into 2½cm/1" pieces and place in a heavy 2- to 3-litre (70-105 fl oz) saucepan. Melt slowly over a low heat, stirring occasionally.
- Remove from the heat and, with a heavy wooden spoon, stir in the sugar, then the vanilla and the egg
- Add the sifted dry ingredients, stirring until smooth
- Mix in the chopped pecans
- Transfer to a small bowl for ease in handling
- Use a rounded teaspoon of dough for each cookie. Place them 5cm/2” apart on the sheets
- Place a pecan half on each cookie, pressing it gently and lightly into the dough
- Bake for 12-14 minutes, reversing the position of the sheets top to bottom and front to back to ensure even browning. When baking only one sheet at a time, use the higher rack
- With a wide, metal spatula, transfer the cookies to wire racks to cool
- These will rise during baking and then will settle down. They should be medium brown - don't underbake