Pecan Sandies

I saw a recipe for Pecan Sandies in the Whitman County Gazette under My Favorite Recipes. Different people submit recipes. My first thought when I saw the name was of the packaged Pecan Sandies that were always a favorite, so I figured I couldn't go wrong. I thought everyone knew what Pecan Sandies were, but I found one person (in my household) that hadn't heard of them.

These are a winner, trust me. I thought maybe they would be a lot like shortbread – dense – but with the cream of tartar, they are a light and melt-in-your mouth kind of cookie. I bet you can't eat just two!

INGREDIENTS:

1 c. butter softened 1 tsp vanilla

1 c. canola oil 4 c. flour

1 c. white sugar 1 tsp baking soda

1 c. powdered sugar (sifted) 1 tsp cream of tartar

2 eggs 1 tsp salt

2 c. pecans, chopped

Another ½ c. powdered sugar to roll dough in (more like a cup)

DIRECTIONS:

Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Cream together butter, oil, white sugar and one cup of powdered sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs, then stir in vanilla. Combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt. Then stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in the pecans. Roll dough into one-inch balls and roll them in the half cup of powdered sugar. Place on baking sheet lined with parchment paper and flatten a bit. Bake 10-12 minutes or until golden. Cool on wire racks.

MY NOTES:

A few things: I didn't see the "sifted" on the powdered sugar, but it didn't seem to matter. I thought the dough might be too sticky to make balls, so I added about another half cup of flour. It was still a soft dough, but I had no trouble making the dough into balls.

My oven wasn't quite 375 degrees, so 10 minutes wasn't enough. You want to bake them at least until they are set, so for me it was more like 12 minutes. It's a good idea to make a test cookie to check the cook time. Not that I do. I taste them when they come out of the oven, so if they are a bit undercooked, it's too late, as I've already put the other batch in.

Oh, and they are not 100% Pecan Sandies. I only had a cup of pecans, so I filled the other cup with walnuts. I believe walnuts can easily be substituted. Guess you'd have to change the name though.

This recipe makes a good-sized batch, which I was hoping for, as I go visit my kids this weekend and will take some to each.

I give this a four-star, and I think you will too.

ENJOY!