What
a difference substituting one ingredient can make in a shortbread cookie.
Shortbread cookies are usually pale in color and mild in flavor; but this can all change
when we replace the white sugar with brown sugar. This produces a shortbread
with a lovely
golden brown color that tastes of caramel.
If we then add
toasted and chopped pecans to the batter and bake them a little longer than most
shortbreads, that is until golden brown, the
shortbreads that come out of the oven will be wonderfully crisp
and crunchy.
Pecans are a native
American nut that descends from the hickory tree which belongs to the same family as the walnut.
This buttery, soft-textured, slightly
bittersweet nut is cultivated mainly in the Southern United
States.
It's smooth, reddish-brown, one-inch (2.54 cm) long oval shell
encloses two golden-brown crinkled lobes with ivory-colored meat. There
are regional differences in how 'pecan' is pronounced, ranging from
pih-KAHN, pih-KAN
to PEE-kan. If you cannot find pecans you could use walnuts in this
recipe.
To Toast Pecans:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven.
Bake the nuts 8-10 minutes or until browned and fragrant. Cool on wire
rack and then coarsely chop the nuts. Set aside.
In a medium sized bowl
place the flour and salt and whisk to combine. Set aside.
In the bowl of your electric
mixer (or with a hand mixer), cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy (2-3 minutes). Beat
in the vanilla extract. Scrape down the sides of the bowl and then add the flour mixture, mixing only until
incorporated. Stir in the chopped pecans.
Divide the dough in half
and wrap each half in plastic wrap and refrigerate until firm (at least one
hour).
Preheat oven to 350 degrees
F (177 degrees C) and place rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
Remove one half of the
dough from the refrigerator and, on a lightly floured surface, roll into a 1/4 inch (.5
cm) thick circle. Then, with a lightly floured cookie cutter, cut
out rounds or stars. Place the cookies on the prepared baking sheets and refrigerate for 10 minutes
to firm up the cookie dough. Roll and cut out the remaining cookies.
Bake for approximately
13-15 minutes or until the shortbreads are a deep brown color. This
ensures a crunchy and crumbly cookie. If you only bake the shortbread
until they are light brown the shortbread will be softer in texture.
Remove cookies from oven and cool on a wire rack. The shortbreads
can be stored at room temperature for about one week or else frozen.
Makes about 36 shortbread cookies
(depending on the size).
Pecan Shortbreads:
1 cup (100 grams)
pecans, toasted and coarsely chopped
1 cup (226 grams) unsalted butter, room temperature
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