March 16, 2015
As I prepare to help host a bridal shower next weekend, (cheers to Ali and Phil!) I decided to bake up a few sweets in advance that would easily hold up until then. One of my favorite cookies is shortbread. I remember loving Pecan Sandies from the grocery store as a kid and still love the nutty and buttery flavor of this kind of shortbread.

just out of the oven – a nice golden brown on the outside edges.

This recipe is modified a bit from The original Silver Palate Cookbook (Rosso and Lukins, c 1979 Workman Publishing). Their recipe called for large heart cutouts to be used especially around Valentine’s Day. I always make these at Christmas but use small cutouts to make miniature cookies. These freeze very well – and keep at room temperature for a long time before tasting even remotely stale! I used heart shapes and some Easter themed shapes for this batch.

cut butter into small pieces so it mixes into the flour evenly.

I add the nuts with the flour so you don’t have to over mix and they get incorporated well into the flour/butter mixture.

stop mixing when the mixture holds together. You can gather scraps together into disks with your hands.

The key is preparing the dough and refrigerating it for at least 4 hours. I typically make the dough a day or two ahead. You don’t want to over-work the dough as it will become tough. I often begin rolling the dough with the saran wrap still partially covering the disk of dough so I don’t have to over flour it as well. If the dough gets too warm and soft, you can re-refrigerate leftover dough so it is easier to handle. I have my grandmother Kern’s wooden rolling pin (circa 1930’s probably) – it is nice and heavy. I also use her original pastry cloth. It is a heavy cotton fabric that when floured, is a nice base to roll on. Smaller mats are also good to use and are non-stick. Marble or granite countertops, I am told, are also good to flour and roll dough.

half of the dough wrapped in saran and refrigerated – ready to roll out.

miniature christmas cutout shapes

Fall/Thanksgiving shapes

I like to use salted butter instead of sweet butter as I like the added salt in these cookies. I think it enhances the flavor. The original recipe does not call for nuts, but I add chopped pecans. Other nuts could be used, but I particularly like the buttery flavor the pecans add to these cookies. Additionally, I highly recommend using a good quality vanilla extract. I think it is well worth $10.00+ per bottle instead of the $3.00 (or so) bottles of vanilla flavored extract. I commonly purchase vanilla at TJ Maxx – or mail order through Penzy’s spices for the better quality stuff!

Pecan Shortbread Cutouts

Yield widely varies based on size of cutout.

Preparation time 15 minutes for dough.

Ingredients

3/4 pound (3 sticks) salted butter
1 cup confectioner’s sugar
3 cups unbleached all purpose flour, sifted
1/2 tsp salt
1 /2 tsp vanilla extract
1 scant cup chopped pecans

Instructions

Cream butter and confectioner’s sugar together until light. Sift flour and salt together and add to creamed mixture. Add pecans and vanilla before flour and butter is fully incorporated. This will ensure the nuts are mixed in well.

Gather dough into two balls and place onto a good size piece of saran wrap. Press dough into a disk about 1″ thick and wrap well with the plastic wrap. Refrigerate at least 4 hours, preferrably overnight.

Roll out chilled dough (I often let it sit for 10-20 minutes before rolling so it’s not rock hard) to 1/2″ to 5/8″ thickness. Using desired cookie cutter size and shape cutout cookies. Sprinkle tops with granulated sugar and place on ungreased cookie sheets. These do not typically spread – but leave enough space for even browning. If the cookie sheets are warm, refrigerate them with the cutout cookies for 30 minutes so the cookies do not spread. If the dough and the cookie sheets are still cool, you can skip this step.

Preheat oven to 325’F. Bake cookies for 10-12 minutes for smaller shapes – and up to 20 minutes for larger shapes. Watch carefully. You want the edges to turn brown – but not the entire cookie. Cool on rack.

 

Notes