Maple Pecan Shortbread Cookies

One thing I learned from my UK adventure last spring was that I love shortbread. I also get such a joy cooking and baking with home-grown ingredients, so when I saw this recipe for a shortbread cookie, and I had a bunch of pecans sitting at home, I knew I had to make them.


(me eating an elephant shaped shortbread cookie in Scotland)

What you'll need:

2 and 3/4 cups flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup pecans (toasted and finely chopped)
1 cup unsalted butter (@room temp)
3/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup maple syrup
1 large egg yolk and 1 large egg white (lightly beaten)
1/2 cup pecan halves
1/4 cup raw turbinado sugar

First, mix the flour, salt, and chopped pecans. Cream the butter and sugar in a separate bowl until light and fluffy.
Beat in maple syrup followed by the egg yolk. Mix in flour until a dough forms.
Form dough into 1 and 1/2 inch thick log, wrap in plastic and let chill 2 hours to overnight. (I left mine in the fridge for a couple days.)
Slice log into 1/4 inch thick slices. Place on baking sheet, brush with egg white and top with pecan halves and raw sugar.
Bake at 350 degrees until lightly golden brown on edges: about 10-12 minutes, turning baking sheet around half way through.

Ginger Crinkles

Continuing with my seasonal cooking and baking, I whipped up a batch of Homesick Texan's ginger crinkles before watching the new episode of the Walking Dead on AMC this evening. Earlier today I picked up a jug of apple cider at the grocery store and thought a gingersnap-type cookie would go great with this icy cold fall drink. Despite it being late November, the high was 80 degrees today. So while it's not quite cool enough for hot cocoa at the moment, I can still enjoy a warm cookie.

Here's what you need:

1 cup sugar
1/2 cup oil
1 egg
1/4 cup molasses
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon cinnamon
1 teaspoon ginger
1/4 cup raw turbinado sugar for dipping

Preheat your oven to 350 degrees.
Cream the oil, sugar, egg, and molasses in a medium sized bowl.


Mix the flour, baking soda, salt, cinnamon, and ginger in a separate bowl and then mix the wet with the dry, creating your dough.


Roll out balls of cookie dough (about 1/2 tablespoon) and dip into the raw sugar before placing on a parchment paper lined cookie sheet.


Bake cookies until slightly brown. Do not over cook! The recipe said about 15 minutes, but I made mine in four batches and they ended up taking less than 15 minutes to cook each time.

Being my first experience with gingersnaps I think the cookies came out great. They are nice and crunchy, but soft in the center with just enough sweet. I will definitely be making these again.


On a separate note...Steamy Kitchen is giving away an amazing vacuum cleaner. The better to clean up crumbs with!