The Baking Bible: The Dutch Pecan Sandies
This cookie tried my patience and almost made me hate it, but the end product is so delicious and addicting that I may just make them again. No promises.
With Marie's approval, I decided to ignore all the rolling and cutting business Rose tells us to do to form the cookies. Up until the forming bit, I followed the recipe like a good Alpha baker. Pecans, flour, salt and cinnamon are whizzed up in the food processor. Beurre noisette, white sugar, dark brown sugar, and turbinado sugar are creamed together in the mixer. The dry ingredients are blended in and the dough is ready for a slight chill and shaping. Marie suggested that the dough could probably be rolled into logs and frozen, then sliced into coins and baked that way. I said, I'll try it!
Well, I think a freeze was a bit too much as the dough was rock hard after an overnight. I think a chill overnight in the refrigerator would have been enough to keep the dough happy while slicing. But aside from that, slicing the cookies was mostly uneventful...after the first batch fell apart into pieces and I had to squish them back together to look like cookies.
Then I came back to the recipe and tossed each of them in cinnamon and sugar, sprinkled a bit of turbinado sugar on top, and baked them for 20 minutes per cookie sheet. That also made me cranky, as I was expecting 10-12 minutes total like other cookies we've baked. The child also kept pestering me for a damn cookie when there were no damn cookies finished baking.
But then...the first batch of cookies were baked and cooled, and the child and I got to eat a cookie. Then we ate another. Then we ate another. Then nobody was cranky or hungry, and everybody was in love with the crumbly, shortbread-like cookie. It's kind of caramelly from the sugars and the browned butter gives it an extra dimension. These won't last long. They are amazing
.
With Marie's approval, I decided to ignore all the rolling and cutting business Rose tells us to do to form the cookies. Up until the forming bit, I followed the recipe like a good Alpha baker. Pecans, flour, salt and cinnamon are whizzed up in the food processor. Beurre noisette, white sugar, dark brown sugar, and turbinado sugar are creamed together in the mixer. The dry ingredients are blended in and the dough is ready for a slight chill and shaping. Marie suggested that the dough could probably be rolled into logs and frozen, then sliced into coins and baked that way. I said, I'll try it!
Well, I think a freeze was a bit too much as the dough was rock hard after an overnight. I think a chill overnight in the refrigerator would have been enough to keep the dough happy while slicing. But aside from that, slicing the cookies was mostly uneventful...after the first batch fell apart into pieces and I had to squish them back together to look like cookies.
Then I came back to the recipe and tossed each of them in cinnamon and sugar, sprinkled a bit of turbinado sugar on top, and baked them for 20 minutes per cookie sheet. That also made me cranky, as I was expecting 10-12 minutes total like other cookies we've baked. The child also kept pestering me for a damn cookie when there were no damn cookies finished baking.
But then...the first batch of cookies were baked and cooled, and the child and I got to eat a cookie. Then we ate another. Then we ate another. Then nobody was cranky or hungry, and everybody was in love with the crumbly, shortbread-like cookie. It's kind of caramelly from the sugars and the browned butter gives it an extra dimension. These won't last long. They are amazing
Me too - i did that too.. rolling into log and cutting it. :D Are these cookies that all was left?
ReplyDeleteGorgeous color, so caramel-y. Making a note to roll and chill in frig. Twenty minutes is eternity for a toddler!
ReplyDeleteThese were amazing cookies. You're right to roll them into a log. Much easier than rolling and cutting.
ReplyDelete