Description
Crisp buttery sandy textured easy slice and bake cookies filled with an extra layer of flavor in chai spiced maple candied pecans.
Ingredients
Scale
Cookie Dough
- 1 and 1/2 sticks butter (170 g), at room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar (100 g)
- 1 egg yolk
- 1 tsp vanilla paste or vanilla extract
- 1 and 1/2 cups flour (195 g)
Instructions
- If you haven’t already, make a batch of Spiced Candied Pecans. You’ll have plenty of leftovers for snacking!
- Beat the butter and sugar in a stand mixer or with a hand mixer until it is light and fluffy. This will take 3-5 minutes (or less if your butter is very warm). In that time the butter will look be noticeably pale.
- Beat the egg yolk and vanilla into the butter until incorporated. The mixture will look like very light whipped buttercream now.
- Measure out 1 cup of the candied nuts and chop them coarsely.
- Mix the pecans and the flour in a small bowl to distribute them through the flour evenly.
- Mix the flour and nuts into the butter, mixing until the flour disappears. If the mixture looks crumbly, that’s okay.
- Place a large piece of plastic wrap on a work surface. Scrape out the dough onto the plastic wrap, then gather it into a rough log. Roll up the plastic wrap around the dough to compress it into a tight log the length of a paper towel tube.
Twist the ends of the plastic wrap to keep it well-wrapped. - Press and roll: cut a paper towel tube down the center and place the tube of dough in it. Place a few rubber bands around the log to hold everything in place, then roll the dough in the cardboard-wrapped tube to round the edges.
- Chill: chill the dough, wrapped in the cardboard for at least 4 hours and up to a week. The dough needs to be very firm to slice it. You can freeze the dough here up to 2 months; if you do so, wrap it well and thaw it in the fridge overnight the day before you want to bake.
- Preheat the oven to 350 F (180 F). Line 2 baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Sanding Sugar: Dump a thick line of sanding sugar on a piece of parchment paper. Unwrap the chilled dough and press sugar into the surface of the dough all the way around the log. Make sure to cover all the dough for the prettiest cookies.
- Cut and bake: cut 1/4″ slices of dough, rolling the log a quarter turn after each slice to keep the cookies round and even. Bake for 20-22 minutes until the bottoms are lightly browned and the cookies are firm.
- Cool and enjoy: Let the cookies cool thoroughly on the baking sheets. Store cookies in an airtight tin for up to 2 weeks. You can also freeze them for up to 2 months.
Notes
- Other candied nuts: If you don’t want to make your own candied pecans, see what you can find. Honey roasted nuts, or cinnamon glazed nuts of any kind are all delicious even if they’re not pecans. We all need a good shortcut now and again.
- I can’t find sanding sugar: If you can’t find sanding sugar, use a plain colored decorative sugar. And if you don’t want to do that, regular granulated sugar is good too, though it will melt a little more than the sanding sugar will.
- More sanding sugar: if you want to have a thicker more distinct ring of sugar on the outside of the cookies, paint on a layer of egg white, then roll the log in the sugar. This will help more of the sugar stick on the dough. Sometimes this is nice especially if you want to use a colored sugar on the outside.
- Prep Time: 15 minutes
- Additional Time: 4 hours
- Cook Time: 20 minutes
- Category: Cookies
- Cuisine: American