Pecan Sandies

This past week I cooked some pecan sandies from a recipe I found on pinterest.  They turned out better than I had hoped.  When we first tasted them out of the oven, they didn't really taste like the real thing to me, but after they cooled down, they really did!  We brought some to my mom and a neighbor and they all loved them, so this is a recipe I will be keeping!

Speaking of pecans, we went down to our farm this weekend to ride 4-wheelers and pick some pecans.  We discovered some pecan trees in the middle of one of the pastures that had a ton of them, and they were the good ones too, the small sweet ones.  Well my husband came to pick me up in the truck and we drove around another tree looking to see how much was under it when we heard the dreaded hissing sound.  Not a snake, but a tire.  We discovered that an old metal post had broke off and was sticking up out of the ground where you could barely see it.  So our priceless afternoon at the farm turned into a $150 day at the farm.  Oh well, things happen!

Here is the pecan sandies recipe.  The only thing I changed was adding a couple more tablespoons of flour at the end because it looked still a little too moist.  And I didn't roll and press the cookies, I just dropped them by the spoonful and they turned out just fine!

Ingredients

• 1/2 cup (1 stick) unsalted butter, room temperature
• 1/2 cup packed light-brown sugar
• 1 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled)
• 1 cup pecans, coarsely chopped

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees, with racks in upper and lower thirds. In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and sugar until light and fluffy; beat in vanilla and salt. With mixer on low, gradually add flour, beating just until combined. Fold in pecans.
2. Roll dough into 1 1/2-inch balls, and place on two baking sheets, 2 inches apart. With the dampened bottom of a glass, lightly flatten each ball.
3. Bake until cookies are golden brown, 15 to 17 minutes, rotating sheets halfway through. Transfer to wire racks, and let cool.