Pecan Sandies Cookie Recipe With Powdered Sugar

Pecan Sandies cookies dipped in powdered sugar just melt in your mouth. The ingredients are simple. Butter, flour, sugar and pecans.

Adding the chopped pecans is just enough crunch to make these shortbread cookies irresistible.

Pecan Sandies have been my favorite Christmas cookie for as long as I can remember. I look forward to making them each year. I could make them at other times but I don’t think it would be the same. You know what I mean? It is my cookie tradition for Christmas.

I have always called them Pecan Sandies but then I found that they are also known as Mexican Wedding Cookies, Russian Tea Cakes and Snowballs. I tried to research why there are so many names for this delectable little cookie but apparently no one seems to know for sure. It is irrelevant any way. Love, love these little shortbread cookies.

Pro Tips

• Use softened butter
  • I always, and I mean always recommend setting your butter out till it is room temperature. Softened butter incorporates much better with sugar. The end result is so worth the extra time you took. Just remove the butter from the fridge an hour or so before you want to bake. Then go find something else to do. But don’t forget you took the butter out.

• Real vanilla
  • I wholeheartedly believe in using real ingredients. Yes, they cost more but the taste will make all the difference. Vanilla lasts a long time. So splurge. It is worth it.

• Toasting pecans
  • This is an extra step but to bring out the real flavor in pecans, they should be toasted. Go ahead and toast them in a pan for a few minutes. Then chop them up. I use my mini chopper to chop my pecans. My mini chopper is my best bud in the kitchen.

• Do not grease cookie sheets
  • One year I made the mistake of using a non stick baking sheet on top of my cookie sheet. Oh, my. Did those cookies ever spread! Lesson learned. Do not grease or use any type of silicone baking sheet to place the cookies on. They will not be little balls anymore but flat little shortbread cookies.

• Roll cookies by hand
  • I use a cookie scoop to help me make sure all my cookies are uniform in size. I scoop out the dough into my hand and roll it into a smooth ball. They bake better this way.

• Chill the cookie dough
  • Chilled cookie dough makes a better cookie. They don’t spread and the flavors have a chance to meld together. Let the cookie dough chill for about 30 minutes before you roll into a ball. The warmth of your hands will help to mold those little dough balls.

• Bake till just the bottoms are golden
  • You don’t want the cookies on top to be brown, just the bottoms. Do not over bake.

• Roll warm cookies in powdered sugar
  • Don’t cool your Pecan Sandies cookies completely before you roll them into powdered sugar. Warm cookies make the powdered sugar melt which results in oh so much scrumptiousness! Take my word on this one. You could roll them a second time after they have cooled for a prettier presentation.

How To Make Pecan Sandies Cookies

Making these cookies is a simple process. I love any recipe that is easy.

1. Beat the softened butter and sugar till fluffy. You could do this by hand but a stand mixer or hand held mixer makes this part incredibly fast.
2. Mix in the water and the vanilla extract.
3. Add the all purpose flour and chopped pecans. Mix till just combined.
4. Chill the dough for thirty minutes. This is important so that the cookies do not spread.
5. Shape the dough into balls of about the same size. This ensures they all bake evenly.
6. Place on ungreased cookie sheets.
7. Bake at 350 ℉ for twenty minutes or until the bottoms are golden brown.
8. Let cookies cool slightly then roll in powdered sugar.
9. Roll in powdered sugar a second time when cooled for the maximum in taste.

Enjoy these awesome traditional Christmas Pecan Sandies cookies. Think I’ll go have one now with a cup of coffee!

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