The Kitchen has long held a passion for buttery cookies and nuts. Today’s bake perfectly combines the two. The cookie is a simple butter cookie made with flour, butter, vanilla, and a small measure of sugar. Simple enough and maybe even a bit boring sans the crickly crackly pecan praline chopped fine and squished into the buttery dough. As the cookie bakes the praline imparts its ambered sugar and pecan flavor making for a DID I REALLY MAKE THIS BITE OF PERFECTION cookie?
This cookie will make a delightful addition to a holiday dessert tray. It will be a welcome break from its many overly sweet, fruity, and colorful cookie cousins. Praline Butter Nuggets have the added bake incentive of being quick and easy to make.
Mrs. John Maxwell entered these cookies in the Pillsbury Grand National Recipe and Baking Contest of 1949. Unfortunately it did not win any prizes. I think they should have. They are divine.
I revised the original recipe by using butter only. The original recipe called for equal parts butter and shortening but I wanted all butter flavor.
To make these cookies you must first make the praline and then mix the cookies.
Praline Butter Nuggets
Praline
¼ cup sugar
¼ cup pecan halves
Lightly butter a sheet of waxed paper and set aside.
Melt the sugar in a heavy skillet over low heat until it is light amber in color. Turn off heat and immediately add pecans, stirring briskly. Pour coated pecans onto buttered waxed paper and let cool. Chop fine when cooled. Set aside.
Praline Butter Nuggets
1½ cups sifted flour
½ teaspoon salt
¼ cup firmly packed brown sugar
⅔ cup butter, room temperature
Powdered sugar
Sift flour before measuring and then sift measured flour and salt into a medium sized bowl.
In a stand mixer fitted with a paddle cream together the butter, brown sugar, and vanilla. Add the dry ingredients and mix just until it all pulls together.
With a wooden spoon stir in the chopped praline bits.
Roll cookies into walnut sized balls.
Let chill for 1 hour or longer.
Preheat oven to 300°. Place cookies on a parchment paper lined baking sheet and bake on the middle rack for 25 – 30 minutes. Check the bottoms of cookies for done-ness. They should be light brown.
Roll the hot cookies in powdered sugar and plate with their more showy cookie cousins for a lovely holiday platter.