Homemade Pecan Sandies

As a general rule, when it comes to nuts in baking (other than peanut butter) I am usually really not a fan.  I find when the holidays come along though, I use them a lot more.  I use walnuts for baklava, I use almonds for biscotti, and this year, I had some leftover pecans from the chocolate caramel pecan turtles that my mom, sister, and I put in our Christmas cookie boxes for the neighbors.

I was racking my brain for a way to use the extra pecans when it came to me: A pecan cookie that I actually like:  Pecan Sandies.  One of the store-bought cookies (Keebler Pecan Sandies) which I actually like quite a bit.  So I went searching for a recipe.

I finally found one that looked good on Allrecipes, but I altered it so much, it really isn’t the same recipe anymore.

Here is my version of pecan sandies.  And I must say, they turned out quite delicious.

Ingredients

1 cup butter, softened
1 cup vegetable oil
1  cup white sugar
1 cup brown sugar
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
4 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon cream of tartar
1 teaspoon salt
2 cups chopped pecans
1/2 cup white sugar for topping

Directions

Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
In a large bowl, cream together the margarine, vegetable oil, 1 cup white sugar and brown sugar until smooth. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then stir in the vanilla.

Combine the flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt; stir into the creamed mixture. Mix in the pecans.

Separate dough in half into two disks, wrap in plastic, and refrigerate for 30 minutes.

Roll dough on a floured surface (it will still be sticky) to about 1/4 of an inch thick.  Sprinkle the top with sugar. 

Cut into rounds.  Dough is very soft, I had to use a spatula to move them to the cookie sheet after I cut them out.

Bake for 10 to 12 minutes in the preheated oven, or until the edges are golden. Leave them on the cookie sheets until they are completely cooled.