Pecan Pressure

On Thanksgiving almost ten years ago when my sister was a newlywed, she volunteered to bring the Pecan Pie to her in-laws holiday dinner. With a propensity for running behind schedule and still figuring out how to juggle two families for the holiday; she prepared the pies from scratch but ran out of time to bake them before she had leave for my family's house for lunch. She decided that she would bake the pies in my mom's oven as we all enjoyed lunch. They would be ready in time before she had to make her way to her second destination and none of her in laws would know about her scheduling snafu. As we sat down to eat she put the pies in the oven, set the timer and then headed into her first tryptophan overdose of the day. Exactly 45 minutes later the timer went off just in time to allow for the 15 minute cooling period and then off to the in laws. As she opened the oven door she realized she had made a terrible mistake. She had put the pies in and set the timer, but had neglected to turn the oven on. Her pies had sat in the oven for 45 minutes unaltered. We were all too engrossed in the happenings of the Thanksgiving feast to notice that there were no baking smells escaping from the kitchen.With no other options left, she had to arrive at her first in-law holiday dinner with a pre-made supermarket pie.

Pecan Pie Cookies
Adapted from Land O' Lakes Butter

Ingredients

Cookie Ingredients:

1 cup firmly packed brown sugar
3/4 butter, softened
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon baking powder

Filling Ingredients:

1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar
1/4 cup whipping cream
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions

Heat oven to 350°F. Combine all cookie ingredients except flour and baking powder in large bowl.

Beat at medium speed until creamy.

Reduce speed to low; add flour and baking powder. Beat until well mixed.

Shape dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets.

Make indentation in each cookie with thumb; rotate thumb to hollow out slightly.


Combine all filling ingredients

in small bowl;


fill each cookie with 1 rounded teaspoon filling.

Bake for 8 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool 1 minute; remove from cookie sheets.

Recipe Tip
These cookies can be made ahead and stored in the freezer up to 3 months. Place cookies in containers with tight-fitting lids, separating layers with waxed paper.