I made these for Thanksgiving because my family aren’t big desert eaters so pecan pie was out. These, however, disappeared. Best of all you can make the dough ahead and freeze.
Ingredients:
¾ pound Butter - room temperature
1 cup Sugar
2 teaspoon Vanilla Extract
1 teaspoon Almond Extract
3 ½ cups Flour
1 ¾ cup finely chopped Pecans
Pinch salt
Method:
In a small sauté pan over medium heat, toast the pecans. Once you can smell them, remove them from the heat to cool by putting them in a bowl. Don't walk away while they toast. They will burn quickly.
Cream butter and sugar together until fluffy.
Mix in vanilla and almond extracts. Then add flour and salt. Mix until fully combined. Dough will be stiff.
Add cooled pecans.
Shape dough into logs the diameter of the cookies you want to make. Roll in saran wrap and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes, but longer will be better. At this point you can also freeze the logs.
When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350℉. Slice the cookies from the roll and bake just until the edges are golden.
These free really well. My recommendation is to make them ahead and store them in the freezer until you need them. I think they come out even better when you slice from the frozen log.