Pecan Sandies Recipe
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These Pecan Sandies cookies combine crispy, buttery, and nutty goodness to make this cookie an all-time favorite.
No cookie platter is complete without these nutty and buttery Pecan Sandies. These may seem unassuming next to chocolatey cookies, or those fabulous decorated cookies, but these are sneaky good. These crispy cookies are not overly sweet and they make an excellent compliment to tea or coffee. I remember this cookie always being one of my mother’s favorites. And of course, mom always knows best.
Think shortbread plus crunchy pecans. That’s this cookie in a nutshell. (No pun intended.) These Pecan Sandies pack well and are a good cookie for sharing during the holidays as edible gifts, or for a cookie exchange.
Preparation for these cookies is pretty basic. Begin by beating together (with an electric mixer) the butter and sugar until smooth. Add in a bit of ice water, salt, cinnamon, flour, finely chopped pecans (or walnuts) and a vanilla extract. Mix the dough to combine well, then cover tightly in plastic wrap or a zip top plastic bag and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Once chilled, firmly form 1-inch dough balls. The dough tends to be a bit crumbly, so take time to press it together well to hold the shape.
Place dough balls on ungreased parchment lined baking sheets about 2-inches apart. Use a flat-bottomed glass to gently flatten balls to about 1/2-inch thick. Or if you’d like roll into crescent shapes. All that’s left to do is bake. It takes about 20 minutes at 325-degrees F.
The dough for these Pecan Sandies works best when chilled for a while before divvying them up for baking. The dough can also be formed into a roll, chilled for a few days and then sliced for baking as needed.
Check out these other cookie recipes that will make good cookie tray partners for these Pecan Sandies:
- Pretzel M&M Cookies Recipe
- Dark Chocolate Salted Caramel Cookies Recipe
- Chocolate Coconut Oatmeal No Bake Cookies Recipe
- Apple Cinnamon Cookies Recipe from Dine and Dish
Pecan Sandies Recipe
Pecan Sandies Recipe
These nutty, buttery and crunchy cookies are similar to shortbread.
Ingredients
- 12 tablespoons (1 1/2 sticks) butter, slightly softened
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1 tablespoon ice water
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup finely chopped pecans (walnuts are a good substitute)
- 1 1/2 teaspoon vanilla
Instructions
Preheat oven to 325-degrees F. Line baking sheets with baking parchment.
Using an electric mixer, beat together butter, sugar until smooth.
Add all other ingredients and mix to combine.
Chill dough covered for at least 30 minutes.
By hand, firmly form dough into 1-inch balls. Dough will be crumbly so take time to press it together well to hold shape. Place dough balls on parchment lined baking sheets about 2-inches apart. Using a flat bottom glass, gently flatten balls to about 1/2-inch thick, or roll into crescent shapes.
Bake at 325-degrees F for 20 minutes.
Notes
Optional: If a bit more sweetness is desired, dust or gently toss cookies with powdered sugar.
I love sandies and this recipe looks great! I’m trying for a specific size – do they expand much when baking?
These cookies are awesome! Easy to make taste delicious. I would not change the recipe at all. Only thing I would add is a cup of hot tea!
These are fabulous. I added extra ice water and extra cinnamon. I rolled them into logs and sliced them. These will make a great Christmas cookie for an exchange I go to every year. I used ground pecans because that’s all I had at home.
DELICIOUS COOKIE
Just the recipe I was looking for! Thanks for sharing.
These cookies are yummy. Just one note of caution re prep: I don’t recommend using a hand-held electric beater to blend sugar and butter. Despite butter being at room temperature, my dough immediately stuck en mass to the beaters and I had to scrape it off with a rubber spatula and switch to using a wooden spoon! Otherwise the cookies came out as promised (careful not to bake too long- they are done before you think!). I am making them again this afternoon, without the electric beater!
I made these gluten free with 1-1 Maseca and extra water, 3 Tablespoons. More water makes them less crumbly. I have also made walnut sandie, which works out fine.
Okay guys before you leave a comment can you please read the other comments 😉 It makes about 4 dozen, they tend to be more like shortbread cookies and always toast your nuts before you use them 😉
I’m not sure if I used too much flour, but they tasted more like pecan blandies.
😂 So funny. Good one, Patrick.
Great recipe. I mold them into a log and after refrigerating slice them. They keep their shape more easily.
About how many cookies does this make?
About 4 dozen.
How does this make anywhere near 4 dozen? I got 21 cookies out of one batch
She must have misspoke, I get 18 cookies.
Awesome cookies. The only tweak I made was using half brown sugar, and half white sugar for the extra toffeeish taste.
Definitely a keeper, and one if the most requested cookie in my house.
My favorite cookie. Your recipe is the same one I grew up making. I know it by heart 😊
These taste delicious! Beautiful balance of sweet and salty. The only thing I changed was that I used half regular sugar and half brown sugar. When I tasted the dough, I felt it needed a slight bit more sugar so I added just a tablespoon more and the cookies taste perfect to me. Yummy!
This is the first time I saw your website and followed your recipe and the sandies turned out to be excellent! I am planning to use pistachios next time. Hopefully that also works. This is very similar to Karachi biscuits we grew up eating in India. Thank you for the simple and easy recipe!
Hello Amy, Thank you for this recipe. I wish you could tell me what I did wrong, because they were too crumbly to ball up. So I pressed it into a ceramic dish and cut another 1/2 stick of butter on top. Baked for 30 min. It came out tasty but not presentable to company for tea. Thank again. Be well
Mine came out perfect, I added a tablespoon of rum 🙂
I used a 1” cookie scoop & flattened to 1/2” ,also tried rolling it into a log & cutting them to 1/2” but my cookies came out REALLY Small !! I made them before, don’t remember being that small.
I added about 3/4 cup of chopped dried cranberries to the recipe and YUM! Just the touch of sweetness/flavor I prefer. I think dried cherries would work well also.
Wait. Where are the stars to rate this? Never mind I’ll find my own ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.
These are amazing! I never knew this was a cookie to make and so easy too. I was just looking at a pina colada cream cheese pie recipe at another blog and she uses pecan sandies for the crust. So I searched that and found your blog. So good. Since I am going to just grind them up I rolled them 1/2 in flat and baked till crispy ish. But next time and yes – it will happen… since this dough needs to be chilled I will roll it into a log in plastic wrap to chill until firm and then cut off rounds of dough to bake, this helps me too because there are only 2 of us and I freeze the extra to be baked later.
Made these cookies today June 2021 , I changed the sugar to brown sugar, vanilla added extra 1/2 teaspoon (2 teaspoons), toasted pecans, great flavor. Next time will add extra Tablespoon of cold water still needed a little more moisture to crumbly. But with the changes flavor was great. Will make these again. Just note they dont make many so double or triple recipe is a good idea.
This is by far my favorite cookie recipe. The Pecan Sandies are soooo good – they come out perfect every time. I forgot to dust my last batch with confectioner’s sugar after baking, and the cookies were perfectly sweet without it. I will make these often! Thanks for a great recipe!!