Room for Dessert - Food Blog

These cookies have been on my “to do” list for quite a while, since I’ve first seen them on Cherrapeno, a wonderful food blog written by Nicisme. Actually, I’ve already told you about her in the post where I made the marvelous white chocolate and cranberries cookies. Pecan pie is my all time favorite dessert, and I’m absolutely mad about its cookie version. Last weekend, as I was searching my mind what dessert to prepare, they suddenly hit me. I was so gonna make them!

It was great fun making them, it was Friday night, we were at my Mom’s, and for a change we prepared the dinner as well as the dessert, so it was a really fun cooking evening together. The cookies are real easy to make and just by the smell of the dough you can already know that they’re gonna be great. And indeed they came out fantastic, eventhough I used 1 cup of whole wheat flour and 1 cup all purpose flour, because I ran out of it after 1 cup. That’s also the reason of their darker color. The brown sugar made them really soft and gave them that melt in your mouth texture that I’m a sucker for in cookies, and the filling was simply excellent! Also the quantities of the recipe were exact, the filling was just enough for all the cookies and there were no remains - a thing that in my book turns a good recipe into a great one.

So yeah, these cookies can’t win a beauty contest, but their taste makes up for their lack in looks, I can assure you. Thanks Nicisme, for yet another great recipe!

Pecan Pie Cookies / Adapted by Nicisme from Land O’ Lakes
Makes about 45 medium sized cookies

For the cookies:
1 cup packed soft brown sugar
3/4 cup (170 gr) unsalted butter, softened
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 cups all-purpose flour (it’s possible to substitute 1 cup with whole wheat flour)
1 tsp baking powder

Pecan Filling:
1 cup chopped pecans
1/2 cup soft brown sugar
1/4 cup double cream (heavy whipping)
1 tsp vanilla extract

Directions:
1. Heat the oven to 350°F.
2. In a large mixing bowl, beat the brown sugar, butter, egg and vanilla extract together until creamy.
3. Beat in the flour and baking powder until well mixed.
4. Shape the dough into 1 1/4-inch balls. Place 2 inches apart onto ungreased cookie sheets. Make an indentation in each cookie with your thumb; rotate thumb to hollow out slightly.
5. Combine all the filling ingredients in small bowl; fill each cookie with 1 rounded teaspoon of filling.
6. Bake for 8 to 12 minutes or until lightly browned. Cool for 1 minute before removing from cookie sheets.
7. The cookies can be made ahead and frozen for up to 3 months.

עוגיות פאי פקאן / עיבוד של Nicisme למתכון מ - Land O’ Lakes
עבור כ-45 עוגיות בגודל בינוני

רכיבים:
לעוגיות:
1 כוס דחוסה סוכר חום כהה
170 גרם חמאה, רכה
1 ביצה
1 כפית תמצית וניל
2 כוסות קמח (ניתן להחליף כוס אחת בקמח מלא)
1 כפית אבקת אפיה

למלית הפקאן:
1 כוס אגוזי פקאן קצוצים גס
1/2 כוס סוכר חום כהה
1/4 כוס (60 מ”ל) שמנת מתוקה
1 כפית תמצית וניל

הכנה:
1. מחממים תנור ל - 175 מעלות.
2. מקציפים את הסוכר והחמאה עד לקבלת תערובת קרמית.
3. מערבבים פנימה קמח ואבקת אפיה עד לקבלת תערובת אחידה.
4. יוצרים כדורים מהבצק, מניחים על תבנית מרופדת בנייר אפיה ויוצרים גומה במרכז כל עוגיה בעזרת האגודל.
5. מערבבים את כל חומרי המלית בקערה קטנה. ממלאים כל עוגיה במלית (אני יצרתי עוגיות בגודל כדור פלאפל קטן, ולכן נדרשה לי 1/2 כפית מלית לכל אחת).
6. אופים 8-12 דקות, או עד שהעוגיות משחימות קלות (או קשות, תלוי איך אתם אוהבים את זה )
7. ניתן לשמור במקפיא עד 3 חודשים.

The title of this post combines two things that are very close to my heart - nuts, obviously, and Scrat, that wonderfully cute squirrel from Ice Age (”Gone Nutty” is the name of a short film that Scrat is starring in, as usual chasing his beloved acorn). In fact Avi and I love Scrat so much, that he appeared on our wedding invitation!

The front cover of our wedding invitation, designed by Avi.
The text says: “A love so pure hasn’t been witnessed since Ice Age ”

The pie before entering the oven

And back to the nuts - well, I totally fell in love with them as a kid, when my grandma first made a cake that I cannot even remember its looks, but its taste and texture are still vivid in my mouth! It had a crispy base, a half-soft-half-firm nutty filling and a grilled top made of cripsy dough. One of my definite favorites of all her cakes. So naturally, when I  first discovered the nowadays version of that cake - Pecan Pies - it almost automatically became my absolute favorite dessert.

One thing that isn’t very clear to me is why on earth it took me so long to bake one of my own. Had I known I had such a great recipe just waiting to be made, I swear i would have baked it earlier! The recipe is by one of the best Israeli pastry-chefs named Roni Venezia.

Pecan Pie / Roni Venezia, with minor changes I’ve made
Makes one 26cm (10-inch) pie

Ingredients:
For the dough:
2 cups all-purpose flour
1/3 cup sugar
175 gr cold butter, diced
1 egg yolk
1 Tbsp ice water

For the filling:
3 Tbsp (45 gr) butter, diced
1 1/3 cups light corn syrup
2/3 cup light brown sugar
1 egg
3 egg yolks
1 Tbsp Frangelico liqueur (hazelnuts liqueur, I didn’t have it so I used Amareto, you can also use Brandy)
1 tsp vanilla extract
1 1/4 (150 gr) pecan nuts, chopped
2 cups (200 gr) pecan nuts halves (I used only 110 gr)

For the glaze (my addition, since I like the pecans glossy):
2 Tbsp apricot jam
2 Tbsp very hot water

Prepare the dough:
1. Process flour, sugar and butter in food processor.
Process using short pulses, just until a crumbly mixture is formed.
2. Add the egg yolk and the cold water. Continue processing in pulses just until the dough is formed.
3. Wrap the dough with plastic, and refrigerate for an hour.
4. Take the dough out of the refrigerator,  place it onto a lightly floured work surface, and scatter a little flour over the top (I always place the dough between 2 sheets of plastic wrap - I found out that it’s the easiest way for me to roll out crispy dough), roll it out and line the pie pan with it. Heat the oven to 340°F (170° celsius).  Freeze the pan with the dough in it for 10 mins.
5. Partially blind bake the crust, until its color becomes light golden.
6. Let cool in the pan on a rack before filling.

Prepare the filling:
1. Melt the butter In a small pot.
2. Move the melted butter into a bowl, and add to it the corn syrup, the sugar, the egg, the yolks, the liqueur and the vanilla extract. Whisk it until well blended.
3. Add the chopped nuts to the mixture and blend well.
4. Place the pie pan on a larger ban (the oven’s pan, for instance) and pour the mixture over the dough. Arrange the nuts halves neatly upon the mixture (if you want to arrange them in circles - arrange them starting with the outer circle).
5. Bake the pie for 40-50 mins, or until the center is softly set.
6. Let the pie rest for 15 mins. Then mix the apricot jam with the hot water and gently spread the mixture on top of the pie. This will get your pecans to look shiny and beautiful!
7. Let the pie rest for at least 30 mins total before slicing. Serve warm or at room temperature.

את המתכון בעברית של פאי הפקאן הנפלא הזה ניתן למצוא באתר על השולחן