Brown Sugar - Pecan Shortbread
Pretty for the Christmas holiday
Ingredients
- 1 c. butter, softened (no substitutes)
- 2/3 c. light-brown sugar
- 1/2 t. vanilla
- 2 c. unbleached all-purpose white flour
- 1/4 t. salt
- 1 c. toasted pecans, chopped
- 8 oz. bittersweet chocolate, melted (two 4 oz. pkgs. Ghiradelli premium baking bars)
Instructions
Toast pecans by heating them in a med-sized skillet over medium-high heat, stirring occasionally until slightly darkened and fragrant (about 5 minutes.)
In a large bowl, using a mixer, beat butter, brown sugar and vanilla in a large bowl until well blended. By hand, stir in flour and salt until well blended. Fold in the pecans.
Shape dough into a 6 x 4-1/4-inch rectangle. Wrap securely in plastic wrap and refrigerate several hours. When you remove from refrigerator, dough may be quite hard depending on how long you refrigerate. Just set dough out at room temp until soft enough to cut and slice.
Heat oven to 350 degrees.
Line cookie sheets with parchment paper.
Cut chilled dough lengthwise in half so you have two 3 x 2-1/8-inch pieces. Cut each half crosswise into 1/4-inch thick slices.
Place on prepared baking sheets and bake for about 15 minutes (rotate baking sheets halfway through the baking). Cool cookies on wire racks lined with paper towel to absorb the grease.
Dip each cookie diagonally halfway into the melted chocolate. Then place on waxed paper and let stand at room temperature for several hours or until chocolate is firm.
Store cookies with sheet of waxed papers between layers in an airtight container.