Gluten-Free or Not Pecan Shortbread Bites
Rich and buttery shortbread type cookies made with wheat or gluten-free flour and pecan meal.
Servings 32
Cost 5
Ingredients
- ¾ cup pecan halves, toasted and cooled (84 grams)
- ⅔ cup plus 2 tablespoons confectioners sugar (95 grams)
- 1 ¼ cups all-purpose flour or a 1:1 gluten-free flour such as Measure for Measure (160 grams)
- ½ teaspoon salt plus a pinch but omit pinch if salted
- ¼ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 stick unsalted butter, softened, but I think salted would be good too (120 grams)
- ½ teaspoon vanilla
- 1 large egg yolk
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325°F. Line a 9 inch square pan with foil and spray lightly with a little bit of cookie spray or grease with a little extra butter. Make sure you put enough foil over the pan so that you can grasp it and lift it.
- Pulse toasted pecans with 2 tablespoons of the confectioners' sugar in a food processor until finely ground.
- Whisk together flour, salt, and baking powder in a bowl.
- Beat the softend stick of butter (114 grams), with the remaining ⅔ cup confectioners' sugar, and vanilla in a bowl with an electric mixer. Add the egg yolk and beat until blended. Add flour and ground-pecan mixture and mix at low speed until just combined.
- Press the dough into the lined pan, making the top as flat and as even as possible. I found it easier to empty the dough onto a piece of parchment paper, press it into a large square and just transfer it to the pan.
- Bake for 25 minutes at 325 degrees F. Let cool for 5 minutes and reduce heat to 300 degrees F.
- Carefully lift foil from the pan and place the square on a flat surface. The square will not be completely cooked at this point. With a chef's knife, score into sticks.
- Return the scored shortbread to the oven and bake at 300 for another 25 minutes. Let cool completely, then separate the shortbread pieces. Store in a tin.