Forget store-bought. These Pecan Sandies are so easy to make at home, from scratch, and they taste much more delicious they are when they're homemade!
If you come to our house, something you can be pretty sure you won't find: store bought sweets. Years ago my husband and I made a rule for ourselves when it comes to desserts- if we want it, we make it. Which some people may think is crazy, but it undeniably helps us not only eat fewer sweets. And these Pecan Sandies are the perfect, easy, delicious cookie recipe to have on hand!
Ingredients Needed
One of the best parts of this recipe is that the ingredients are so easy and generally in your pantry! The only thing I usually need to buy when I want to make this recipe are the pecans.
Oh and did you know you can make your own Vanilla Extract From Scratch?
Salted vs. Unsalted? In this recipe, I prefer salted but you can totally use unsalted. The problem with salted butter is that the salt level of each brand varies and unsalted butter is fresher.
How to Make Sandies Cookies
- Mix together flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar and set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugars together. If you have a great mixer like our Kitchen Aid then it's even easier! You can also use a handheld mixer - we love this one!
- Add salt, eggs, and vanilla extract to creamed butter.
- Slowly add the flours to the creamed butter mixture.
- Fold in the chopped pecans.
- Chill dough
- Roll out into balls and bake!
Chill the Dough!
Don't skip chilling the dough! By chilling cookie dough it solidifies the fat. This means that when you bake them, it takes longer to melt and the cookies will spread less. It also concentrates the flavor.
Butter vs. Shortening
I've made these with both and above you can see the difference.
Shortening: This dough is so incredibly soft and it makes a much softer flakier, crumbly cookie. It also (because of the neutral flavor of the shortening) lets the pecan flavor shine more.
Butter: This dough is much thicker and produces a cookie that's chewier and a little richer from the butter, but just a slightly less pecan flavor than the cookies made with shortening.
So which is better? Oooh this such a tough one. I usually prefer to bake with butter because it's more natural, but the soft crumbly cookie that the shortening made was amazing. In the end, I prefer the cookies made with butter because I love the structure of it and the chewiness of it.
Honestly, just make a batch of each. Trust me, you wont be disappointed! Especially since they are so easy to make!
Some of our other favorite Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 3/4 cup all purpose flour
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar
- 1/2 cup salted butter
- 1/2 cup sugar
- 1/2 cup confectioner's sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 1 egg beaten
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup pecans chopped
Instructions
- Mix together flour, baking soda, and cream of tartar and set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer, or another large bowl (if using a hand mixer), cream butter, and sugars together until fluffy. Then add vanilla, salt, and egg and beat until smooth.
- Slowly add the flour mixture to the sugar mixture and mix well after every addition, the dough will be a little thick.
- With a large spoon, add the pecans and mix.
- Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 30-45 minutes.
- Pre-heat oven to 350 degrees.
- Roll dough out in 1 1/2 - 2 inch balls and put on to an un-greased baking sheet.
- Bake for 15-18 minutes until cookies are slightly browned (this will depend on the size of your cookies, if cookies are larger they can take up to 20 minutes)
- Cool on a wire rack and enjoy! Store in a air tight container.
What kind of shortening do you use? I'm thinking of mixing both the butter & shortening (1/2 & 1/2 ratio) to try getting the best of both for the cookies. Do you think this would also work? Your opinion, please.
After running into the awful dry & crunchy Pecan Sandies from the store, I want to make my own from scratch.
Sandra W.
We use Crisco shortening and I think that’s a great idea! I think that will work! Let me know how it goes, but trust me, no matter what, I’m sure you’ll love these more than the store bought!
These came out great! Super easy and very tasty.
So glad you enjoyed them! Thank you for letting me know ☺️
These are sooooo good. Even better with pecan praline ice cream. Just love these cookies!!! Thanks for sharing your recipe. I am now looking at swapping out the all-purpose flour with pecan meal/flour for our gluten intolerant daughter.
Where do u find creme of tartar?
You can find it in the spice aisle!
Any groceries store or food co op.
These remind me of the Norwegian pecan cookies we make every year. Since I'm total pecan fan I'll be trying these.
I love these cookies! Such a delicious addition to the holiday dessert spread!
They look super, my wife has taken to making up a cookie dough and chilling/freezing it and then cooking individual cookies as we want them. Would that work with these?
Whoa, I have to try these! These are my mom's favorite cookie and for some reason it has never occurred to me to make them from scratch. Yum!
Homemade everything is better, and these are no exception. I also love your "homemade" jars/labels for your baking ingredients. I had a very close friend in college who LOVED Pecan Sandies, so this will be (deliciously) nostalgic for me. 🙂
Looove Pecan Sandies! Such a great classic.
I love how easy these sound to knock up. Perfect when you need a treat for the kids!
So going over to check out your homemade vanilla extract too!
Pecan + Cookie... what's not to love? They look super simple to make and delicious, a must-try for tea time!
Easy to make and I bet they are delicious with a cup of tea too
My mom used to love these when I was a kid.. brings back memories!