I'm so bummed. My Joy of Cooking is out of date and doesn't have the recipe. Anyone?
I found this recipe online at http://annastockwell.com and it sounds like these are the same as the Mexican wedding cakes I posted the other day. There are a few differences.
Pecan Puffs
1 cup butter
4 Tbs. sugar
2 tsp. vanilla
2 cups pecans, finely ground
2 cups cake flour
about 1 cup confectioners sugar, for garnish
Preheat oven to 300?F.
Cream the butter and the sugar until soft, then stir in the vanilla.
Stir the pecans and the flour into the butter mixture.
Roll the dough into 2 tsp size balls and place evenly on a greased cookie sheet.
Bake until the cookies are just barely starting to brown, about 20 minutes.
While still hot, roll each cookie in the confectioners sugar then let cool completely on a cooling rack.
I like to dust all the finished cookies with a bit of extra confectioners sugar through a fine sieve for a smooth finish.
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16 comments:
Hi,
This is the same recipe as the Joy of Cooking, except that it has been doubled. In addition, Joy notes that you can put the cookies back in the oven for one minute after they have been rolled in the sugar in order to glaze them--an interesting idea that I have never seen in any similar recipe.
Thank you Mitty! I was going to have to wait until I got to Dad's house this summer when I could double check in Mom's Joy of Cooking. Thank you very much for the confirmation! :D
I add 1/8 tsp cayenne pepper to the recipe. It adds a hot note. :)
This is a little off on the quantity of butter.
I have my mother's Joy of Cooking (1931) book with this recipe. Quote:
PECAN PUFFS
About Forty 11/2-inch Balls
Rich and devastating.
Preheat oven to 300 degrees
Beat until soft:
1 stick (1/2 cup) butter
Add and blend until creamy:
2 Tbs sugar
Add:
1 tsp vanilla
Measure, then grind in a nut grinder:
1 cup pecan meats
Sift before measuring:
1 cup cake flour
Stir the pecans and the flour into the butter mixture.
Roll the dough into small balls
Place balls on a greased cookie sheet and bake about 30 minutes.
Roll while hot in:
Confectioners' sugar
To glaze, put the sheet back into the over for a minute.
Cool and serve.
OMG OMG OMG
The one thing I really changed up-using a half inch cookie scoop-OMG the explosion in your mouth!
This is the recipe I've been using all my adult life! Joy of Cooking was the best wedding present ever!
I use a half inch scoop, and I put them in a big pan of powdered sugar to cool about 6 minutes. Been making them most of my 56 years.I really miss making them with momma!
Two glaring flaws germane to this recipe to make the puffs come out optimumly is to sift the flour before measuring & to measure the pecans before grinding.
my granny made many Christmas cookies, being of the Austrian Christmas heritage, which she gave to everyone - a can of mixed kinds - but then my dad got a whole can full of snowballs just for him - he'd hide them but my brother could always find where, but never learned how to eat the snuck cookies without getting powdered sugar all over his front. Busted!
Let the cookies cool for about a minute after taking them out of the oven then coat with confectioners sugar. If you put them immediately in the confectioners sugar they will have a tendency to crumble and you’ll end up with a mess. I’m speaking from experience ☺️
My variation of these are a Christmas tradition in our family.
Instead of 2 cups pecans, use 1 cup pecans and 1 cup finely chopped chocolate chips.
For the sugar, use 4 tbls regular sugar and add 3 tbs brown sugar.
Finally, add a small grating of fresh nutmeg.
Me, too.😞💔
Commenter Mitty said it WAS the EXACT Joy of Cooking recipe, but DOUBLED
I’m 61. I too have been making these my whole life. I started making them when I was a young girl with my mom. She made them with her mom. This is my first Christmas without my mom. I’m really missing her and this cookie tradition. My 6 year old granddaughter and I make them together as well. I home she does the same with her children when she grows up. It’s a wonderful tradition.
Thank you! I misplaced my copy and this is exactly right. It is a Christmas favorite. You saved me.
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