Maple Pecan Cookies
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 teaspoons baking soda
- 3 cups all-purpose flour
- 4 cups confectioners' sugar
- 1 cup shortening
- frosting:
- 1/2 cup chopped pecans
- 1/2 cup butter softened
- 2 cups brown sugar packed
- 1 teaspoon maple flavoring
- 10 oz white baking chips
- 1/4 cup butter softened
- 1 teaspoon maple flavoring
- 3 to 5 tablespoons 2% milk
- 1-1/2 cups pecan halves
- Carbohydrate 48.6445274768096 g
- Cholesterol 42.6407432515219 mg
- Fat 16.5596046521538 g
- Fiber 0.365642866762833 g
- Protein 1.41714750130169 g
- Saturated Fat 9.10938148180262 g
- Serving Size 1 1 (80g)
- Sodium 208.026619229942 mg
- Sugar 48.2788846100467 g
- Trans Fat 1.0940048910241 g
- Calories 342 calories
Step-by-step
- In a large bowl, cream the shortening, butter and brown sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- Beat in vanilla and maple flavoring.
- Combine flour and baking soda; gradually add to the creamed mixture and mix well.
- Stir in white chips and pecans.
- Drop by tablespoonfuls 2 in. apart onto ungreased baking sheets.
- Bake at 350° for 9-11 minutes or until golden brown.
- Cool for 2 minutes before removing to wire racks.
- In a large bowl, cream the butter, confectioners' sugar, maple flavoring and enough milk to achieve spreading consistency.
- Frost each cookie with 1 teaspoon frosting; top with a pecan half.
Most cooks ruin drop cookies by overloading the baking sheets and skipping the essential creaming stage needed to trap air in the shortening and butter. When working with dense doughs containing high amounts of brown sugar and mix-ins like white baking chips, minor deviations in technique quickly yield flat, greasy disks instead of properly domed morsels. Understanding the mechanical behavior of fat, flour, and sugar prevents these common structural failures.
- Beat the shortening, butter, and brown sugar for a full five minutes until the mixture turns pale and noticeably voluminous, incorporating the air necessary for proper leavening.
- Add the two eggs strictly one at a time, beating thoroughly after each addition to maintain a stable emulsion that prevents the batter from curdling.
- Drop the dough by level tablespoonfuls spaced two inches apart on ungreased baking sheets to ensure adequate heat circulation around every single cookie.
- Pull the pans from the oven at precisely nine to eleven minutes when the edges turn light golden brown, leaving the centers slightly soft so they finish setting during the two-minute rest on the hot pan.
- Adjust the milk in the confectioners' sugar frosting incrementally between three and five tablespoons until the spreadable consistency holds its shape without running off the edges.
Scaling this yield of forty-two cookies up or down requires careful math on the leavening agents since baking soda proportions cannot be halved linearly without affecting pH balance. Precise execution guarantees the rich maple flavor and toasted pecan crunch shine through without textural defects.
