I hope I`m not the only one who thinks 'pecan' is a weird word. I guess it has to do with the fact that there are two pronunciations for the word. Growing up, I never knew which way was correct, so whenever the word comes up in a conversation, I would always say, "Pee-can, or puh-khan, however you say it!" immediately after. How do you pronounce it? I say pee-can. (Haha, I typed pee in a post about food. *coughs* Ahem.)
Please excuse my immaturity and believe me when I say how fantastic these cookies are. They`re the only reason why I bought a gigantic jar of almond butter from Costco! I don`t like eating almond butter, but they are super delicious in cookies.
For the past two years, I`ve participated in the Great Food Blogger Cookie Swap. (This happens around the Holidays, so if you want to join, sign up to get notifications to join this year! These were my contributions. ) One of the most memorable cookies I`ve received were these cookies from Icing On A Cake. I was mind-blown at how great they were! My friends who tried them, loved them too! I mean, seriously. I bake a lot of cookies, so it`s rare when I get mind-blown with cookies.
Two years later, I finally made them. I`m kicking myself in the face for taking so long! Oh, why? Why did I wait so long? It was those darn candied pecans!! I didn`t want to make them. But, I should`ve. They`re the reason these cookies are so amazing. When you take a bite and get a piece of the candied pecans....oh, sooo good. It is an extra step, but your mouth will be glad you took the extra step.
Since I knew I would eat every single cookie, I told my mom to bring some to her work to give away. This one guy kept asking for more every day until we ran out! My mom thought it was hilarious. Every day, he would come up to ask my mom to bring more the next day! Even after they were all gone, he would joke to my mom about when I would bake more.
I do think almond butter is on the expensive side, so I don`t buy it often. But, when I do, I always have great plans to bake them in cookies. I hope I`ve convinced you enough to try this recipe, though. Plus, brown butter. Yes. Yes.
I chopped up a bar of dark chocolate, but feel free to use chocolate chips. I just love the way the chocolate melts when you use a chocolate bar.
Candied Pecan Almond Butter Cookies
Ingredients:
Candied Pecans:
-
1/3 cup granulated sugar
-
1 cup pecans chips
Almond Butter
Cookies:
-
½ cup unsalted butter, browned
-
1 ¼ cup all purpose flour
-
¼ teaspoon baking soda
-
¼ teaspoon baking powder
-
¼ teaspoon sea salt
-
½ cup brown sugar
-
¼ cup granulated sugar
-
1 cup almond butter
-
1 large egg
-
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
-
1 tablespoon non-fat vanilla yogurt
-
3.5 oz chocolate bar, chopped
Directions:
Candied Pecans:
1.
Heat sugar on a medium saucepan on medium heat until sugar is bubbly,
stirring constantly.
2.
Once sugar turns into syrup consistency, remove from heat and add
pecans. Gently toss pecans until all pecans are coated completely.
3.
Allow pecans to cool and harden (at least 30 minutes). Once cooled, chop
into smaller pieces.
Almond Butter
Cookies:
4.
Preheat oven to 350°F. Line
baking sheet(s) with parchment paper, or baking mat.
5.
In a small saucepan, brown your butter: Over medium heat, melt the
butter. Whisking frequently, let the butter turn into an amber color. It will
foam a little. Once it subsides and brown specks appears at the bottom of the
pan, it will begin to have a nutty aroma. Once butter turns a light golden
brown color, transfer to a bowl to cool. (I
stick it in the freezer to make it cool faster.)
6.
In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
Set aside.
7.
In a bowl with electric mixer, combine browned butter and sugars.
8.
Next, add and mix in the almond butter.
9.
Add and mix in egg, vanilla extract, and yogurt until combined.
10.
Mix in the dry ingredients (flour, etc) until just combined.
11.
Fold in chocolate and candied pecans.
12.
Using a medium size cookie scoop, scoop dough onto prepared baking
sheet, leaving about 2 inches in between each. Flatten each dough slightly.
13.
Bake for 8-10 minutes, or until edges are lightly golden.
14.
Allow cookies to cook completely on cookie sheet for about 5 minutes
before transferring to cookie sheet to cool completely.
*Notes:
-
Cookies do not spread much in oven.
