Happy Monday! This week before Christmas is one of my favorite times of the year. Our girl comes home today, and (nearly) all my work is done so I can decorate and bake and decide if I want to build a big LEGO project or do a puzzle over the holiday. Oh, and I have a ton of wrapping to do.
I spent Saturday and Sunday afternoons shopping the fleshpots of Carbondale. In future I may leave all my local shopping until the Sunday before Christmas. The stores were open late, but were empty, and the folks working were very relaxed. I had so much fun that I forgot to eat dinner. A grande Flat White and a couple of Lindor truffles sufficed until I got home at nine-fifteen this evening.
I may only bake two things this week, as my mother is bringing some of our favorite cookies when she arrives Christmas Eve. Pecan Sandies are at the top of my list. They’re dead simple and delicious. A true classic.
Not my Pecan Sandies.*
PECAN SANDIES
1 cup butter or margarine
1/3 cup white sugar
2 teaspoons water
2 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups sifted All Purpose flour
1 cup chopped pecans
Powdered sugar to coat
Cream slightly softened butter and sugar in bowl. Mix water and vanilla, beat into butter/sugar mixture. Add flour and pecans. Mix thoroughly. Divide. Wrap in waxed paper.
Chill in refrigerator 3-4 hours.
Shape into balls or fingers.
Bake on ungreased cookie sheet at 325º for twenty minutes, then check. Do not let them get more than a little brown. Cool 1-2 minutes. Roll in powdered sugar after cooling slightly. If they are plunged into sugar when they’re too hat, the sugar will melt and get very messy.
Makes 2-3 dozen depending on size.
*photo via americanheritagecooking
I like pecan sandies, too! I think my favorite cookie of all time, though, is chocolate-chocolate chip . . . kind of a thing if you like chocolate as much as I do! How nice that you get to see your daughter and your mom this Christmas.:-)
Daughter has arrived, and we all went to see Murder on the Orient Express tonight. It was the last day it’s showing in our town. I enjoyed it, but it was a tad laconic. Branagh is a pretty good Poirot, though I still think of David Suchet as the standard he must reach.
Mmmmmmm. Chocolate. I have a recipe coming up that you will LOVE!
I adore cookies, but I never eat them. These are lovely, Laura, but like Priscilla, I adore the Toll House or oatmeal and raisin cookies. I am allergic to nuts, thought, and I am also gluten free, which makes it tough. Don’t you just love shopping in peace w/o the crowds, long lines and too many people crunched in one place?!
Oh, so hard to be gluten free as well as allergic to nuts, Skye! I’m so sorry for you. I hope you have at least some treats to enjoy for the holiday season.
Shopping in peace is heaven. I’m not a window shopper at all, so I feel like crowds are a lot to deal with. That said, I loved seeing all the kids lined up to see Santa!