Description
Pecan puffs create delightful morsels of Southern charm that melt instantly on palates. Light, buttery cookies dusted with powdered sugar promise sweet comfort for anyone craving homemade goodness.
Ingredients
Scale
- 1 cup butter (room temperature)
- 1 cup chopped pecans (toasted and cooled)
- 2 cups all-purpose flour
- ¼ cup sugar
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- ½ tsp kosher salt
- Confectioner’s sugar (as needed for rolling, approx. ¼-½ cup)
Instructions
- Preparation Setup: Configure oven to 300°F and arrange parchment-lined baking sheets, creating an optimal baking environment for delicate cookies.
- Dough Creation: Utilize electric mixer to blend butter and sugar into a fluffy, ethereal mixture, integrating vanilla extract for enhanced flavor complexity, ensuring ingredients are thoroughly combined and smoothly incorporated.
- Ingredient Integration: Methodically fold flour, salt, and chopped pecans into the creamed mixture, developing a uniform dough that evenly distributes nutty elements throughout the base.
- Shaping Process: Craft uniform spherical portions using a cookie scoop, rolling each into perfect 1-inch rounds and positioning them strategically across prepared baking surfaces with precise spacing.
- Baking Technique: Slide trays into preheated oven, monitoring cookies for golden-brown edges and delicate surface crackling, indicating optimal transformation from raw dough to delectable treats.
- Cooling and Sugar Coating: Briefly stabilize freshly baked cookies on sheets, then meticulously transfer them through powdered sugar, ensuring complete and elegant sugar coverage that mimics a soft, wintery dusting.
- Final Refinement: Allow cookies to rest, permitting initial sugar layer to settle, then execute a secondary powdered sugar application for an impeccably finished, classic snowball-like presentation.
Notes
- Butter Temperature Matters: Use room temperature butter for smooth, even creaming that creates a light, airy texture in the dough.
- Precise Pecan Chopping: Finely chop pecans to ensure even distribution and prevent large chunks that might disrupt the cookie’s delicate structure.
- Low and Slow Baking: Maintain the low 300°F temperature to prevent burning and allow gradual, even cooking that develops rich flavors.
- Sugar Coating Technique: Gently roll warm cookies in powdered sugar to create a delicate, melt-in-your-mouth exterior that gives these puffs their signature snowball look.
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 45 minutes
- Category: Desserts, Snacks
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 24
- Calories: 210
- Sugar: 2 g
- Sodium: 120 mg
- Fat: 21 g
- Saturated Fat: 12 g
- Unsaturated Fat: 9 g
- Trans Fat: 0 g
- Carbohydrates: 14 g
- Fiber: 1 g
- Protein: 3 g
- Cholesterol: 40 mg