Toasted Pecan Cara-Sel Shortbread
Since no shortbread has ever held a candle to my Scottish mother-in-law’s, I was skeptical when I received an email from Bon Appétit with the subject line “The Best Shortbread Cookies You’ve Ever Had.”
But then I opened the email and saw the recipe in question was titled Roasty Toasty Pecan-Caramel Shortbread Cookies.
OK, now they had my attention. These slice and bake cookies were made in a food processor. The caramel in the title was actually dulce de leche.
Interesting. I printed the recipe and got right to work.
My changes out of the gate: replace the dulce de leche with Cara-Sel™ and roll the dough log in pecans rather than nonpareils. The resulting cookies were delicious, but spread a lot during baking. I also found the process of coating the dough in nuts to be messy and fiddly. Still, I saw so much potential that I tried again a few days later.
The next changes I made were to incorporate the outside nuts right into the cookie to eliminate the step of trying to coat the log and to move to a creaming method.
I had found the food processor to be a near disaster, with the contents so sticky that I worried for the health of my machine.
I rolled the dough into a longer log since I wanted smaller cookies and sprinkled them with flaky salt before baking.
These cookies were also delicious, but still spread a lot during baking.
I was so close! I had an idea for how to fix this issue and didn’t wait too long to try a third time.
For Version 3.0, I thought that since my caramel contains butter (unlike dulce de leche) perhaps I should decrease the butter in the recipe accordingly. So, I made the recipe with ¼ cup less butter, leaving everything else the same as the previous trial. NAILED IT.
THE TOASTED PECAN CARA-SEL SHORTBREAD RECIPE
I am happy to share this simplified recipe based on Molly Baz’s Roasty Toasty Pecan-Caramel Shortbread Cookies recipe that appeared in Bon Appétit. These Toasted Pecan Cara-Sel Shortbread cookies have a lovely caramel flavor that uses only a ¼ cup of Cara-Sel (or one Very Small Jar). Yay!
You can also prep these cookies ahead of serving. Make the dough log and freeze it, well wrapped, until a craving strikes. Your future self will thank you.
Ingredients
About 1 cup (100g) toasted pecans
1 ½ cups + 2 tablespoons (188g) all-purpose flour
½ teaspoon Diamond Crystal Kosher salt (less if Morton’s)
1 + ½ sticks (¾ cup or 170g) unsalted butter, softened
3 tablespoons (36g) sugar
¼ cup (59ml) Cara-Sel Salted Caramel Sauce, room temp
Flaky salt (optional)
Instructions
Chop pecans as fine or rough as you desire. Combine with flour and salt in a small bowl.
Using a stand mixer or large bowl with a handheld mixer, cream butter, sugar, and Cara-Sel Salted Caramel Sauce until well combined.
Add dry ingredients to creamed mixture and mix until dough is well combined.
Transfer dough from bowl to a large sheet of plastic wrap or parchment paper.
Use your hands to smoosh it into a long, log-like shape, approximately 12”. It won’t be perfect yet, you just want to make it as even as possible.
Wash your hands and then fold plastic wrap or parchment up and over the dough, using it to press and roll the dough into a nice, round log.
Once rolled up tightly, chill for 90 minutes, or freeze for 20. I find laying it on a sheet pan helps keep its shape.
While the dough is chilling, line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
When fully chilled, transfer log to cutting board and slice into even(ish) rounds, between ¼” and ½” thick. Rotate the log about a quarter turn every few slices to help keep them round.
Place cookie slices on prepared baking sheets and freeze for 20 minutes. If you don’t have room in your freezer for two cookie sheets, load up one sheet with all the slices and separate them onto two sheets when it is time to bake.
Preheat oven to 325°F (163°C) before you are ready to bake.
Space cookies 1” apart on sheets and sprinkle with flaky salt if using.
Bake, rotating baking sheets top to bottom and front to back halfway through, until golden brown around the edges, 20-24 minutes.
Remove from oven and let cookies set up slightly on baking sheet, then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely. Cookies will firm up and get crisper as they cool.
Yield: About 2 dozen