Learning 2 Bake – from Scratch XIX

Another cookie exchange on Friday, so more cookies. At The Laird’s request, pecan. That’s a bit vague, but this Betty Crocker recipe looked good:

Butter Pecan Pudding Cookies

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/2 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup butter, softened
1 cup packed brown sugar
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 box (3.4 oz) Jell-O™ French vanilla-flavor instant pudding (dry)
2 eggs
1 teaspoon vanilla
2 cups chopped toasted pecans
1/2 cup toffee bits

First, toast the pecans! I forgot. It really brings out the taste (I know this from pecan pies – and it’s on the web page). 350 for about 20 minutes, stirring occasionally. Don’t burn them.

Do the usual: Mix (sift) dry, cream butter & sugar (sift the brown), add eggs & vanilla, add Jello (OK, not so usual), add the dry ingredients. Stir in pecans and toffee (by hand works better than the mixer).

I thought Jello pudding was such a great midwestern touch. How could I resist?

Sifting flour is somewhat silly these days, but I do it anyway because I always sift the brown sugar – there are always chunks in it. As long as I’m getting the sifter dirty, I might as well use it for everything. Never having opened a package of Jello pudding before, I sifted that, too, just in case (it wasn’t necessary).

Looking at the picture, it’s clear these are not going to be pretty, but it looked good at the time. I must work on size and shape consistency; perhaps a cookie dough scoop for Christmas…

Guess which tray was on the top rack. The new oven will have a convection fan in it. Aside from burning the first few batches, perhaps that will even things out. I don’t really want to double the baking time just to get equal browning. Perhaps once I get equal size and shape I will care more.

I declare this a baking success!