Blondie Crinkles

Chocolate Crinkles are a common holiday cookie, one of my favorites. This year I stumbled on a recipe for crinkles made with brown sugar and chopped salted-pecans instead of chocolate. The brown sugar leaves these cookies with a rich, buttery, butterscotch-like taste. The salted pecans adds a hint of salty flavor to the sweet. And I love the look of the crinkly, powdered sugar top! These are drop cookies, so they are quick to make and bake.

RECIPE: Blondie Crinkles
from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion
makes about 4 dozen small cookies

INGREDIENTS:
1.5 cups brown sugar (use dark if you have it)
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 eggs
3/4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
2.5 cups all-purpose flour
1 cup pecans
1/4 cup powdered sugar, for coating dough

DIRECTIONS:
Toast Pecans:
Preheat oven to 350F or use a toaster oven or dry saucepan over medium-high heat. Spread pecans on a baking sheet. Spritz the nuts lightly with water or oil-spray and sprinkle with find table salt. Toast for 8-10 minutes, until pecans are fragrant. Remove immediately if you smell even a hint of burning. Cool until you can handle the nuts, then chop the nuts into small chunks.

In a large mixing bowl, beat the sugar, butter, and vanilla extract on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. Beat in the baking soda and salt, then stir in the flour and pecans until the mixture is smooth. Cover the bowl and refrigerate the dough for 1 hour, or until it's firm enough to handle.

Preheat oven to 350F. Lightly grease (or line with parchment paper) a baking sheet. Break off tablespoon-size chunks of dough and roll them into balls. Try to keep the balls the same size, as they will bake more consistently that way. Place the powdered sugar in a shallow bowl and roll the balls of dough in the sugar to coat. Place them on the prepared aking sheets, leaving aout 2 inches space between them.

Bake cookies for about 12 minutes, until they've spread and cracked on the top. Remove them from the oven, let cool on the baking sheets for 5 minutes, then transfer to a rack to cool completely.

STORAGE:
Store cookies in an air-tight container at room temperature.