Pecan Butterscotch Shortbreads

Pecan Butterscotch Shortbreads - made dough December 14, 2019 from Dorie's Cookies by Dorie Greenspan

I made these for my mom to take to a holiday party last month. I'm still catching up on posts from December. You'd think I'd have more time with this retirement thing but I find the days going by pretty quickly. Only difference is instead of work, they're filled more with the activities of my choosing :).

This is another great recipe from Dorie Greenspan. The original recipe calls for 2 tablespoons of Scotch whisky, presumably for flavoring. I don't drink and I can't stand the taste of whisky (it only took one disastrous snickerdoodle recipe spiked with whisky to convince me) so I subbed out the whisky for 1 tablespoon of rum and an extra tablespoon of vanilla extract.

I've baked with rum before, notably in a Basque cake, so I know I can stand a small amount for flavoring. The rum flavor came out in this shortbread cookie but not too much. Bear in mind I have very low tolerance for alcohol. More seasoned drinkers probably wouldn't even taste it.

But I did like how these cookies turned out. The dough was easy to work with, the cookies held their shape well in baking and sandwiching with cookie butter was the perfect flavor complement. You can eat these plain as well but I like making them as cookie butter sandwiches.

1 3/4 cups (238 grams) all-purpose flour
1/4 cup (32 grams) cornstarch
2 sticks unsalted butter, cut into chunks, room temperature
1/2 cup (100 grams) packed light brown sugar
1/4 cup (30 grams) confectioners' sugar
1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
2 tablespoons Scotch whisky (I substituted 1 tablespoon rum and 1 tablespoon vanilla extract)
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
2/3 cup (80 grams) chopped pecans, toasted and cooled
3 ounces best quality milk or white chocolate, finely chopped (I left them out)

1. Sift flour and cornstarch together.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat butter, brown sugar, confectioners' sugar and salt together on medium-low speed until smooth, about 4 minutes; scrape down sides of bowl.
3. Add the Scotch and vanilla and beat for 1 minute more. Stop the mixer and add the dry ingredients all at once. Pulse until the risk of flying flour has passed. Beat on low speed until dry ingredients are absorbed. Add pecans and chocolate.
4. Turn the dough out and gather together. Divide in half and shape into a disk. Working with one piece of dough at a time, roll the dough between pieces of parchment paper to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Slide the parchment-sandwiched dough onto a baking sheet and freeze for at least 1 hour or refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
5. Center a rack in the oven and preheat to 350 degrees F. Butter or spray two regular muffin tins and have a 2-inch diameter cookie cutter in hand.
6. Working with one sheet of dough at a time, peel away both pieces of parchment paper and put the dough back on one piece of paper. Cut the dough and drop the rounds into the tins. The dough won't fill the tins now but it will once baked. Save the scraps.
7. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes or until the cookies are toasty brown and set around the edges. Transfer the tins to the cooling rack and allow the cookies to rest for at least 20 minutes or until they reach room temperature before unmolding.
8. Repeat with remaining cookie dough. Gather the scraps together, re-roll, chill, cut and bake.