Grandma's Pecan Dreams
Why I Love This Recipe
My Grandmother was a terrific cook and baker, and she taught my mom how to do the same. As the second-born of six children, it became my job to learn alongside Mom so I could assist in preparing meals for our large family. One of the most fun times of the year was the Christmas season, when Mom would pull out her recipes, some of which were in my grandmother's handwriting, and we would start the traditional cookie baking.
The cookie most requested by my siblings, my father, aunts, uncles, and friends were Pecan Dreams. These little snowballs of deliciousness would not last one day. They would just melt in your mouth when you'd take a bite. It was my job to roll the dough into balls and put them on the cookie sheet. Mom would be in charge of rolling them in the powered sugar.
Today, I still make these cookies at Christmas. My children and grandchildren call them Snowballs, and they start asking around Thanksgiving what day I will be baking them, they like them so much.
I've modernized the recipe a bit, but, I still have the original, handwritten recipe that my grandmother handed down to my mother, who handed it down to me.
Submitted by: "Eileen Lucas"
Ingredients You'll Need
1 cup butter, room temperature
1/2 cup sifted powdered sugar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
1/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 cup finely chopped nuts (I use Pecans)
Powdered sugar
Directions
In a large bowl, cream butter, powdered sugar, and vanilla extract until light and fluffy.
Sift in flour and salt; stir until well mixed.
Mix in nuts.
Refrigerate 1 hour.
Preheat oven to 400 degrees.
Roll dough into 1-inch balls.
Place onto ungreased cookie sheets.
Bake 10 to 12 minutes or until set but not brown.
Remove from oven and cool slightly on wire racks.
While cookies are baking place the powdered sugar in a shallow dish.
While still warm, roll cookies in powdered sugar.
When cookies have cooled, roll them again in the confectioners sugar to give them a nice even coating of sugar.
Store in an airtight container.
Variation: Substitute 1 cup miniature semisweet chocolate chips for the nuts.
Yields 4 dozen cookies.
Make sure you cool for a couple of minutes before the first roll in the powdered sugar.
If they are too hot, they will fall apart in the sugar.
