Pecan Puffs

For this month’s Random Recipe challenge Dom of Belleau Kitchen has asked us to select a recipe from our newest book – maybe one we got for Christmas. I'm not trying to be difficult but it's a few years since I bought a genuinely new cookery book and I don't really do the Christmas present thing. So I've interpreted this challenge a little freely. The book that's newest to me is one I bought from a charity bookstall – Sophie Grigson’s “Sophie’s Table” published back in 1990.

Opening the book at random I was faced with a recipe (originally an American recipe, in fact) for Pecan Puffs, which bizarrely enough I saw Ms Grigson cook on a TV show just a few weeks ago. So that means that she's been making these same biscuits for more than 20 years and you can't get a better recommendation than that. She describes them as “devastatingly good” and, having tried them I absolutely agree.

This recipe should produce at least 35 puffs but I made around 45 smaller biscuits this time and they would have lasted about 45 minutes but I threatened myself with violence if I didn't stop eating them. You could replace the pecans with almonds, toasted hazelnuts or walnuts, although personally I love the pecan taste. (I have slightly modified the original recipe).

150g pecans 

125g unsalted butter, at room temperature

2 tbsp caster sugar 

½ tsp vanilla extract or paste

150g plain flour 

icing sugar

Whizz the pecans in a processor until powdery. Beat the caster sugar into the butter until fluffy and light in colour.  Beat the ground pecans and the vanilla into the butter and sugar and then stir in the flour until thoroughly combined. Roll generous teaspoonfuls of the mixture into balls, and place on lined baking sheets. Bake for around 30 minutes at 140°C (fan oven) until light, golden brown. 

 

Sprinkle icing sugar onto a plate or shallow bowl, remove the puffs from the oven (don't turn it off yet), and roll them  around in the icing sugar. Once coated, put the puffs back onto the baking sheets and return them to the oven for a minute or two, to set the sugar. The puffs will be fragile (and hot) at this stage so handle with care. 

Cool completely on a wire rack. The puffs keep well in an airtight container but it's best to use baking paper or freezer film between layers and to add a little extra icing sugar to prevent sticking. They also freeze well and are remarkably easy to give away.