Homemade Pecan Sandies Recipe (2024)

FAQs

How to make your own pecan meal? ›

Homemade pecan flour is a nutritious and delicious alternative to all-purpose flour that you can make easily at home. Grind up pecans in a food processor until they reach a fine consistency. It can be used to replace up to 25% of the all-purpose flour in most recipes and adds a nutty flavor and texture to baked goods.

Pecan Sandies are a cross between a rich shortbread and a drop cookie. The buttery richness of these cookies is reminiscent of shortbread. Yet you can use margarine rather than butter in this recipe and still enjoy a lush flavor, thanks to the pecans which add depth to the flavor of the dough.

Pecan Flour made from whole pecans

It is often referred to as pecan meal as well. Soak and dehydrate the pecans. Place pecans in the food processor or a high-speed blender and process until it is a fine powder. Be careful that you don't over-process and start making pecan butter.

When the nuts are ground to their finest state, the result is flour. Less processing time results in pecan meal which has a coarser texture.

The name 'sandies” was registered by the Keebler Company in 1955 for their line of flavored shortbread cookies, including the pecan sandy.

According to Pastry & Baking Arts Chef-Instructor Norma Arellano-Salazar, these popular cookies are also called snowballs or pecan sandies on the East Coast of the United States, as they resemble snow or sand thanks to their powdered-sugar dusting. Some even refer to them as Russian tea cookies.

The sandy is a type of sugar or shortbread cookie plus crunchy pecans. These cookies are named after their crumbly texture. They have a sandy or breadcrumb-like texture when the flour and butter are mixed together. Pecan Sandies are also a sandy color, which makes the name very fitting.

The Keebler Company mass-produces and markets Sandies Classic (plain), Pecan, and Cashew shortbread cookies. Keebler first purveyed Sandies cookies in 1955 and added a toffee variety in 1993.

Americans are the outlier on how we use "biscuit"

To most of the rest of the English-speaking world, a biscuit is what Americans would refer to as either a cookie or a cracker. Biscuits can be sweet (shortbread) or savory.

Where did pecan sandies originate? ›

Pecan Sandies are shortbread cookies loaded with toasted pecans. They're a bit sweeter and chewier than ordinary shortbread. Though they may have an Arabic origin, in the US these cookies were made famous by the Keebler Company which has been selling their “Sandies Pecan Shortbread Cookies” for decades.

"We have found that certain nut flours work better in different baked goods," Rassi says. For example, almond flour has a rich, nutty flavor that works well in pancakes, breads, meatballs, burgers, and even breading for chicken or fish. Pecan flour has a maple flavor that is ideal for muffins, cookies, and streusel.

Wet pecans allow the salt to stick easily to the nuts. Plus, soaking nuts helps neutralize enzyme inhibitors, which can harm your digestion, and reduce phytates, which decrease nutrient absorption. Just submerge your nuts in water while the oven is heating up and you'll be good to go.

You'll find out fast that boiling pecans lessens the likelihood of the shell shattering into a lot of smaller pieces. Boiling shouldn't affect the taste of the pecan, though.

Good pecan meal is made from 100% ground pecans and can actually substitute for other flour that is needed in any recipe. It is a much healthier substitute and has begun to gain in popularity since it is a gluten-free alternative to wheat flour.

Using Pecan Meal in Recipes

Pecan meal is also great for thickening soups, gravies, and sauces. It can add more flavor to your cooked oatmeal, can be sprinkled over salads for a nutty and tasty crunch, and sprinkled over fresh fruits like bananas and apples for extra flavor.

The cost of nurturing and growing a pecan tree for up to 7 years is \$63. Now when it is harvest time, a pecan tree can produce up to 50 pounds of pecans. The average retail cost for pecans is \$3 per pound. After multiplying 50 X 3, we have $150 which is the profit.

For pecan trees to bare nuts you will need two or more different cultivars, as they require cross pollination for maximum productivity. Pecan trees do not bear fruit until they are between the ages of four and 12 years old and that is determined by the cultivar.