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1
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Cut parchment liners to fit cookie sheets.
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2
Pulse 1/2 cup (plus a few extra) broken halves or chopped pecans in a food chopper or processor to make 1/2 cup coarse pecan meal.
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3
Combine 1 cup self-rising flour,1/2 cup pecan meal, 1/4 t baking powder, & 1/4 t baking soda in a small mixing bowl and set aside.
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4
Cream the butter and sugar in a medium mixing bowl with a hand mixer scraping down sides until well mixed.
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5
Add egg, molasses, and vanilla.
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6
Mix well into the butter sugar blend, again scraping sides down and mixing well.
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7
Stir in about one-half the flour mixture using low speed on the mixer( to keep from creating a flour cloud).
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8
Then add the second half, stirring again until thoroughly blended.
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9
May need to scrape down the sides one more time.
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10
Place small balls of soft cookie dough on parchment paper lined cookie sheets -- the balls should be about 1/2-ince in diameter.
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11
Then gently press a nice pecan half onto the top of each ball flattening them slightly.
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12
These cookies will spread to about 2 inches in diameter as they bake & the pecan will roast.
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13
This requires a bit of patience to keep from having dough balls & cookies too large for one pecan half topper.
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14
Chilling dough an hour will reduce cookie spread during cooking & make handling the dough easier.
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15
Bake cookies at 350 F for 12-13 minutes until medium brown.
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16
Remove from the oven and allow to cool for a couple of minutes, slide parchment sheet onto a wire rack to cool another few minutes, gently remove cookies from parchment paper, and cool completely on wire rack.
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17
Then transfer to an airtight container when cool.
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18
For a more chewy cookie, reduce the cooking time to about 10-11 minutes.
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19
These cookies will be more chewy when first removed from oven, but will become chewy-crisp when cooled.
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20
(1/2-inch dough balls, yield = 60 2-inch cookies -- or -- 3/4-inch dough balls, yield = 36 2 1/2-inch cookies) Cooking time will vary depending on how many sheets your oven can accommodate at a time, Cooking time given is for using ONE SHEET of 12-16 at a time.
