These may be the absolutely best cookies I've ever made. I'm serious about that. Oh, I love chocolate chip cookies and peanut butter cookies and other cookies just fine. But these cookies are different. The texture is at the same time light, yet crumbly. Crunchy yet delicate.The flavor is buttery with a whisper of almond. The praline pecan is the perfect topper adding an extra nut flavor that compliments the almond, along with the crunchy sweetness of the praline cookie.
These remind me a little bit of almond cookies that I used to get from a Chinese take-out restaurant, but these have a little more chew and they're not as sandy.
They're really great. You should try them.
The Praline Pecans I used were from Truly Good Foods supplied to me via 37 Cooks for a blogging challenge.
Pecan Praline Almond Cookies
2 cups all purpose flour1 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter at room temperature
1 1/4 cups sugar
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon almond extract
2 tablespoons vegetable oil
Praline Pecans (one to top each cookie)
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and line 2 baking sheets
with parchment paper.Combine the flour, baking soda, and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
Beat the butter, sugar, vanilla extract, and almond at medium speed in a medium bowl with an electric mixer or a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat for a few minutes, until the mixture is fluffy.
Drizzle the oil in while continuing to beat the butter mixer at low speed.
Add the flour mixture in several additions, beating just enough to blend it well.Use a small scoop to form balls of dough. Try for about 24 cookies, but more or less is fine - it just depends on how large you want the cookies to be. They will spread a little and puff up as they bake.
Place the balls on the baking sheets, leaving room between them to spread. Flatten the cookies with the palm of your hand, then place one praline pecan on top of each cookie.
Bake at 350 degrees until the cookies are lightly browned, 13-17 minutes, depending on the size of the cookies. If you're baking 2 sheets of cookies at a time, you'll probably want to swap them around after about 10 minutes of baking.
Remove the cookies from the sheets and let them cool completely on a rack
. Continue forming and baking cookies until all the dough is used.
