Happy Easter! On another note, today is actually my 1-year blogoversary! I don’t really have anything special planned as April is a crazy month, but I’m going to try to put together a special post towards the end of the month. Birthdays and anniversaries last all month anyway right š
This week’s SMS was hosted by Lara from The Lab. For her pick, she choose pecan shortbread cookies. Shortbread normally isn’t my thing as I prefer more of gooey, chewy cookie, but we still enjoyed these cookies here.
In the book, Melissa talks about how these cookies are really similar to Mexican wedding cookies. It’s definitely the same idea, but I think the pecans in these cookies give them just a little bit of an advantage as far as flavor. I took some of the advice of the other cooks and toasted the pecan pieces for 10 minutes at 350 degrees before adding them to the cookies. I’m still new to roasting nuts, but I don’t know why I’ve never done it before!
Another great thing about these cookies is that they are QUICK to put together. I had finished and in the oven in probably 10 minutes not including the time to toast the nuts and let them cool. The only hands-on process of the whole thing is rolling the balls in powdered sugar after they have finished cooking. Great for a busy Easter week! I was a little disappointed that my balls of dough seemed to flatten a little in the oven. My finished cookies are no longer round. I’m not sure if sticking them in the fridge before baking them would fix this or not? My butter was definitely cold when I started. Oh well, it didn’t change the flavor of them š
Stop by the SMS bakers page and check out the other cookies or join up with us if you would like!
The Cookin' Chemist 
These look great! I love the idea of toasting the nuts too..that must have made the cookies pop just a little more. By the way, Happy Blogoversary!
Happy Blogiversary! Your cookies look perfect, I think that's exactly how they should look š The best thing about these cookies for me was definitely how quickly they came together!
Happy Blogoversary!!! Yours stayed much more rounded than mine did. They were still delicious, I thought!
Happy Blogoversary! Your cookies look beautiful.
Happy Blogoversary!! Your cookies look perfect.
Happy blogiversary! These cookies seem like the perfect way to celebrate!
Your cookies turned out perfect – very nice! And Happy Blogiversary! š
Happy Blogiversary! These cookies are great!
They look great! Mine spread a little too but we'd eaten most of them before I had a chance to worry about the appearance too much š x
They look great!!! And happy anniversary!
I also love Cook's Illustrated and have 3 of their books checked out of the library right now. =) The only recipe of theirs I'm having to tweak is their Skillet Pasta Quattro Formaggi (a little too watery), but other than that one they've all been successes. I love reading their explanations about things–I could just peruse their material for hours!Your peppers look delicious–I love colorful meals like that.