Christmas Cookie Memories
Texas Pecan Christmas Stars
In fall of 2018, I entered this cookie recipe in the “Christmas Cookie” category of Edible Houston’s Annual Cookie Contest and went home with first place! It is a reboot of one of my mother’s favorite recipes.
Growing up we had a McCall’s Magazine Cookie cookbook from the 1970’s that almost all of my mother’s holiday cookie recipes came from. The margins of the book were filled with her notes; what worked, what didn’t work, how many cookies each recipe actually made, decorating suggestions. Texas Pecan Christmas Stars is my reboot of a favorite Christmas cookie recipe my mother used to make from this now worn paperback book. The original recipe was made with ground almonds but I tweaked the recipe and substituted the best Texas pecans to reflect my now Texas family traditions. When combined with a quality ground Vietnamese cinnamon the cookie takes on the quality of a chewy pecan praline, and when you use coconut flour they become the perfect gluten-free Christmas treat. In light pencil my mother noted in her old McCall’s cookbook that the recipe should be made at the same time as another cookie recipe since there is a fair amount of downtime when you are allowing the raw cookies to come to room temperature before baking. Her note read, “…these cookies take more time but are worth it!” I definitely agree and recommend that the long wait time before baking be followed for the best results.
Ingredients
1/3 cup egg whites (2 large egg whites), warm to room temperature
1 1/4 cups granulated sugar
1 ½ cups ground pecans (about 2 cups pecan halves, grind in Cuisinart or blender)
1 Tb and 1 tsp ground cinnamon
Coconut flour, to dust cookie dough when rolling out
1 cup confectioners’ sugar
2 tablespoons water
1. Beat room temperature egg whites at medium speed in a standing mixer until soft peaks form.
2. Add granulated sugar 2 tablespoons at a time while mixer is running, allowing time to fully incorporate the sugar before the next addition. Continue beating the egg white-sugar mixture until thick and glossy, about 10 minutes more.
3. In large bowl combine pecans with the cinnamon. Gently stir in the egg white mixture using a rubber spatula. Mix to combine well.
4. Turn dough onto plastic wrap and gently form into a rectangle of even thickness using the plastic wrap to handle the sticky dough. Wrap to cover and refrigerate overnight.
5. Lightly sprinkle work surface, or pastry cloth, and rolling pin with coconut flour. Roll out dough third at a time to 1/4inch thickness.
6. Use 2-3” cookie cutter to cut out cookies. Transfer to cookie tray lined with parchment paper or silicone tray liner.
7. Allow unbaked cookies to stand uncovered at room temperature for 1 ½ hours.
8. Preheat oven to 300F. In small bowl combine confectioner’s sugar and warm water until smooth.
9. Bake cookies 20 minutes. Remove from oven and immediately brush tops with sugar glaze. Allow cookies to cool on tray 5-10 minutes before removing to cool further on wire rack.
Makes about 2 – 2 ½ dozen cookies
Edible Houston 2018 Cookie Contest Judges & Winners
That’s me smiling ! (standing, second in on right side)