A friend of mine recently returned home with 'prizes' from her trip to Montreal. The 'prize' she chose to bring me was a tin of 100% pure Maple Syrup - obviously cookies had to be made :)
Ingredients:
2 3/4 cups flour
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 chopped pecans and a few dozen extras for topping the cookies.
1 cup butter
3/4 cup sugar
1/4 Maple Syrup
1 large egg yolk
1/4 tsp maple extract
1 large egg, beaten for an egg wash
Sugar for sprinkling cookie tops.
To begin you should first roast the pecans in a skillet for 5 to 10 minutes over a low to medium heat, this releases the nut oils, improving the pecan flavour. In a bowl mix together the flour, salt, and chopped pecans, then place the mixture aside to begin working on the wet ingredients.
In an electric mixer bowl combine butter and sugar, mixing until light. Next add the Maple Syrup, egg yolk, and extract. Mix until all is well combined. Then start adding in flour mixture while mixer continues beating. This will produce a dough that will need to be refrigerated for an hour before handling again.
With the dough well chilled you may now roll it into long cylinders, that you will slice with a knife to produce individual cookies. You'll want to line your cookie sheets with parchment paper before cutting the dough.
With the cookies prepared, you may now preheat your oven to 350F. As a finishing to the cookie you may now brush the cookies with an egg wash, then place a whole pecan in the cookie center, finally dusting with sugar.
Now bake the cookies for 10 to 12 minutes, then place on a rack to cool.
These cookies are sweet, Maple, and nutty in flavour - I hope you enjoy them too :)
