Since the goal of the Tuesdays with Dorie baking group is to bake through the complete cookbook of Dorie Greenspan’s Baking: From My Home to Yours (a five-year project!), I thought I should start catching up with the recipes I missed before I joined.

In the beginning, the group was one: Laurie of quirky cupcake who came up with this brilliant idea. The first recipe she tackled was the Brown Sugar-Pecan Shortbread Cookies. On the dedication page in Dorie's cookbook, these cookies are shown in the picture as a favorite of her son's, so it seems a fitting start to such a project.

I’ve always loved shortbread, especially at Christmas, and have a recipe I always make, but it was nice to try someone else’s for a change.

Recipe
You can find the recipe for Brown Sugar-Pecan Shortbread Cookies in the book Baking: From My Home to Yours by Dorie Greenspan.

Another Shortbread Recipe
Here is my recipe for shortbread that I’ve used without fail every Christmas:

8 ounces cold butter, cut into small cubes
½ cup sugar
pinch salt
2 cups flour

Combine butter and sugar in mixer. Add salt and just enough flour to combine so that the dough comes together.

Place dough on lightly floured work surface. Knead a bit to smooth edges.

Roll to ⅜-inch thickness and cut into desired shape. Return to refrigerator to chill 20 minutes before baking in a preheating even at 300°F for 20-30 minutes.

Tasting Notes
This was a tasty shortbread with the pecan crunch and hint of cloves. Chilling the dough after rolling is key in this recipe since it tends to spread when baking if you don’t. Also, use cold, unsalted butter. Work dough as little as possible, but just enough to hold its shape. Bake at a low temperatures. Bake only until cookies begin to brown. The paler the color, the better.