Pecan Chews

Pecan Chews
Joanne Fluke, Chocolate Chip Cookie Murder


Preheat oven to 350 degrees F., rack in the middle position.


1 cup butter (2 sticks, 1/2 pound)
3 cups brown sugar***
4 eggs, beaten (with a fork is fine)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups finely chopped pecans
4 cups flour


Melt butter and add brown sugar. Mix well and let cool. Add beaten egg and mix. Add salt, baking soda, vanilla, and nuts. Mix well. Add flour and mix until flour is thoroughly distributed.


Form dough into balls with your fingers. (Make them the size of a walnut with a shell.) Place them on a greased cookie sheet, 12 to a standard sheet. Press them down with a spatula. (Spray it with Pam first, or grease it.)


Bake at 350 degrees F. for 10 to 12 minutes. Let cookies set up on sheet for one minute, then remove them to a wire rack to finish cooling.


***There's no need to keep brown sugar in stock. It can be easily made with white sugar and molasses, 1/8 cup molasses for every 3 cups of white sugar. (That's how they manufacture it, really. And it'll save you from having to deal witho all those lumps.) Just add the molasses to the white sugar and stir until thoroughly and evenly mixed in.


Yield: 8 to 10 dozen, depending on cookie size.