Pecan Sand Tart Cookies

[adapted from Serendipity 3's in NYC]

1 cup pecans
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
Pinch of salt
8 tablespoons (1 stick) unsalted butter, softened
3/4 cup confectioners' sugar
1/4 cup dark brown sugar, firmly packed and free of lumps
1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 large egg, at room temperature

white sugar in a bowl

powdered sugar and sifter

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Finely chop the pecans (I put mine in a ziplock and crush with the bottom of a glass). Set aside. Sift together the flour, cinnamon, baking powder, and salt and set aside.

In a mixer, combine the butter and both sugars, beat until light and fluffy for 2 to 3 minutes, scraping the bowl once or twice with rubber spatula.

Add the vanilla extract and egg and beat 30 seconds longer.

Remove the bowl from the mixer. Stir in the chopped pecans and mix well. Stir in the flour and mix only until blended.

Gather the dough into a ball in the center of the bowl. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for 1 1/2 hours.

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Lightly butter a baking sheet.

Using level tablespoons of batter for each cookie, shape the dough into bars about 3/4 to 1 inch wide and 2 1/2 inches long, patting into shape with your fingers. Dip each dough bar into the white sugar to coat. Place the bars on the baking sheet, about 2 inches apart. Press the back of a table knife into the length of each bar three times to give it a few ridges (this will later help hold the powdered sugar).

Set the pan of cookies in the center of the preheated oven on the middle shelf and bake the cookies for 10-15 minutes. Cookies should be light brown on the bottom and cooked in the center of the cookie. Oven times vary.

*I have found that the key to making them crispy like the originals, you will need to cook them the full baking time -adjusting for your own oven- until they are fully cooked in the center of the cookies and then let them set overnight.

Remove the cookies from the oven and set the pan on a wire rack. Let the cookies cool on the pan for 2 or 3 minutes, and then remove from the pan with a metal spatula, let cool a 1 minute and sprinkle with sifted powdered sugar then cool completely on the rack.

Bake the remaining cookies, one pan at a time, in the same way.

These are both good while warm and the next day when they are left to harden slightly.