Monday, April 04, 2005

Mondays with Maida - The Farmer's Wife's Pecan Cookies


Page 47 in the old book / page 81 in the new book

What a difference a cup or so of flour makes! These cookies have the same ingredients as last week's cookies, but with more flour, less sugar and less butter. While last week's Praline Wafers were thin and candy-like, these are thicker, more traditional cookies that are very crunchy.

These cookies are super easy to make. You melt the butter in a saucepan and mix in the other ingredients right in the pan. Making them was blessedly uneventful - no cookies sticking to foil this week!

I liked the cookies very much; they're quite sweet and VERY crunchy. They are also rather pretty, with a nice sheen and pecan half perched on top.

Here's what the cookie panel thought...

Suzanne: Suzanne was busy taking care of her brand new grandson, so didn't get a chance to try the cookies this week.

Denny: "Farmer's Wife's Pecan Cookies were very good. Rating - 4.22"

Laura: "Deliciously crunchy and incredibly tasty. Rating - 5"

Phil: "Not a soft cookie, crunchy at the edge and more chewy as you approach the middle - crowned with a textured pecan great for cookie aesthetics but not so good for enhancing the tasting experience. A serviceable cookie and if exposure time (time to disappear from the container after staff are advised there are cookies) is any indicator, one of the quickest to disappear. Rating - 3.75"

Overall rating by the panel - 4.3

Next week – Route 7 Raisin-Nut Cookies

Nutrition Facts

6 comments:

Reid said...

Hi Cathy,

These cookies do look good, but are they really sweet?

Nic said...

Hey Cathy. I really love your panel of judges. I'm impressed that they're so descriptive - particularly Phil. Often when I ask people for feedback they say things like "Great" or "Fine". You're so lucky to get helpful comments.

Cathy said...

Hi Reid - Thanks!. They're sweet, but I don't think they're too sweet. There are no spices to mask the sweetness though, so the predominant flavor is the brown sugar.

Hi Nic! - I think they're pretty great too. Phil is really putting quite a bit of effort into this (he emails me from home with his contribution) and I really appreciate it.

Cathy said...

Hi Emily - you know disposing of the cookies was the thing I worried about most in the beginning? I really thought that I would have to find some additional people to take some of the cookies off my hands, but bring them to work each week has worked out great!

Amy said...

Hi Cathy~

I've been reading your blog since last winter's BBM3. Earlier this week I found Maeda's book on sale for $7.99 so I grabbed it. I tagged lots of recipes to try and then compared what I tagged to some of your entries.

Today I made these and they are YUMMY! Some of my pecan halves were no longer perched in the center after the dough spread, but that's ok.

Thanks!
Amy

Cathy said...

Hi Amy - wow, what a steal! I just know you're going to love the book - have fun with it!