16 January, 2017
Pecan Balls
My mom, Patti, tells the story:
My grandpa’s birthday was December 31, so every year we joined him New Year’s Eve to celebrate. He was a jovial fellow, always good for a laugh, a prankster at heart. His only birthday request was that he didn’t want traditional birthday cake. “Oh, nosiree”, he’d say. “We’ve got to have some of Betty’s homemade Christmas cookies!”
After the happy birthday song, Grandpa would eyeball each plate of cookies, then take one of each variety, which was usually 4 or 5. When he came to the plate of Pecan Balls, his fingers would land on not one, but two. Sometimes, when his cookie plate was empty, he would say, “Just ONE more!”, then grab yet another pecan ball. We were so sad when he ate the last one because Mom made these only once a year.
Warning: You may have to make these more than once a year. You may also want to consider making a double batch.
Pecan Balls
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter softened
- 1/2 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 1/4 cup white flour
- 1 cup chopped pecans
- powdered sugar
Instructions
- Mix butter, sugar and salt. Add vanilla. Work in flour. Add nuts.
- Chill dough.
- Preheat oven to 375 degrees
- Roll into 1" balls
- Place on ungreased baking sheet. Bake until set but not brown. About 8 minutes.
- Roll in sifted powdered sugar while warm (not hot).
- Cool & roll in powdered sugar again