Pecan Pie Cookies

I love pie. Any kind I can get my hands on. Pecan pie, however, seems to always be my go-to at Thanksgiving and Christmas when there are 84 different desserts to choose from. There's just something so...comforting...about it. You've heard of "comfort food"? Well I believe in comfort pie. And these, my friends, are comfort cookies. The best combination of cookie-meets-pie and melt-in-your-mouth-goodness.

Zach loved them. I loved them. My lack of patience/need-easy-recipe-baby-brain loved them.

 

And if you have extra filling? Scoop yourself some ice cream and drizzle this sugary concoction over it. Zach was a big fan of that route, too.

You'll need:

1 tube refrigerated Pillsbury sugar cookie dough

1 cup chopped pecans
½ cup light brown sugar, firmly packed
1/4 cup heavy whipping cream (I substituted 1/3 cup milk)
1 tsp. vanilla
pinch each of ginger, cinnamon, and/or cloves – optional* (I used cinnamon)

Directions:
Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Line 2 cookie sheets with parchment paper.
In a mixing bowl, stir pecans and brown sugar with spices, if using. Add in heavy cream and vanilla, mix until well combined.
Roll cookie dough into balls that are about 1.25″ in diameter, and place them on cookie sheets – leave about 2″ between the cookies.
Gently use thumb to press down in the middle of each cookie, making an indentation.
Roll thumb slightly to stretch the indentation out a little. Fill each indentation with 1 tsp of pecan filling.
Bake for 10-12 minutes, until lightly browned.

*I didn't use parchment paper and found that leaving cookies on the cookie sheets for about 20 minutes after baking helped spatula them off in one piece; the filling weighs down the center of the cookies and after hardening, they're easier to transport.

recipe adapted from here

Are you a pie lover, too? What's your pie of choice? Z and I want to try these cookies with other fillings as well...I'm thinking cherry! Or pumpkin. Or apple. Yum. I have a problem.

 

Hope you're enjoying this beautiful spring weekend :)