21 Days of Cookies: Day 4
Every Christmas I make a cookie that I affectionately call “sand tarts”. I’ve also seen them called Mexican wedding cookies, sandies, Russian tea cakes. How can a cookie be both Mexican and Russian in origin? I have no idea how these names originated. It’s a basic shortbread dough with pecans, slow baked until it’s just done, then rolled in powdered sugar. Eating them is a messy undertaking; they break apart in your mouth like a… well, like a sand tart. And powdered sugar: everywhere. They are crumbly and messy and wonderful. My family would send me away if I showed up without them.
This is not that recipe. But it’s awfully close. This is almost the same pecan shortbread, but with some butterscotch chips. Then, instead of rolling in powdered sugar, you dip (or drizzle) these with a powdered sugar rum-flavored glaze. I like the glaze on these cookies! It provides a little relief from the dryness, and packs a LOT of added flavor with that rum flavoring.
Easy to whip together, hard to mess up. Loads of holiday flavors. What’s not to love?
Butter Pecan Rum Balls
Ingredients
- 13 tbsp butter, lightly salted this is ¾ cup + 1 tbsp
- ½ cup powdered sugar
- ¼ tsp salt
- 1¾ cups all-purpose flour
- 1 cup butterscotch chips
- 1 cup finely chopped pecans toasted
Rum Glaze
- 2 cups powdered sugar
- ¾ tsp rum extract
- 2-3 tbsp water or milk use more or less to achieve desired consistency
- ¼ cup chopped pecans toasted
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 325.
- Cream butter, powdered sugar, and salt, until light and fluffy.
- Add flour, mix until blended.
- Stir in cooled pecans and butterscotch chips.
- Shape dough into 1-inch balls and place on ungreased cookie sheet or parchment-lined sheet. You can easily fit 20 on a sheet.
- Bake for 18-20 minutes until bottoms are just starting to brown.
- Cool on wire racks.
- Whisk together powdered sugar, milk, and rum extract.
- Dip cooled cookies in glaze (or spoon glaze over the cookies). Immediately sprinkle with a few toasted pecans.
