I'm taking the other half of my
cooked base of Basic Butter Cookie
and adding a delicious caramel pecan layer
to make Caramel Pecan Cookies.
Here are the cooked Basic Butter Cookie Bottoms
awaiting their toppings.
I used the first crust to make
For Crust:
Ingredients for basic butter cookie dough.
For Caramel Pecan Topping:
1 1/2 cups sugar
1 cup heavy cream
6 TB unsalted butter, cut into bits
1 tsp vanilla
1/2 tsp salt
2 cups pecans,coarsely chopped and toasted
Make Crust:
Grease a 9 x 13 inch baking pan, line with buttered foil, leaving a 2-inch overhang on both ends.
Follow recipe for basic butter cookies to make dough, then press evenly onto bottom of baking pan. Chill until firm, about 20 minutes.
Heat oven to 375 degrees.
Bake crust until golden brown, about 30 minutes.
Cool in pan on rack about 20 minutes.
Make topping while crust cools:
Cook sugar in heavy saucepan over low to moderate heat, undisturbed, until it begins to melt. Continue to cook, stirring occasionally with a fork, until sugar is melted to a deep golden caramel. Tilt pan and carefully pour in cream. Caramel will harden, spit, and steam vigorously. Cook over moderately low heat, stirring, until caramel is dissolved. Remove from heat and stir in butter, vanilla, salt, and pecans.
Immediately spread topping over cooled crust and bake until bubbling, about 20-25 minutes. Cool completely in pan on rack, about 2 hours.
Run a heavy knife under hot water, wipe dry, and cut into squares, bars, or triangles.
Here are the step by steps:
I have my sugar over low-medium heat.
Cream at the left.
This takes patience.
Just wait and leave the sugar undisturbed.
When you see the first signs of melting,
shake the pan a bit.
Take a fork to it now,
moving the sugar around and distributing it
so it melts semi-evenly.
Again, patience.
When it starts to work,
it works quickly.
Keep heat on low.
Almost ready.
Ready.
Tilt pan and pour cream down the side.
The mixture immediately siezes.
It steams and spits and bubbles furiously,
up to the top of the pan.
All normal.
Keep stirring until you have a smooth caramel.
Check the level on this pan and the one above.
When it's totally smooth,
add in butter ...
... and salt ...
... and vanilla.
Swirl and stir.
When combined,
add in nuts.
Immediately pour into prepared crust.
Spread evenly
and bake at 375 for 20-25 minutes
until nice and bubbly.
Cool completely on rack,
about 2 hours.
Then slice into squares, bars, or triangles.
This says Merry Christmas.
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