Nestling Down

 

 If you want to get me in the mood to bake or cook, you first have to get me to slip into my nestling down mood. What's nestling down? You ladies may remember that urge to do some serious nesting when you were pregnant. You know what I'm talking about--the urge that had you washing the baby's nursery and the clothes twice a week because you found something that screamed "UNSANITARY FOR THE BABY!" at you. The kind that had you cooking up a twenty casseroles each weekend for when the baby came so your husband/Significant Other didn't starve to death--even though you KNEW he was going to hit the fast food drive-thru's. 

You men might remember  either being the most popular man or the most cursed man at work when your Wife/Significant Other was nesting due to pregnancy. It was because she loaded you down with all kinds of goodies at least twice a week to take to work because the sight of them made her gain 60-gazillion pounds! You also might recall coming home and finding her forgetting she already made dinner and she was cooking up something new. Or she was in the middle of disinfecting the kitchen because it wasn't sanitary enough for baby things? 

Well nestling down is similar to those feelings but this occurs when your children are all grown up and have moved out of the house...and you get that odd but familiar feeling to cook homemade comfort cold-weather food and bake upteen dozens of cookies. Just in case the power goes out. Just in case you have to feed lots of stranded travelers. Just in case...you feel like eating homemade goodies and cookies during a winter storm! 

So my nestling down included trying out another cookie recipe. I found the original recipe over at the Joy of Baking website and made some modifications to it that turned out to be really good! These cookies have a crunchy outer shell with a soft and moist center.

Here you go! Wheat Pecan Shortbread Cookies
1 Cup Butter
1/2 cup Demerara sugar 
1/4 cup brown sugar
 1 Egg
1 Cup Toasted Pecan pieces 
2 Cups Whole Wheat Pastry Flour
2 tsp Vanilla extract
pinch of kosher salt

Beat sugars and butter until creamy. Add the egg--again minus the shell! Beat until creamy. Add the toasted pecans and vanilla and beat until well mixed. Add the flour and the salt. Mix well. Mixture will be chunky and crumbly, but should stick together when compressed into a ball. Divide dough in half and wrap each half in waxed paper. Chill for at least 30 minutes to an hour until the dough is firm.

Preheat your oven at 350 Degrees. Line cookies sheets with parchment paper. Remove dough from refrigerator and unroll from waxed paper. Form dough into 1 inch balls and place on cookie sheet.  Flatten each ball slightly. Bake at 350 Degrees for 10-15 minutes. Rule of thumb: the smaller the cookie, the less time they need to bake. These cookies do not spread.