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Baked, Brewed, Beautiful

Pecan Dreams Cookie Recipe (Pecan Crescents)

in Baked on 12/05/20

Pecan Dreams look & taste the part of the holiday season with their crunchy, nutty flavor and snowy, powdered sugar aesthetic.

Jump to Recipe
  • Pecan Dreams or Pecan Crescents are snowy cookies that must be on your Christmas cookie list this year.
  • The trick to these holiday cookies is coating them in powdered sugar twice.
  • Add chocolate chips or shape them into crescents to give them a spin this season!
  • Ideal coffee pairing is a medium roast coffee with nutty and chocolatey flavors.

Pecan Dreams (or better known as Pecan Crescents!) are a classic cookie to add to your holiday cookie list. They are crisp, buttery cookies, laced with chopped pecans and coated in loads of powdered sugar.

This recipe has been tested and finely tweaked to recreate the Pecan Dreams of my late grandma. Her Pecan Dreams will always be the best, but these are a very close second  — happy baking!

Place on the cookie sheet by the rounded teaspoon.

These cookies taste best as rounded cookies or blobs. The unevenness of the cookie allows the powdered sugar to easily penetrate all the textures of the cookie much better than if these were shaped into crescents.

Pecan dreams on a golden plate on a wooden table with pine tree branches and christmas lights in the background

When shaped into crescents, they tend to take on a more even surface that makes the powdered sugar more difficult to stick to.

Simple take a teaspoon of dough and plop it onto the cookie sheet. It may not seem like enough dough per cookie, but they will expand when baked.

Watch them so they don’t brown.

In making these cookies so many times, I’ve found that they need about 17 to 19 minutes in my oven as rounded teaspoon shapes. This is just enough time to keep them from browning, but also gives them the exact crunchy texture they are supposed to have.

 

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If you’ve never made them before, start watching them at the 15-minute mark to ensure they haven’t started to brown.

Use a 9 x 11 inch ceramic baking dish for the sugar coating step.

The best technique for coating the cookies in powdered sugar is to place ONLY 2 of the 3 cups of sugar in a 9 x 11 inch ceramic baking dish. Then, when the cookies have cooled for a minute or two (just enough so they don’t break when handling), put the cookies in the dish. Cover the tops of the cookies with the remaining cup of powdered sugar.

Pecan dreams on a golden plate on a wooden table with pine tree branches with a small cup of coffee in front

Move the powdered sugar around to fully cover the surface area of the cookie, making sure not to miss a spot.

Always double coat the cookies in powdered sugar.

This step is the secret to my grandma’s recipe — the double coat. After you’ve coated the cookies once in confectioner’s sugar, go ahead and repeat the process.

Again, make sure that the cookies are completely covered in powdered sugar. They should look white, not cream. If they are taking on a cream color, then there isn’t enough powdered sugar yet.

Add chocolate chips or shape them into crescents for a twist on this recipe.

For a spin on this recipe, you can add 1/2 cup of chocolate chips. As a chocolate lover, I save some of the dough to add chocolate chips to and the rest I keep as original Pecan Dreams.

Pecan dreams on a golden plate on a wooden table with pine tree branches

To make these more presentable or to give as gifts, you can shape them into crescent moons. I did this last year and put them in individual bags with craft paper and real pieces of my Christmas tree. I added more powdered sugar to the bags to give the gifts a snowy look (and it gives the cookies that extra coating of powdered sugar!).

Pair these with a nutty medium roast coffee.

I happened to have Dean’s Beans Birdwatcher’s Blend on hand when I made these cookies, and it was the perfect pairing. These beans were also just roasted two days before I received them, which made this coffee even better.

Deans Beans on wood table with Christmas tree in background

The nuttiness and medium roast level complimented the pecans of this cookie so, so beautifully. If you would be so bold, definitely dunk these guys to soften the cookie slightly!

Pecan Dreams Cookie Recipe (Pecan Crescents)

Yields24 ServingsDifficultyBeginnerRating

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Pecan dreams on a golden plate on a wooden table with pine tree branches and christmas lights in the background

 ½ tsp salt
 10 tbsp softened butter
 1 cup chopped pecans (heaping cup)
 2 tsp vanilla extract
 1 cup flour
 ⅔ cup powdered sugar
 3 cups more powdered sugar for dipping

Instructions:
1

Preheat oven to 325°F and place a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

2

In a large bowl, cream butter and gradually add the 2/3 cup of powdered sugar and salt until light and fluffy.

3

Stir in the pecans and vanilla. Gradually add the flour, and mix well.

4

Drop dough by the rounded teaspoon onto the prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 17-20 minutes. Do not brown.

5

Let cookies cool for 1 to 2 minutes, then roll the cookies in a shallow bowl of powdered sugar. Then, repeat for an additional coating.

Ingredients

 ½ tsp salt
 10 tbsp softened butter
 1 cup chopped pecans (heaping cup)
 2 tsp vanilla extract
 1 cup flour
 ⅔ cup powdered sugar
 3 cups more powdered sugar for dipping

Directions

Instructions:
1

Preheat oven to 325°F and place a sheet of parchment paper on a cookie sheet.

2

In a large bowl, cream butter and gradually add the 2/3 cup of powdered sugar and salt until light and fluffy.

3

Stir in the pecans and vanilla. Gradually add the flour, and mix well.

4

Drop dough by the rounded teaspoon onto the prepared cookie sheet. Bake for 17-20 minutes. Do not brown.

5

Let cookies cool for 1 to 2 minutes, then roll the cookies in a shallow bowl of powdered sugar. Then, repeat for an additional coating.

Pecan Dreams Cookie Recipe (Pecan Crescents)
IngredientsDirections
 

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I'm Cheyenne — freelance writer & coffee lover. On this blog, you'll find coffee hacks, how-to’s, common mistakes, espresso dessert & drink recipes, home coffee bar design ideas, and reviews on the latest coffee machines, grinders, and other coffee-related products.

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Awesome. Welcome to all things coffee, my friend. 

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A fun way to spice up your coffee routine is by li A fun way to spice up your coffee routine is by literally adding spice to it. A dirty chai is just a latte with a splash of chai concentrate.  

Chai concentrate consists of a number of spices including ginger, cardamom, nutmeg, star anise, black peppercorns, and cinnamon (with a few other ingredients as well). To make this dirty chai recipe much simpler, I recommend just buying some high-quality chai concentrate from the store. Swipe right to see my choice of store-bought chai. It works just as well as making your own, and saves you loads of time because it’s a fairly intensive process to DIY! 

Another tip I have for this recipe is to feel free to replace the espresso with a strong coffee concentrate, if you don’t have a way to make espresso at home. You can either reduce your coffee to water ratio in your usual brew method or use an AeroPress or Moka pot to get a strong enough coffee concentrate for this dirty chai. 

After you’ve gotten a hold of these ingredients, you’re ready for a new take on your coffee. In combining the chai concentrate with a normal latte, you’re left with a warm and spicy espresso drink that is sure to keep you perked up all throughout the day. Read on to make this super easy 3-ingredient dirty chai latte. 

𝑇ℎ𝑟𝑒𝑒-𝐼𝑛𝑔𝑟𝑒𝑑𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑡 𝐷𝑖𝑟𝑡𝑦 𝐶ℎ𝑎𝑖 𝐿𝑎𝑡𝑡𝑒 𝑅𝑒𝑐𝑖𝑝𝑒

Ingredients: 
•¼ cup chai concentrate (store-bought or homemade)
 
•2 shots of espresso or 4 ounces of highly-concentrated coffee
 
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Instructions: 

1. For a warm chai, foam your milk first and have it on deck. 

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3. Pour foamed milk over chai-espresso mixture. Serve immediately. 

4. For an iced chai, combine all three ingredients in a tall glass. Add more concentrate if desired.

5. Finish the drink off with a couple of ice cubes (or even better — throw in a few cold brew coffee ice cubes!).
An affogato is an Italian dessert consisting of va An affogato is an Italian dessert consisting of vanilla ice cream that is covered by freshly prepared espresso. Enjoy it for breakfast or as an after-dinner dessert.

Though it seems pretty basic in theory, there are a few things to know before going about it to save yourself a few easy-to-make mistakes. Read on for the best affogato-making secrets.

1. The quality of the espresso doesn’t have to be top-tier.

2. The vanilla bean ice cream, on the other hand, does need to taste good…REALLY good. Since an affogato is mostly ice cream, it needs to be high-quality ice cream. It will make or break your final result.
(Try Salt & Straw if you haven’t already!) 

3. Pour the espresso over the scooped ice cream as soon as you can after the shot has been pulled.

4. Garnish the finished product with chocolate shavings and a one-inch square of prepared salted brownies.

Full recipe on the blog. Click the link in bio to view in full🍦
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Do you have a favorite Gesha coffee? I’ve shared my favorite in the comments below!
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