Brattleboro Bonbons

The cookies have a very fancy name, but are a very simple butter cookie. The cookbook explains that they were from the head baker at King Arthur Flour who had a bakery in Brattleboro. Ok, that makes sense, but if you’d prefer, you could just call these pecan butter cookies. That’s what I called them when I took them to work to share as I couldn’t remember their actual name.

I didn’t know if I would have time this week to bake, so I thought that I could make some dough ahead of time, stick it in the refrigerator or freezer and then just slice and bake when I had the time. These cookies chill in the freezer for an hour, but I’m sure you could put them in the refrigerator for a longer time if you aren’t going to bake them up right away. I wouldn’t leave them in the freezer for too long, since the dough will completely freeze and then you would need to thaw the dough before baking.

I think that it took less than 15 minutes to get the dough ready and into the freezer to chill. The recipe has you form the dough into one log, but I found that to be unmanageable, so I shaped it into 2 shorter logs. This was a lot easier to handle and slicing it worked better, too. I was able to slice and bake up one roll of dough and keep the other roll in the freezer. That way the dough didn’t get too soft. Also, make sure that you slice the dough ¼” thick (or more). The one cookie that I sliced thinner basically burnt to a crisp.

This is a good cookie to serve with coffee or tea. My husband and several of my coworkers really liked these. I think that they were a touch bland, maybe that they needed more salt. They are also not terribly sweet. I think that I would toast the pecans to bring out their flavor a little more. You could also add other bits to the dough; I especially think that toffee chips would be a nice addition.

¾ cup plus 1 tablespoon butter, softened

½ cup sugar

½ teaspoon salt

1 egg plus 1 egg yolk

1 teaspoon vanilla

½ cup chopped pecans plus ½ cup finely diced pecans

2 cups flour

In a large mixer bowl, cream the butter, sugar, and salt. Beat in the egg, egg yolk, and vanilla. Stir in the ½ cup chopped pecans and the flour, until completely combined.

Shape the dough into a 17” x 2” inch log (I shaped it into two shorter logs). Roll the log into the finely diced pecans. Wrap the log in plastic wrap and place the log in the freezer for one hour.

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Line two baking sheets with silicone baking sheets.

Remove the dough from the freezer and slice the dough into ¼” slices. Place on the baking sheet and bake for around 12 minutes, until golden brown and set. Cool completely on a wire rack.

Recipe from The King Arthur Flour Cookie Companion