National Pecan Sandies Day: Chocolate Pecan Sandies

Today, June 23, is National Pecan Sandies Day. Pecan sandies are great cookies, and I've just added chocolate to make them all that much better. If you're a purist, check out the BrownEyedBaker's recipe for "non-chocolate" pecan sandies. It's awesome.

So I have two recipes for Chocolate Pecan Sandies. The first is the full recipe for  Chocolate Pecan Sandie Cookies. The second would be to use a 'regular' pecan sandie recipe and add chocolate chips.

These cookies are simple to make and taste delicious. Not too sweet. I added Rum, but you don't need to do that. Some people like to chop the pecans coursely, and that works, but you can also pulverize them. To form the cookies, I use the drop method, but some people like to make logs and then slice them. Either way, they'll be great!

Chocolate Pecan Sandie Cookies

1 cup sweet butter, at room temperature
1/2 cup granulated white sugar
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
1 tsp dark rum (optional)
1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1-1/2 cups (about 6 ounces) ground pecans, divided use
1/2 cup unsweetened good quality dark cocoa powder
1/3 cup confectioners' sugar

Preheat oven to 350 F. Grease cookie sheet or line with parchment.
Cream butter and sugar until light and fluffy. Beat in vanilla and rum until well blended.
Mix together flour, 1 cup ground pecans, and cocoa powder, then beat flour mixture into butter mixture.
Chill dough for 30 minutes.
Combine remaining 1/2 cup ground pecans and 1/3 cup confectioners' sugar in a bowl.
Form dough into 1-inch balls.
Roll in pecan sugar mixture (reserve any leftover sugar mix) and place on baking sheets.
Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.
Cool, then dip pecan sandy cookie tops in any remaining pecan sugar.