Sunday, December 12, 2010

Pecan Pie Cookie Cups

This is my brand new cookie recipe that I developed just for Millie's Cookie Extravaganza in which she invited me to participate. When she asked me a few months back, I agreed, thinking how much fun it was going to be to develop a brand new cookie, but then I kept having to e-mail her to let her know that my recipe was taking longer to develop than I thought. The filling was tricky, but finally I had a version I was happy to submit. When she first brought the Extravaganza up to me, I included my family in on the decision making process on what kind of cookie to create. My first thought, as always, leaned towards chocolate, but G's favorite flavors are pecan, molasses and butterscotch. So, it was no surprise when he suggested pecan pie. I reminded him these had to be cookies, and then we struck gold: Pecan Pie Cookie Cups! With molasses, just for my G. Butterscotch couldn't be worked in here, but I'll think of something for him. I hope you have fun making these; they were a total hit with my blessings, so I feel confident passing on the recipe to you.


Pecan Pie Cookie Cups



Creating the wells

Filling the wells. This picture was taken before I had perfected the filling; I was just taking shots documenting the steps. So, the filling isn't my latest version, and I'm not using a tablespoon here. Ignore the details, just get lost in the big picture. :-)


What happens when you go nose first into a Pecan Pie Cookie Cup - thank you, JK. But notice how the filling stays in the cup? It's wonderfully creamy, but firm enough to hold its shape.


Pecan Pie Cookie Cups

Ingredients:

Cups:

2 and 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp. baking soda
1 tsp. salt
1 cup vegan margarine, softened
1 and 1/2 cups vegan or raw sugar
1 Tbs. EnerG Egg Replacer
4 Tbs. water
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1/2 cups pecans, ground

Filling:

2 and 1/2 cups water
2 and 1/2 Tbs. agar agar flakes
1 and 1/4 cups brown sugar, packed
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. vanilla
2 Tbs. molasses
Pecan halves

Directions:

For the cups:

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. In a medium bowl., whisk together the flour, baking soda and salt. In a large bowl, cream together the margarine and sugar. Add the Egg Replacer, water and vanilla, and beat until well mixed. Add the flour mixture by halves and beat on medium or low speed until thoroughly blended. Add the ground pecans and stir until well mixed. Lightly grease a cupcake pan, bottom and sides, and lightly flour each bottom of every cup. Take the cookie dough by tablespoon and form a ball. Put each ball into a cup, and create a small well with a melon baller. Make sure you do not create a hole all the way through. Bake for ten minutes. When done, take the melon baller and go around each well gently to make sure they retain their shape. Cool on a rack for fifteen minutes in the pan. Take a butter knife and carefully run it around each edge of the cups, and gently remove each cookie cup. Finish cooling completely on the rack. When completely cool, place the cups on a cookie sheet to prepare for the filling step.

For the filling:

Put all of the ingredients, except the pecans, in a medium pot on high heat. Bring to a boil. Lower heat to medium and cook for ten minutes, stirring occasionally, until agar agar is dissolved. Pour into a mixing bowl and let cool for 30 minutes. Stir thoroughly every ten minutes while the mixture is cooling. After 30 minutes, set your mixer on low speed and slowly work your way up to medium speed, beating the filling. Beat for ten minutes, then return to medium low speed and beat for five more minutes. You may need to periodically scrape the side of the bowl to ensure that all the filling gets continually beaten. I know this sounds like a long time to hold a mixer and beat, but it's worth it to get the right filling. The end result should resemble loose pudding. Spoon the filling by tablespoon into each cookie cup. Nestle a pecan half on top. Chill for several hours to finish setting. Can be served cold or at room temperature. The filling will not harden but stay creamy, but will be firm enough to stay in the cup while being eaten. Very good and unique. Makes about 30 Pecan Pie Cookie Cups. Feeds five hungry vegans for a couple of days.

17 comments:

  1. Those are cute little devils. I have one question — what form of agar agar did you use? (I'm assuming you used flakes and not powder.) The different kinds produce very different results.

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  2. So you developed this totally original recipe for Millie for FREE???

    You might want to research a little something called "The Pillsbury Bake-Off".

    It's too late now for these tiny wonders, but maybe the cookie inspiration lightening will strike twice and you can enter the results in the Bake-Off.

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  3. Andrea, excellent point. I used flakes, and I'll make a note of it in the recipe. Thanks.

    S.V., Hmm, I guess I'm not a very clever businesswoman. It's funny you're razzing me on that because I've entered cooking contests before but haven't won...yet. Maybe Pillsbury's in my future.

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  4. Great job!. I adore pecan pie and these cookies are right up my alley.

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  5. Sounds delicious !!! Congratulations !

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  6. Am I razzing you? I'll have to ponder that one. I guess I believe that this recipe would've actually won the million dollars. Now we'll never know.

    While I'm pondering that, I'll ponder Di congratulating you. Why the congrats?

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  7. Thank you, Wild Magnolia!

    Thanks, Di. :-)

    S.V., I think Di was congratulating me on making a good cookie. Thank you for believing in me, though. Maybe I'll be lucky and get a judge like you.

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  8. shen...a judge...*panicked look* lol

    these ARE winners though, at least they look like winners!! they are beautiful! that is very nice of you to help out with the cookbook, a nice homage to the baking skills:)

    i also like the size of these, and a "cookie pie" is just different and intriguing sounding:)

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  9. Nose first...lol, so cute!

    These look so pretty, the little cups came out so perfect. I love this type of filling w/ nuts; it's my favorite type of goodie this time of year. So impressed that you made up the recipe!

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  10. Hi, Michelle, Millie isn't making a cookbook, just a special series of posts on her blog. Thanks for the compliments. :-)

    Rose, I had to laugh when I saw JK's nose, and I just love his expression in the picture, like, "Oh, great, not this again." G is a big nut fan, too, so this cookie is a hit with him. The recipe took some time to develop, that's for sure.

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  11. How cute...those look so yummy. I'm not quite sure what agar agar is though...I'll have to look that up. Will I ever stop coming across things that I've never heard of? :o)
    I'll have to try these in the future though...I used to love pecan pie.

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  12. Ha ha, Michelle, I know what you mean. I've been vegetarian and vegan for so long, but I still get stumped by some ingredients. Don't worry, you'll build a whole new food vocabulary very soon. Agar agar is a natural thickener made from seaweed. You'll find it in the natural foods section of your grocery store or at a health foods store. Good luck!

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  13. I LOVE the picture with the nose first in the sticky stuff! :o) Andrew (To Love, Honor, and Dismay)

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  14. Thanks, Andrew! Welcome to my blog. :-)

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  15. I agree that you should enter a contest. I'm never so creative with food to come up with things on my own.

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