Pecan Cookies

Contents

Alabama State Nut – Alabama Statute

Section 1-2-19
State nut.
The pecan is designated as official state nut of the State of Alabama.
(Acts 1982, No. 82-17, p. 27.)

Arkansas State Nut – Arkansas Statute

According to the Arkansas Encyclopedia of Culture and History,

The Eighty-seventh Arkansas General Assembly designated the pecan as the official nut of Arkansas. Act 638, introduced as HB 1906 by Representative Larry Cowling (District 2, Little River County), had twenty-two co-sponsors and was approved on March 27, 2009. The act specifically noted, however, that it did not grant protected status to the pecan, thus ensuring that the fruit of the Carya illinoinensis may be harvested and consumed.

The Pecan Tree

Carya illinoensis (Wangenh.) K. Koch
Other Common Names: Pecan nut, Pecanier, Pecan-tree.
Form: 90-100 feet high, occasionally 2 l/2-4 feet in diameter above its enlarged base, stout spreading branches forming in the forest a narrow symmetrical and inversely pyramidal head; in the open with a round-topped crown.
Bark: l-l l/2 inch thick, light brown tinged with red, deeply divided irregularly into narrow forked ridges broken on the surface into thick appressed scales.
Twigs: At first slightly tinged with red and coated with loosely matter hairs; later smooth or minutely hairy, marked by orange-colored lenticels.
Leaves: Alternate, 12-20 inches long, compound, with 9-17 leaflets that are oblong-lanceolate, more or less sickle-shaped with doubly toothed margins, unequally rounded or heat-shaped at the base, 4-8 inches long, l-3 inches wide, smooth or somewhat hairy above, pale and smooth or finely hairy below.
Flowers: Staminate in slender aments, 3-5 inches long, from buds formed in the axils of the leaves of the previous year, occasionally on shoots of the year, sessile or short-stalked,
light yellow-green; pistillate in few or many flowered spikes, oblong, narrowed at the ends, slightly 4-angled.

Other States With Pecan Symbols

The other states with pecans as official state symbols are Texas, where the Pecan is the Official State Health Nut, and Oklahoma, where the Pecan Pie is part of the Official State Meal of Oklahoma.

From A Well-Rounded Table: This recipe, from Inez Schwartz, is adapted from Cooking Jewish: 532 Great Mobdro Recipes From the Rabinowitz Family by Judy Bart Kancigor (Workman, 2007).
Kancigor writes, “Hard to believe that with no added fat, these crisp cookies from cousin Marilyn’s sister-in-law taste so buttery, like butterscotch crisp.”

Ingredients for Pecan Cookies

Parchment paper or vegetable cooking spray, for the baking sheet
2 cups pecans, plus about 3 dozen pecan halves for topping the cookies
1 cup (packed) light brown sugar
Pinch of salt
White of 1 large egg
1 teaspoon fresh lemon juice

Directions for Pecan Cookies

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper or generously grease it.
Combine the 2 cups pecans and 2 tablespoons of the brown sugar in a food processor, and process until the nuts are finely chopped.
Combine the chopped pecans, remaining brown sugar, and salt in a bowl. Add the egg white (unbeaten) and lemon juice, and stir until thoroughly combined.
Drop rounded teaspoonfuls of the mixture, about 1-1/2 inches apart, on the prepared baking sheet. Press a pecan half into each cookie.
Bake on the center oven rack until the cookies are golden brown, 8 to 11 minutes. Watch the bottoms, as they burn easily. Let the cookies cool on a baking sheet set on a wire rack until they can be safely moved, 1 to 2 minutes. Then transfer them to the rack to cool completely.
Repeat, baking and cooling the remaining cookies, and serve.

Yield: Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

Note: The above recipe is courtesy of Grandparents.com
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