CHOCOLATE-DIPPED PECAN CRESCENTS

This cookie has been a family favorite for thirty years.  It’s my hubby’s favorite cookie of all time.  A tender pecan shortbread is shaped into logs, or tubes, then curved to form crescents.  The baked, warm cookies are rolled in granulated sugar.  When cool, the cookie is dipped into melted chocolate and finely chopped pecans. 

If you’re a rough-and-tumble person, skip these.  The baked cookie must be handled with kid gloves.  No kidding, they break almost when you look at them.  Of course, the broken pieces are just as delicious as a whole cookie, so the baker has the advantage of eating all the discards.

Chocolate-Dipped Pecan Crescents Adapted from Family Circle Magazine, 12/7/82 Rating:  10 out of 10 Click for PRINTABLE PAGE

INGREDIENTS: 7 Tbsp. unsalted butter, soft 1/8 tsp. Diamond kosher salt 2 Tbsp. + 2 tsp. granulated sugar + 1/4 cup sugar for rolling 1/2 tsp. pure vanilla extract (I used my homemade vanilla extract) 1/2 cup + 2-1/2 Tbsp. finely chopped pecans 1-1/3  cups unbleached all-purpose flour 1/2 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips, melted 1/2 cup finely chopped, toasted pecans In work bowl of food processor, combine butter, salt, 2 Tbsp. + 2 tsp. sugar and vanilla.  Pulse till well combined and smooth.  Add 1/2 cup + 2-1/2 Tbsp. pecans and half the flour; pulse till combined.  Add remaining flour and pulse till well combined and pecans are very finely chopped.   Refrigerate dough 1 hour, or up to 3 days. When ready to bake, heat oven to 350F.  Line baking sheets with parchment.  Using 1 rounded teaspoon of dough (about the size of a small walnut), roll dough on lightly floured surface to 2-1/2” lengths.  Curve into crescents.  Place 1” apart on prepared baking sheet.  Bake 10-12 minutes, till very lightly golden.  Place 1/4 cup sugar in small dish.  Roll warm cookies in the sugar, being very careful not to break the cookies.  (They are very fragile, so treat them accordingly.)  Cool on wire racks.  When cookies are cool, one at a time, dip both ends of cookie in melted chocolate, then in chopped toasted pecans.  Place on wax paper.  Let stand till chocolate hardens, or place in freezer for 15 minutes to set the chocolate.  Yield:  about 3 dozen