Welcome to Mr. Farmer’s Daughter’s 12 Days of Cookies!
Many years ago my parents began a 12 Days of Christmas tradition with my sister and me. It began on the 13th of December and ran through Christmas day. It was so great to spread out the love (and gifts) for that period of time. So, I’m passing the tradition on to you in the form of cookie recipes! I’m going to keep the posts short because it’s Christmas time and I can’t be writing book-long posts for 12 days in a row. I just don’t have it in me to put that many words on paper. Suffice it to say, some of the recipes are favorites of ours, some I’ve adapted to be more allergen friendly and some are just recipes that I’ve wanted to play around with. All of them will be delicious though. Merry Christmas!!!
Day 5!
Pecan Tea Biscuits
So, a version of this cookie has been my father’s favorite for as long as I can remember. The version my mom made growing up came out of an old cookbook and was called Russian Tea Cakes. Then, years later, I made a cookie for work called Mexican Wedding Cookies that, lo and behold, tasted exactly like their Russian cousin. Whatever the origin of these little cookie balls, they could quickly become a favorite of yours too!
I reworked them to make them gluten-free and added a little cardamom flavor to them. I think they’d also be good with this spice if you’re into the whole chai thing like me. Or, just stick to vanilla if you tend to be a plain jane. They’re pretty adaptable to a bunch of flavors.
A few notes:
My father’s version of this cookies was dry and crumbly and went perfectly with a hot cup of tea, hence the name, “tea cakes.” The Mexican version was softer and more delicate but the flavor almost identical. My version can be either! If you’d like to have them more firm like a “tea cake” then let them exposed to the air, just lightly covered. If you’d like them to be more delicate and soft, put them in a container with a piece of gluten-free bread. The cookies will absorb some of the moisture from the bread and stay soft just like they’ve been freshly baked.
- ½ cup pecan meal (ground pecans)
- ⅞ cup gluten-free flour*
- ½ cup butter, softened
- ¼ cup 10x sugar
- ¼ cup granulated cane sugar
- ¾ tsp. baking powder
- ¼ tsp. salt
- ½ - 1 tsp. ground cardamom (depending on your taste)
- Plus extra 10x sugar to roll cookies in
- *I used King Arthur Measure for Measure gluten-free flour mix. If you’re using another mix, you may want to cut the amount by 2 Tbls. at first. Mix up that dough and add the remaining flour if the dough seems too soft.
- Preheat oven to 350˚.
- In a food processor, combine all ingredients and process until the mixture comes together in a ball.
- Roll Tablespoon-sized balls and place on parchment-lined cookie sheets. The don’t expand so you can fill the sheet, leaving about 1” between cookies.
- Bake until cookies are very light brown, about 12 minutes.
- Allow cookies to cool for 5 minutes then roll in 10x sugar.
- Allow to cool completely.