Sunday is National Pecan Day–and since that’s April 14th, we should probably just throw a lot of pecans into a bucket and get back to trying to finish our taxes. But let’s pretend you have time to actually cook up something for the kids. Our own children aren’t really the type to demand pecans as a snack, but we know they make a great flavor for desserts.
And, like peanuts, pecans are a great source of protein. The anti-oxidants found in pecans can help reduce high cholesterol. Technically, the pecan isn’t even a nut. It’s a fruit. Share that fun fact with your kids while making them a pretty cool dessert. No, it’s not a pecah pie, or even another praline recipe. We’re turning to Allrecipies.com for some real fun (and a little bit of chocolate) with these Hedgehog Cookies…
Ingredients
- 4 cups all purpose flour
- ¾ tsp baking powder
- ½ tsp salt
- 1 ¼ cup white sugar
- 1 cup butter flavored shortening
- ¼ cup corn syrup
- 2 eggs
- 1 tbsp vanilla extract
- 1 cup pecans
- 1 cup chocolate chips
Directions
- Mix flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt in a bowl. Whisk sugar, shortening, corn syrup, and vanilla extract in a separate bowl. Stir sugar mixture into flour mixture until just combined. Refrigerate dough until chilled, about 30 minutes.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C).
- Scoop dough using a cookie scoop or one tablespoon so all the cookies are uniform. Shape dough into teardrop shaped cookies. Flatten he pointed side of each cookie to form the face. Arrange cookies on baking sheets.
- Bake in the preheated oven until golden, ten to twelve minutes. Cool on the baking sheets for ten minutes more before removing to cool completely on a wire rack.
- Pulse pecans in a food processor until finely chopped, transfer to a bowl.
- Melt chocolate chips in the top of a double boiler over simmering water, stirring frequently and scraping down the sides with a rubber spatula to avoid scorching.
- Dip the top of each cookies in the melted chocolate, spreading to fully coat the body of each hedgehog. Press cookies, chocolate side down, into the ground pecans forming the fur of the hedgehog. Arrange cookies on a sheet of waxed paper to set, about 30 minutes.
- Transfer the remaining melted chocolate into a piping bag or plastic bag with a corner snipped. Pipe chocolate onto the pointed end of each cookies for eyes and a nose.
