If you’re new to my blog (I have a lot more readers these days – maybe because I’m posting some of my food pictures on Pinterest), you don’t know that over the course of my life I’ve collected thousands of recipes. Oh my goodness, have I! It’s almost a sickness, and yet I can’t seem to stop! My mother, back in 1997, when she was within a few months of passing away (and in really good health at that moment) actually handed me a recipe she’d clipped out of a magazine – she said she couldn’t seem to help herself. She didn’t cook at all then (she was 89 and lived in a retirement home), but she thought I might like it. I put it in my purse and it went into the trash later. It didn’t appeal to me at all. I feel guilty about that now! I wish I had that recipe – I’d make it just because it was something she gave me so near to the end of her life. Anyway, on to this recipe.
What I have in a hallway in our house (about 15 steps from the kitchen) is a 3-tier storage container (rattan baskets in a stand) that contain the recipes I collected from about 1965-2003. There you can see it at left. In our former house I had a huge – HUGE – set of drawers that housed Pentaflex racks and my recipe files lived there, right in the kitchen. In the house we’re in now, I didn’t have the space for such a thing in the kitchen (prior to the remodeling we did), so I bought this contraption and jamb-packed it with file folders by recipe type. When we did remodel, these just stayed where they are, sitting in a little alcove, out of the way, but there if I need them!
In the ensuing years I’ve really tried to limit the recipes I clip out of magazines and newspapers. I say to myself “Am I really going to make this? Really?” I try to not clip more than 1-3 in any one magazine. Those that make the cut go into 3-ring binders. So yes, I’m still collecting recipes. Occasionally I go to the archives (the baskets) to find something. Some years ago I actually went through the entire thing and got rid of about half of the recipes in there – things I knew I wouldn’t make – like home made phyllo dough, or real croissants, pickling my own sauerkraut, and lots of canning recipes. You know, those kinds of things.
So anyway, I was scouring the files for some old recipe; can’t even remember what it was now, but it was something in the cookie folder. And out flitted a recipe onto the floor. I reached for it. Yes, a cookie recipe. But hmmm, this looked good. Not what I needed that day, but I took it out and put it on my to-make-soon cookbook stand I have right next to this computer. It’s sat there for several weeks, then one day it just said “make me.”
Where this recipe clipping came from, I’m not sure, but when I went searching online for this recipe (only a couple of sources had it, and only one person had written a story about it) someone wrote that it was in the brochure for Jessica’s Biscuit, then a place to order cookbooks (and I did at one time). Nancy Silverton’s book Desserts
The cookie is easy to mix up. My only difficulty was that I thought I had pecans. I didn’t. So I used walnuts instead. I think pecans would have a bit more flavor, but walnuts were great, don’t get me 
wrong here! It’s a kind of very tender shortbread cookie and not overly sweet. Love the maple syrup in it, and just one egg yolk. But half a pound of butter. No, not low fat! Ha! The dough is chilled, then formed into cylinders and frozen solid. The next day I baked them, and found that if the rolls sat out for about 10 minutes they were a lot easier to slice. With large walnut pieces in the dough, if my knife hit the nut just so, it broke the slice altogether. But I was able to piece them back together mostly. The recipe said it made 72 – obviously I sliced the cookies a little thicker than 3/8”, so I got about 42 or so. The cookies don’t spread at all (there’s no leavening in the cookie, remember) so you can pack the cookie sheet well. The only caution in the recipe is that the cookie must be baked completely to be tender. If you under bake them, they’re tough, apparently. I didn’t have that difficulty, but I did have to bake my cookies (possibly thicker ones) for 18 minutes to get them just barely golden brown around the edges. I cooled them – promptly ate two (yum) with a cup of tea – and put the remainder in the freezer.
What I liked: the batter was easy-peasy to mix up and chill. Really easy to roll into cylinders too. And relatively easy to slice and bake. Taste: yum. Tender, buttery, and absolutely perfect with a cup of tea I made this afternoon! And these would be wonderful for Christmas. Make them up ahead and keep on hand to bake when needed. Or they’d work great for a cookie exchange too.
What I didn’t like: absolutely nothing. The frozen dough was a little finicky to slice, but not a deterrent to making them!
printer-friendly PDF
MasterCook 5+ import file – right click to save file, run MC, then File|Import
* Exported from MasterCook *
Maple-Pecan or Maple-Walnut Cookies
Recipe By: Nancy Silverton (baking genius) from her book “Desserts,” 1986.
Serving Size: 72
NOTES: I didn’t get 72 cookies – more like about 40-45, so I must have sliced them thicker than I was supposed to. I also had to bake them for 18 minutes – watch carefully – you don’t want them to over bake. Dough cylinders can be frozen for several weeks. When ready to bake, remove from freezer and allow to sit for 10 minutes or so until you can slice them easily.
2 sticks unsalted butter
1/2 cup granulated sugar
1 large egg yolk
2 tablespoons maple syrup — the real stuff (no imitation)
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
1 1/4 cups pecan halves — or walnuts
1. To make dough: Using paddle attachment of electric mixer, beat butter on medium speed for 3 to 5 minutes or until it whitens and holds soft peaks. Add sugar. Beat until well blended. Whisk together egg yolk, maple syrup and vanilla. Beat into butter mixture, scraping down sides of bowl when necessary. Add flour on low speed and mix only until combined. Beat in pecan halves until combined. Wrap dough in plastic wrap. Chill for 30 minutes or until firm.
2. To form dough into logs: Divide dough into 4 sections. Working with one section at a time (and keeping others in refrigerator), roll on floured surface into 1-1/2-inch diameter log. Place on cookie sheet. Freeze for 30 minutes or until firm enough to slice. Repeat with remaining dough.
3. To bake cookies: Preheat oven to 325°. Adjust rack to middle position. Using very sharp knife, slice logs into 3/8-inch-thick rounds. Place 1 inch apart on Silpat or parchment paper lined baking sheet. Bake for 12 to 15 minutes or until firm and lightly browned. (Note: Cookies must be cooked through to be tender.)
Per Serving: 54 Calories; 4g Fat (63.9% calories from fat); 1g Protein; 4g Carbohydrate; trace Dietary Fiber; 10mg Cholesterol; 1mg Sodium.
Lynn Flaherty
said on August 7th, 2014:
Well, count me as new to your blog. I don’t do Pinterest but just stumbled upon your blog doing a search for maple cookies. I was looking for a non-gooey version and these look perfect. I had to laugh reading your tale of rampant recipe-clipping. I started as a young child clipping recipes from my mom’s Good Housekeeping magazines, then graduated to clipping the odd Bon Appetit magazines I’d get before I truly embraced cooking. Then I just stopped clipping and just kept the entire magazines. I have a good-sized collection and I do enjoy pulling out a stack from whatever month I’m in and getting inspired to cook something new. I’ll never actually cook even a tenth of those recipes but I doubt I’ll ever get rid of them. I’ve amassed quite a few cookbooks too but, as a former pastry chef, I think it goes with the territory. Funny thing is, even with all the recipes I have in print form, I find I usually do internet searches for what I have in mind nowadays. Maybe when my kids are a little older I’ll find more time to leisurely flip through those magazines again? Anyway, I love the idea of your blog and what I’ve read so far. I look forward to seeing more. Thank you.
I’m still a recipe clipper. Once one, always one, I think. . . carolyn t
Lynn Flaherty
said on August 7th, 2014:
PS–I love Nancy Silverton! That’s a huge incentive for going with this recipe! 🙂
I do too, although I don’t own any of her cookbooks, but always enjoy reading stories about her. I think she’s a brilliant chef/pastry cook. . . carolyn t