Toasted Pecan Shortbread Cookies with Buttercream Filling
 
Makes approximately 24 sandwich cookies
Ingredients
  • 2¾ cups all-purpose flour
  • ½ cup finely chopped toasted pecans
  • ¼ cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar, divided
  • ¼ teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter
  • ¼ cup heavy whipping cream
  • 2 egg yolks
  • 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste*
  • Buttercream Filling (recipe follows)
Instructions
  1. In the work bowl of a food processor, pulse together flour, pecans, ¼ cup sugar, and salt. Add butter; pulse until mixture is crumbly.
  2. In a small bowl, whisk together cream, egg yolks, and vanilla bean paste.
  3. With processor running, pour cream mixture through food chute in a slow, steady stream until mixture forms a ball.
  4. Turn out dough, place between two pieces of parchment paper, and roll to a ¼-inch thickness. Freeze for 30 minutes.
  5. Preheat oven to 350˚. Line two baking sheets with parchment paper.
  6. Remove dough from freezer; remove top piece of parchment. Using a 2¾-inch round cutter, cut as many cookies as possible, rerolling scraps no more than twice. If dough becomes too soft, place in freezer until firm, about 15 minutes. Place on prepared baking sheets.
  7. Using a 1¼-inch cutter, remove centers from half of cookies. Sprinkle open-center cookies with remaining 1 tablespoon sugar.
  8. Bake until lightly browned around the edges, 10 to 15 minutes. Let cool on baking sheets for 10 minutes; remove to wire racks to let cool completely.
  9. Spread about 1 teaspoon Buttercream Filling onto whole cookies, and top with cookies with centers removed. Store in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Notes
*Vanilla bean paste is available at specialty foods stores. Vanilla extract can be substituted for vanilla bean paste.
Recipe by Victoria at https://victoriamag.com/toasted-pecan-shortbread-cookies-buttercream-recipe/