Butter pecan cookies

Soft, butter pecan cookies with an incredible flavour. The butter beautifully enhances the richness of the nuts, making these cookies especially delicious. Children love them too. Just remember to leave plenty of space between the cookies on the baking tray — they spread a lot and become wonderfully large, just like proper American cookies!

Makes 24 cookies.

Ingredients for the butter pecan cookies:

• 225 g butter, at room temperature
• ⅔ cup dark muscovado sugar
• 1 large egg yolk
• 1 cup plain flour
• ½ tsp salt
• ⅔ cup finely chopped pecans (or walnuts)
• pecan halves (or walnut halves), for decoration

All ingredients should be at room temperature.

Place the butter and sugar into the bowl of a mixer and beat until pale and fluffy. Add the egg yolk and mix until combined. Add the plain flour and salt and mix briefly until the dough comes together. Fold in the chopped pecans or walnuts.

Line two large baking trays with baking parchment. Shape the dough into balls roughly the size of walnuts and place them onto the trays, leaving plenty of space between them as the cookies will spread considerably during baking. The dough will be sticky — this is completely normal. If preferred, chill the dough briefly beforehand to make shaping easier. Press a pecan or walnut half gently into the centre of each cookie.

Bake at 160°C for about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave the cookies to cool slightly on the trays. Then carefully transfer them with a wide spatula onto a wire rack to cool completely, as they are very delicate while warm.

Enjoy!

Recipe by Martha Stewart.