Harris Ranch's Pecan Drops

I've been a bit puzzled by the LA Times food section lately. "Breakfast" pizza with a topping that includes sour cream, eggs, sausage, and two kinds of cheese? No, thank you very much. A vegetable soup recipe that requires almost three hours of preparation? And in an article about the "pure joy" of clear soups, no less. I'm intrigued, but three hours? Really? Mme E. Sainte-Ange's creepy-looking Poularde a L'Ivoire takes less time than that (but admittedly not by much). And I've already mentioned the choice of Paula Wolfert recipes that drove me nuts.

It was a welcome relief, then, to find cookie nirvana in one of the more humble recipes to be printed in those pages in recent weeks. And from an unlikely source, at least as far as this snob is concerned. Harris Ranch, an inn and restaurant owned by California's "largest cattle feeder, fed beef processor and beef marketer" (oh yes), makes these delicious little cookies that are whipped up in less time than it takes to run a load of laundry (I know, I checked). At least in an American washing machine.

And what's even better is they're made with no butter or oil or shortening, and with no flour. They're crackly on top and chewy inside and nubby all around from the pecan bits. The pinch of salt is key - it draws out the fudgy, caramel tones in the sugar and the buttery flavor from the nuts. These drops really taste like bites of pecan pie - good pecan pie (hrmph). A nibble on these after our dinner at Suenos on Valentine's day was better than anything we could have ordered (and waited an inordinate amount of time for. And, by the way, I tried, I really did. But I still don't like Mexican food. Sigh).

I only had half the amount of pecans needed, so with a bit of trepidation, I halved the entire recipe. It worked beautifully. You briefly mix the brown sugar (it doesn't specify whether or not to pack the sugar, which bugged me, but I half-packed it, half left it loose and this seemed to work just fine), salt, vanilla and pecan pieces together, then drizzle in the egg whites (it doesn't seem like a lot of liquid, but just wait). You beat this together for 5 minutes. It will go from being lumpy and unwieldy to a gooey batter, which eventually thickens slightly.

I dolloped out portions onto my Silpat and baked the cookies until they were barely brown around the edges. The cookies turn a creamy buff color and scent of toasty sugar and nuts fills the air. Freshly baked, the cookies have a nice snap to them. Kept a day, they become softer and supremely chewy. A day beyond that? I don't know - they were gone by then. These pecan drops are cookies for the ages.

Harris Ranch's Pecan Drops
Makes 3 dozen cookies

2 1/2 cups brown sugar
3/4 teaspoon salt
3/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 1/2 pounds coarsely chopped pecan pieces
1/2 cup egg whites (3 to 4 large egg whites)

1. Heat the oven to 350 degrees. In the bowl of an electric mixer, combine the brown sugar, salt, vanilla and pecan pieces. Beat on low speed to incorporate the ingredients, then drizzle in the egg whites. Increase the speed to medium-low and beat for 4 to 5 minutes, scraping down the sides of the bowl as needed.

2. Drop the dough in rounded tablespoons onto a greased baking sheet. Press each ball of dough with the back of a spoon to form a cookie 3 1/2 inches in diameter and about 1/8-inch thick.

3. Bake 10 to 12 minutes, until the edges are lightly browned. Remove from oven and immediately remove the cookies from the baking sheet to a cooling rack. The cookies will be soft but will firm up as they cool.

Comments

[Ilva]

just one word: mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

[Mark]

They really look good. From the picture, you wouldn't know they were made w/o flour. mmmm... Pecan Pie! (saying like Homer Simpson)

[Jenny]

What an intriguing recipe. Another one to add to my list. BTW I'm making those Romesco potatoes that you gushed about in your earlier post. Will let you know how they turn out.

[fiordizucca goes english]

very nice, i never made these before, i might give it a try now! :)

[Luisa]

Ilva - yessssssssssssssss. ;)

Mark - I know! They're so yummy. I kind of miss them.

Jenny - looking forward to hearing what you thought of the potatoes.

Francesca - do try them! Hope you like them as much as I did.

[evan]

I can understand that you don't like mexican food in NYC. I am from LA and have spent the 18 months of my life trying to find decent mexican food here and there just really isnt. It is unfortunate though because you are missing out.

Cookies look great!

[Luisa]

Evan - I keep hearing that Mexican food in New York is pretty bad (although some have raved recently about Rosa Mexicano on 18th Street - have you been?). I have more than a few reasons to visit LA - this is another one.

[Laurie]

Measuring brown sugar--this is why a scale is so wonderful for baking! Brown sugar is one of my favorite ingredients to weigh rather than measure by volume. I do miss the childhood-sandbox pleasure of watching the perfect sugar-shape foomp into the bowl (and smashing it with the spoon), but for ease of measurement, the scale can't be beat.

When I try these cookies (soon), I'll weigh the brown sugar to see what amount works.

[Alizah]

I wanted to make these, but since our local supermaket sells pecans at $9/lb, I couldn't really justify it! Drats!

[Luisa]

Laurie - that's a good idea...but what if the recipe doesn't the amount by weight? Let me know what you come up with when you make these.

Alizah - ouch. That's a lot but I have to admit that I don't remember how much I paid for my bag (at Whole Foods)... I hope it wasn't that much.

[Jimmi]

These cookies are all that you said that they would be. I made a full batch this weekend and with a house filled with
friends they disappeared quickly to
great praise. BUT, if others attempt this
receipe (and I recommend you do) make sure your bowl is big enought. I had pecan bits coated with brown sugar and egg whites flying around my kitchen.

[Sally]

Based on your recommendation, I made these yesterday and worried like a pregnant teenager all the way through. First, as you stated, you don't know how much brown sugar to use. (I'm convinced that nobody making this recipe as written by the LA Times has used the same amount of brown sugar.) Then, looking into the bowl of my mixer and being nicked by flying pecans, I was certain this batter would never come together (it does, however.) I'm sure I used less brown sugar than you did, but these cookies were delicious. This recipe is very forgiving. (If a bit expensive: $7 a pound for pecans at Trader Joe's - I had to buy two bags for the 1 1/2 pounds called for here. Add to that the 2+ cups of brown sugar - almost an entire 1-pound box. It's a pricey cookie.) I'm just relieved they turned out so well.

[Luisa]

Sally - I'm glad you liked them, and sorry that they made you anxious! They are an expensive cookie, sadly, unless one has access to Texas pecan fields...

Jimmi - thanks for the tip! I had only made a half recipe, so...

[Abi]

I made these cookies today and I will probably never make them again. I ended up with a sticky mess of cookies that stuck to everything and collapsed when I tried to get them off of the baking sheet.

Yikes.

But they do taste very, very, very good. Where did I go wrong? Odd, because I'm a darn good baker. Hmmf. I have about two cups of the batter left and chilling in the fridge. Ideas on what I can do with it? Should I bother to attempt a normal cookie conversion?

[Luisa]

Abi - I'm sorry to hear the cookies didn't work out for you. I'm not sure what went wrong: it's a pretty straightforward recipe... What did you use to line your baking sheet? I wonder if perhaps you didn't beat the batter long enough? Was it firm enough to hold its shape as you dolloped the batter onto the sheet? Being almost all sugar and egg whites, they are sticky indeed when raw, but on my Silpat they released quite easily after being baked. I'm also wondering if it might have been a question of humidity - but I'm not sure where you live, so I don't know if climate played a role. The cookies really are so delicious that I would urge you to try again, but I know the frustration when a recipe doesn't work out as hoped...

[pumpkinpie]

"...too many notes." "There are just as many notes, majesty, as I require; neither more nor less." This is the scene from 'Amadeus' that played out in my head when my husband commented on his first bite (too many nuts). Second bite: "these are screaming for chocolate". On my second batch I substituted some chopped dark chocolate and dessicated coconut for a handful of the pecans. Finally, the emperor was pleased. BTW, beat the sugar and eggwhites then add the chunky things.

[Teresa V.]

I bought some of these at Harris Ranch last week and didn't try them until I got home. OHMIGOD! How sad was I that I only bought two. I was toying with the idea of driving up, to buy a dozen...or two, this weekend and even with the sky high cost of gas, believed that the 200+ mile drive might be worth it (I live in Los Angeles.)

I'm going to try this first! THANK YOU!!!

[kristen]

These are by far one of the best cookies, I've ever had. I haven't made them myself, but I always stop at Harris Ranch JUST to get the cookies. They are really big and kind of dense but soft and chewy...I'm drooling just thinking about them. I don't even really like pecan pie, but I LOVE these cookies.

[Liz]

My cookies turned out hard and crisp rather than chewy, a slight disappointment only since they were still yummy.

Do you think the problem is that I'm using a hand mixer rather than a stand mixer? (i mix for a longer time since it's a tougher job without the stand mixer) But my finished cookie dough still has bits and chunks of pecans. Is it supposed to be that way? It's not exactly doughy or gooey..is that where my problem lies?

[Luisa]

Liz - I also used a hand mixer, since I don't have a stand mixer, and only beat it for the 5 minutes the recipe says to... I wonder if maybe the fact that you beat it for longer made a difference in the final outcome? Doesn't seem likely, but I don't know what else to blame. Anyway, the cookie is definitely still meant to have bits of pecan in it - and the cookie dough is sort of chewy, fudgy around the nut bits.

[Jenessa]

We were on our way out from having dinner there on NYE and someone leaving said, where's your pink box of cookies, so we had a look like what! He said we must try or have we had the pecan drop cookies and we replied NO, he said they were to die for, so i became curious and bought 4 cookies oh i regret only buying 4 it should have been a dozen or two. Their so delicious and moist how i love my cookies that way. Try them you cant go wrong.

[Wendy]

Hi,
These cookies from Harris Ranch are my all time fave. I made these last week but the batter came out so liquidy. When baked they were very tasty just like the original, but they were also incredibly thin. Did not form at all like yours did. I only used 1 lb of pecans, do you think that was the problem? Did you use light brown or dark brown sugar? Also I used kitchenaid stand mixer and used the paddle attachment to beat the mixture. Should I use the whisk attachment instead so air can be incorporated into the eggs whites? I found this other recipe online that called for beating the egg whites with cream of tartar first but they came out horrible! Like mushy meringue! Never in my life have I had to throw away a batch of cookies before! :(

[Luisa]

Wendy - It's possible that using less pecans might have added to the problem, but I'm not sure it's the actual cause. I halved the recipe when I made it, but kept the proportions the same. I used light brown sugar, but did not use a stand mixer, just a regular hand-held mixer which beater attachments. I think that the paddle attachment might have been your issue - it doesn't beat enough air into the mixture. A whisk attachment would probably be too much. Do you have regular beaters?

[Wendy]

Luisa, thanks for the feedback! I will try it out with hand mixer. I will report back. Fingers crossed it will work this time! Oh, I also failed to mention that I also used store bought 100% liquid egg whites. I just read on the carton that it doesn't whip up and shouldn't be used for recipes that call for whipping, i.e. meringues and angel food cake. I wonder if that was part of the problem too.

[Emily]

Luisa -- I just found this recipe... Can't wait to make them, but am wondering -- did you use light brown sugar or dark brown sugar? I'm assuming light, but just wanted to check...

Emily