Pecan Pie Cookies

     Friendsgivings are one of my favorite parts of the thanksgiving season. They are the perfect time to get together with friends and eat a ton of amazing food. However, it is always super stressful trying to figure out what in the world I'm going to make for everyone! I want it to be show stompingly delicious but approachable so that people aren't scared to try it. This year I had already decided that I wanted to make something with pecans but a pie wasn't "approachable" enough and I wasn't about to do a salad. Who even opts for a salad on thanksgiving anyway? So as I was scrolling one day, inspiration struck, put pecans into a cookie, but not just any kind of pecan cookie, make the cookie the "crust" of the pie! Of course the video that caused this inspiration had no free recipe, I set out to write my own. 

    I started out by making my plain snickerdoodle cookie recipe minus the sugar coating and a few of the spices. To make this, I beat together sugar, brown sugar, and butter. Then, added my eggs in one by one along with my vanilla and finished off the dough by folding in the flour and baking powder. I scooped those onto a cookie sheet and popped them in the freezer to chill while I made the filling. If I wasn't in as much of a rush I would've just chilled the cookie dough in the refrigerator for about an hour before scooping the cookies,  but I finished writing the recipe about an hour before the party started!

    While my cookies were chilling, I got going on my pecan pie filling. I made it by combining butter, chopped pecans, brown sugar, cinnamon, nutmeg, corn syrup, salt, and vanilla into a small saucepan and melting everything together until it was slightly thick and coated all of the pecans. When my filling was done, I made a divot into my chilled cookie balls and placed a small scoop of the pie filling in each one. 

    With my cookies assembled, I popped them into the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about 12 minutes. When they were done, I let them cool so that the filling could set and then ate one on the road to the party. For quality control of course. 

    I was astounded by how amazing these cookies turned out! The texture of the soft cookie, gooey caramel filling, and crunchy nuts, all came together to create cookie perfection. Sure, they aren't the prettiest thing ever but man were they tasty! They have seriously become a staple in my holiday baking schedule and have been highly requested among those who were at the party. Some of my friends were happy to find that I made too many and were able to take some home to their families. I was notified the day after that their families thoroughly enjoyed the cookies too! If you are looking for the perfect pie replacement in your holiday meals I recommend you give this recipe a try! 

    What did you think of this recipe? Use the comment section below!