Pecan nut cookies

I love sitting outdoors in the warm winter sun. I love it more when there's food to accompany the view as well. Sydney is one of the most beautiful cities I've seen. The Sydney Harbour bridge provides a fitting backdrop to a late afternoon tea with freshly-made cookies in my local park. The air is crisp but the sun is warm, a perfect winter's day.

I love nutty cookies. I have made these particular cookies many times, using different nuts or combinations thereof. I've used pecan nuts for this batch but have also previously used almonds. Walnuts, hazelnuts or even various mixed nuts would go just as well too. I have topped each pecan nut cookie with an almond here as my husband really loves them.

These cookies are great with tea or coffee or even on their own. A light dusting of icing sugar creates the prefect balance between sweet and nutty.

You can whip up a batch in ten minutes and with only ten minutes baking time, there's no excuse not to have cookies with tea!

Recipe

You will need:

• 60g butter
• 1/2 cup icing sugar
• 1 tsp vanilla essence
• 125g pecans or almonds, coarsely ground
• 1/2 cup flour
• whole pecans or almonds to decorate
• icing sugar to dust over

Beat butter with sugar until light and creamy. Add the vanilla, pecans and flour. Mix into a dough. Roll each cookie into a marble and place on a baking tray. Top with a whole pecan and flatten slightly. Bake for 10-12 minutes at 180º C. When cool, dust with icing sugar.