Pecan Chews

Preheat oven to 350’ F, rack in the middle position.

1 cup butter (2 sticks. ½ pound)
3 cups brown sugar ***
4 eggs, beaten (with a fork is fine)
1 teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon baking soda
3 teaspoons vanilla
2 cups finely chopped pecans
4 cups flour

Melt butter and add brown sugar. Mix well and let cool. Add beaten eggs and mix. Add salt, baking soda, vanilla, and nuts. Mix well. Add flour and mix until flour is thoroughly distributed.

Form dough into balls with your fingers. (Make them the size of a walnut with shell.) Place them on a greased cookie sheet, 12 to a standard sheet. Press them down with a spatula. (Spray it with Pam first, or grease it.)

Bake at 350 degrees for 10-12 minutes. Let cookies set up on sheet for one minute, then remove them to a wire rack to finish cooling.

*** There’s no need to keep brown sugar in stock. It can be easily made with white sugar and molasses, 1/8 cup molasses for every 3 cups of white sugar. (That’s how they manufacture it, really. And it’ll save you from having to deal with all those lumps.) Just add the molasses to the white sugar and stir until it is thoroughly and evenly mixed in.

(There’s no Problem if your recipe calls for dark brown sugar or light brown sugar-just mix in molasses until it’s the right color.)