Pecan Honey Cookies are my favorite recipe to make as dessert for SIBO friends. The recipe is really straight forward and doesn’t take any more time than a regular batch of wheat cookies. I also like that this recipe starts with the nut and not a nut flour. I guess I just like the idea of taking a couple raw ingredients and turning them into something tasty and exciting.
Last week we had a friend over for dinner who has tummy troubles. Not SIBO, but autoimmune in nature and he lived on the Specific Carbohydrate Diet for a long time before his symptoms reached a tolerable point. There are still foods that he stays away from in order to feel well. After dinner I served these Pecan Honey Cookies. As I explained the ingredients his face lit up with one of the happiest emotions I have ever seen. Then he and his wife reminisced about SCD nut cookies they had while they were dating. I loved that he felt so safe and loved in my kitchen, so I want to share them with you!
This recipe is adapted from a nut crust in The All New All Purpose Joy of Cooking cookbook.
Pecan Honey Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw pecan pieces
- 1 cup raw walnut pieces
- 2 Tbs unsalted butter (room temperature)
- 4 Tbs clear, runny honey
- 3/4 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1/4 tsp fine sea salt
- extra ground cinnamon for dusting (if desired)
Instructions
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Place the nuts into a food processor.
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Add the butter and drizzle the honey over the nuts.
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Add the cinnamon and sea salt.
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Pulse in the food processor for 1-2 minutes or until the nuts become small and uniform in size. (See the picture above for reference.)
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Roll the "dough" into small balls. It will be sticky and a bit finicky to work with but can be pressed together.
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Place on a lined cookie sheet and press into flat rounds.
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Sprinkle with extra cinnamon if desired.
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Bake at 375 degrees Fahrenheit for 12-15 minutes or until the edges begin to darken. (Once the edges begin to darken the middles will darken very quickly, so make sure you watch them.)
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The cookies will fall apart very easily until cooled. I like to very carefully transfer all of the cookies at one time on their parchment paper or liner to a cooling rack instead of picking each cookie up individually.
Recipe Notes
For added decoration, very gently press a half pecan into the top of each cookie as soon as you remove them from the oven.
Best eaten or frozen within 24 hours as they will soften over time.
Hey there, so excited to have found your website!! Im currently doing the elemental diet and dreaming of things to have when I can eat again… Im not good on honey at the moment so wondering if you or someone has tried using stevia .. or do you need the honey to bind it together??? Any ideas. Thanks xx
Hi Rachel!
The honey does bind these cookies together. I think if you use two or three tablespoons of almond butter with stevia instead of the honey and press the cookies together they might hold. I haven’t tried this yet, but have used almond butter to get other cookie/bar recipes to stick together which has worked well.
Does anyone else have ideas with stevia?
Awesome thank you I will give this a go and let you know how it goes… fingers are crossed 🙂
Hi!
Can you recommend what honey to use? Thank you!!
Clear, runny, clover honey is a really great option. Alfalfa, cotton, clover, and raspberry honey are the most recommended for SIBO on the SIBO Specific Food Guide (2014 version). Other SIBO diets just recommend clear, runny honey (in which larger pollen molecules have been removed).
Hi! I appreciate your recipes so much! Do you think maple syrup could take the place of the honey? I’m not good with honey right now.
Hi Erin,
Maple syrup should work. I’d recommend using 2-3Tbs of maple syrup instead of the 4Tbs of honey just because maple syrup is usually more wet than honey.
Elena