I’ve been craving pecan sandies since my son got (something similar to) one at a Mexican bakery near our house. In typical toddler fashion, he eats two bites at a time then sets it aside. I have had to fight the desire to gobble it up. I turned to google for help.

This recipe was really close to being WFPB; I tweaked it and it did the trick.

• 1 cup steel cut oats
• 1 cup pecans
• 1 tbsp flax meal
• 1/2 tsp cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp vanilla
• 8 medjool dates (I actually used 6 in this initial iteration, and while the lack of sweetness grew on me, it may not be for everyone)

Preheat oven to 350. Using blender or food processor, blend oats to a fine flour. Add pecans and pulse until small/even (but not pulverized into releasing all the oil). Add flax meal, cinnamon, and salt pulse to mix. Add vanilla and dates and pulse until dates are just completely incorporated. (Note: I’m using a blender because I’m lazy, so for me it’s pulse-pulse-shake-shake-shake-repeat at every step.) The resulting “batter” will be loose but clump-able, like damp sand.

Divide into 8 and form cookies on a parchment-lined pan. Cook for 10 min at 350F. (I only cooked for 8 min for fear of burning them, and I think an extra two minutes may have been just right.) Allow to cool completely. These came out crumbly and very satisfyingly pecan sandy like.