Maple Pecan Yummies (A Frosted Drop Cookie)

A day seldom goes by that I don't visit a blog called theiowahousewife.blogspot.com.  and I have enjoyed it each and every time!  This cookie recipe was adapted from them and is now in my stack of favorite cookies recipes.  It makes a soft but chewy maple flavored cookie chocked full of nuts with maple frosting crowned with a whole pecan.  You could of course omit the nuts or use another type of nut but this suits me to a T.  Hum, maple walnut sounds good too!

Ingredients for Maple Pecan Yummies:

1/2 C. soft butter
1/2 C. packed dark brown sugar
1/2 t. baking soda
pinch of salt
1/2 C. pure maple syrup (the real stuff)
1 large egg yolk
1/2 t. pure vanilla
2 C. flour
1/2 C. chopped pecans or nuts of your choice (optional)

Ingredients for Maple Frosting:

3 T. soft butter
1/4 C. heavy cream
1/2 t. maple extract
2 C. powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. and prepare pans with parchment, silpat mats, or lightly grease cookie sheets and set aside.

Beat the soft butter in a mixing bowl with an electric beater for about a half of a minute then add the sugar, soda, and salt.  Beat until combines scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl.  Add syrup, egg, and vanilla and beat well.  Slowly add in the flour until mixed then fold in the nuts.

Drop by rounded teaspoonfuls 2" apart on the prepared pans and bake 8-10 minutes.  Cool completely before frosting. 

Frosting:  Combine all of the ingredients in a deep mixing bowl.  Beat until smooth and frost the cookies.  Add a pecan half to the center of each and let sit until the frosting hardens a bit.  Yield 3 dozen cookies.

Note:  I was short frosting for the last 5 cookies but had some leftover vanilla frosting in the refrigerator.  I added a few drops of the maple extract and stirred well and it worked great.
So, you could just add maple flavor to canned vanilla frosting and it would work just fine. It is good to have options.