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By Jennie Guido

I’ve found myself thinking about my grandparents lately. Maybe it’s the holidays, but I would have loved for them to still be around now that I’m a full-grown adult. I feel like my grandmothers would be my best friends.

This month, we also are seeing an anniversary in the Guido family. My PawPaw, TJ Guido, passed away twenty years ago. He was such a big figure in our family and still makes a mark on our daily lives.

You can’t miss his presence up and down the roads of Natchez with my dad still driving his 1992 Ram Charger. We also have continued his legacy by naming our beloved Black Labrador, TJ. And boy does he live up to his namesake!

During the holidays, mom makes his favorite treat for us to enjoy in his honor – Sandies. These powder-sugar-covered bites are the perfect blend of shortbread and pecans. As mom says, she had a particular tin she would put together for my PawPaw each Christmas that he could easily hide under the coffee table just for himself.

I think tin still has powdered sugar in the crevices from years of Sandies.

 

Sandies

2 cup margarine (or butter-flavored Crisco)

1/3 cup sugar

2 teaspoons water

2 teaspoons vanilla

2 cups flour

1 cup pecans, finely chopped

1 to 2 cups sifted powdered sugar

 

Set out margarine to soften if that is what you will be using. Finely chop the pecans. Cream margarine and sugar until fluffy. Add water and vanilla, mixing well. Add your flour and pecans. Put the dough in the refrigerator for a couple of hours to firm. This makes it easier to work with. Scoop up  a tablespoon worth of dough rolling it into a ball, then rolling it to resemble a log. Place on a greased cookie sheet. Bake at 325 degrees for 20 minutes. Place on a cookie rack to cool once out of the oven. While they are still warm, roll them in the powdered sugar. Once they begin to cool, roll them again and place back on the cookie rack to complete the cooling process. You can then store them in a cookie tin. Line to bottom with wax paper, then repeat the wax paper between the layers of cookies in the tin.

 

Jennie Guido writes a weekly column for The Natchez Democrat.