Mama’s cookies too dry to bake

My mom passed a 1.5 years ago, and I am trying to make the cookies she made for me all my life She was sick when she wrote down the recipe. Can you help?

The problem is they are too dry. I am supposed to let cool for 15 minutes but they still crumble before I can bake them. I remember them being a bit more gooey when I put them on the cookie sheet. Help. I'm missing my mom!

This sounds like a variant on a pretty normal chocolate cookie. If so, there should probably be brown sugar and a couple of eggs in the recipe, and I'd add a little baking soda and salt as well.

Try this as the missing steps:

Sorry to hear about your mom. When my grandmother passed I spent a couple of years "translating" all of her scribbled notes into recipes that the rest of the family could use. Passing on recipes is a great way to honor her legacy.

A second possibility would be that this is a classic shortbread cookie. It's less likely given the chocolate chips and the pecans, but not impossible.

If this is indeed the cookie type intended in the recipe, then the 1:2 ratio of butter:flour is correct, and you don't need more ingredients. Shortbread dough does feel rather strange to people who encounter it for the first time, but I assure you, it works. You have to work it to a smooth paste without melting, just with room temperature butter - it's quite similar to a pie crust, but without the whole froufrou of pie techniques, that's for flakiness.

If you think this might be the intended type of cookie, try it this way, without any additional ingredients. If it still turns out too crumbly, follow the advice in My Russian Teacakes are too crumbly.