Preheat oven to 325° and line baking sheet with parchment.
Add butter to a mixing bowl and cream with the paddle attachment.
Add flour, ¼ cup powdered sugar, pecans, vanilla extract into a mixing bowl and mix just until combined. Mixture will be stiff.
Shape dough into 1-inch balls. Place on an ungreased cookie sheet.
Bake for 15-18 minutes. Cookies should not brown or just barely begin to turn brown.
Remove from the oven and place on a cooling rack.
When cookies are slightly warm to the touch, roll in powdered sugar and allow to cool completely.
Store in a cookie tin or zip lock bags.

Use a good quality butter! It will make all the difference.
Use toasted pecans. Toasting really amps up the flavor of the nuts.
Have butter at room temp.
If mixture won’t hold a ball shape, add a few drops of water until desired consistency.
The dough can be made ahead of time and frozen. You can even freeze the balls before baking.
The cookies can be baked and then frozen. Wait to roll in powdered sugar until the cookies are at room temperature.