In a medium bowl, beat the butter until light and creamy. Add the sugars and beat until well-incorporated and smooth. Add in the eggs, one at a time until fully mixed in. Add in the vanilla, peanut butter and white chocolate (if using). Mix until fully incorporated.

In another bowl, mix together the remaining ingredients and whisk to incorporate. Slowly add the flour mixture to wet ingredients and mix until combined. Cover the bowl with plastic wrap and chill for at least an hour.

While the dough is chilling preheat the oven to 275 degrees F and lightly grease a baking sheet or line with parchment paper. Mix together the ingredients for the candied pecans together until the pecans are well-coated. Place on the baking sheet in a single layer and bake for about 15 - 20 minutes. Break apart any pecans stuck together and set aside to cool.

Raise the oven temperature to 350 degrees and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.

Fold the pecans in the cookie dough and roll the dough into balls. I used about 1.5 tablespoons of dough per cookie. Roll the cookies in the cinnamon sugar mixture if desired. Lightly flatten the dough and place on the baking sheet, about 1.5 inches apart. Bake for 10 - 12 minutes, or until the edges are a light golden brown. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for about 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. (the heat from the cookie sheet should be enough to finish cooking/setting the centers of the cookies.