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Hi Bold Bakers!
Variety is the spice of life. That’s why there’s chocolate, vanilla, and…. butter pecan! Butter pecan happens to be one of my favorite flavors as toasted pecans are nothing short of heavenly.
My Butter Pecan Cookies incorporate actual buttered pecans, nutty browned butter, and brown sugar. This combination of nutty, buttery, and sweet make these cookies lovely for celebrating all kinds of holidays!
How To Make Buttered Pecans
While most of you might think that buttered pecan is a flavor you can only get in ice cream, it exists outside of frozen treats and is exactly what is sounds like. That’s right all you do to make buttered pecans is melt butter in a pan, add in the pecans, and toast. Easy! This is also the first step in making my Butter Pecan Cookies.
What If I don’t have brown sugar? Can I use a different kind?
After making the buttered pecans, this cookie is made similarly to my Best Ever Chocolate Chip Cookies. An important part of making these cookies is combining melted butter and brown sugar.
The butter in this butter pecan cookie happens to be browned butter, so taking the time to brown the butter is SO worth the extra step as it really makes these cookies nutty and toasty. Then, the brown sugar and browned butter become best friends. If you don’t have brown sugar, I highly suggest you make your own using my recipe for How to Make Brown Sugar. Without it, the cookies will not have the same maple-y syrup flavor or fragrance.
Can I add anything to Butter Pecan Cookies, like chocolate chips?
Once the brown butter and brown sugar are combined, this cookie is business as usual — meaning eggs, good quality vanilla, and flour. The last step is to add in the buttered pecans, which really flavor the cookie like a chocolate chip would. Like other cookies that are kind of a blank canvas, I don’t suggest adding in other things to this cookie. The flavors are perfectly balanced, nutty, and sweet, so really anything else added in would detract from the flavor.
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Butter Pecan Cookies
Ingredients
- 1 1/2 cups pecans, toasted finely chopped
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/2 tablespoons cornstarch
- 1 teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon cinnamon
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 cup butter, at room temperature
- 1 cup brown sugar
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 eggs
- 30 whole pecans, toasted for garnish, optional
Instructions
- In a large bowl combine the flour, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda, set aside.
- Next brown the butter by melting it in a small pot over medium heat. Cook the butter until its golden brown and smells nutty. Remove from heat a transfer to a large bowl.
- Add the sugar to the warm browned butter and mix until well combined.
- Add in the vanilla and the eggs one at a time mixing fully between each addition.
- After the eggs are combined, fold in the dry ingredients followed by the buttered pecans, being careful not to over-mix.
- Chill the dough for 4 hours to overnight.
- When ready to bake pre-heat the oven to 375°F (190°C) and line 2 cookies sheets with parchment paper.
- Scoop the dough into 2 tablespoon sized balls then arrange on the cookies sheets about 2 inches apart. Press a whole pecan into the top of each ball.
- Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes or until lightly golden brown but still soft in the center.
- Allow the cookies to cool slightly before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cover and store the cookies at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Hi Gemma,
This recipe sounds great. The directions are not clear to me on how to butter the pecans. Do I toast them in the oven? When do I put the butter and pecans together? Sorry to bother you.
Thanks,
Carol
Hi ya, Gemma. I’m delighted to make this today! If I use measure for measure gluten free flour (I use King Arthur with binders included), is the same amount of corn starch still recommended?
Hi, how do we cut this recipe in half?
Hi , may I know one cup of butter and sugar refer to how many grams?
Can I replace pecans with walnuts?
Yum ????
Hi. Went to make thiS but said add sugars plural. Is there another kind besides the brown sugar?
I want to do this, but I’m a little confused. Do you toast the pecans in the browned butter or do you do that first in how much butter? The recipe says “add sugars,” I might have missed something, but I only see 1 cup of brown sugar in ingredients list. Is there another sugar needed? Lastly, which egg replacer would you recommend? I’m thinking flax or chia. Thank you for everything. You’re the best! Happy Holidays.
Hi Gemma, I’m looking forward to making this for Christmas 🙂 May I just double check the amount of sugar in the recipe with you? The recipe calls for one cup of butter, and only one cup of brown sugar. It seems to me that the proportion of butter to sugar is pretty high, which might make for a really melty cookie. Do let me know if I’m mistaken though, thank u 🙂
Love your every recipes Gemma
These pecane cookies are yummy????