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These easy homemade Butter Pecan Cookies are crunchy, soft, chewy and buttery. They get even better the second day too, making them a great cookie to make ahead!
If you love butter pecan desserts as much as I do, then you should also try my Browned Butter Pecan Cheesecake or this Browned Butter Pecan Layer Cake.
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So yesterday we officially closed on our new house! Buying and selling a house is SUCH a process, it was a huge relief to at least be done with the buying part. Now we are packing the last few things and slowly getting moved. We’ve got movers coming Monday to move all the big stuff, but we can hardly contain ourselves – we have been moving some boxes on our own as well.
Plus I’m pretty sure that both the hubs and I are nesting. I don’t know if guys can nest or not (technically they lack all the hormones and stuff), but we’ve been collecting baby stuff for a little bit now and it’s all been in boxes. We’ve been dying to get it all out, so the first things we moved over were the boxes of baby things. The first furniture that went up were the cribs. 🙂
Now we are ready for twins. Ha!
But really, I’m looking forward to finally being able to get ready for these babies. I’m getting bigger and bigger now so I’m slowing down more and more. With all this belly, breathing has become quite the task these days. I’ve been “yelled” at by the hubs and those helping us move quite a few times in recent weeks and I’m sure I’ll happen plenty more this weekend as we try to move and get settled. Everyone wants me to relax and let them do the work, but that doesn’t come naturally to me. 🙂
Dessert, however, comes quite naturally. Eating it, in particular. In fact, while I watched the hubs move some things into the house yesterday I snacked on a cookie. 🙂 Not these, but some others I’ll be sharing soon. For today, let’s talk about these Butter Pecan Cookies. They are SO good!
To start, we’ve got toasted pecans. Toasting them ahead of time softens them up a bit and brings out their flavor. Definitely don’t skip this step.
Next is the cookie dough. One of the lovely things about cookies is that they are relatively quick and easy to make (compared to certain cakes, that is 🙂 ). This cookie dough comes together quite quickly and I’m a fan. Begin by creaming the butter and sugar. Next you’ll want a little vanilla extract and an egg. Then some flour, baking soda, cornstarch and salt. See? Easy!
The cornstarch may seem a little unusual, but just like it acts as a thickener in things like sauces, it has a similar function here. It “thickens” up the cookie dough so that it doesn’t spread as much when baked, giving you a thicker and chewier cookie. You get the effect of adding more flour (the cookies spreading less) without drying out your cookie. Love it! Such a great little trick.
The final cookie is soft, chewy and full of buttery pecan flavor! And these definitely get even better after they sit overnight. The flavors deepen even more, so these are great to make ahead for the holidays or a cookie exchange – or even for mailing overnight. Yay for Christmas and all the cookies!
- Prep Time: 18
- Cook Time: 12
- Total Time: 30 minutes
- Yield: 22-24 Cookies
- Category: Dessert
- Method: Oven
- Cuisine: American
Description
These easy homemade Butter Pecan Cookies are crunchy, soft, chewy and buttery. They get even better the second day too, making them a great cookie to make ahead!
Ingredients
BUTTER PECANS
- 3/4 cup (123g) finely chopped pecans
- 2 tbsp salted butter, melted
COOKIES
- 3/4 cup (168g) unsalted butter, room temperature
- 3/4 cup (168g) packed light brown sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 egg
- 2 cups (260g) all purpose flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1/2 tsp salt
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (176°C). Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper or a silicone baking mat.
- Combine the melted butter and pecans in a medium sized bowl and toss to coat.
- Spread the pecans evenly onto the cookie sheet and bake for 5-7 minutes, or until toasted.
- Set pecans aside to cool.
- To make the cookie dough, cream the butter and brown sugar together until light and fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
- Add the vanilla extract and egg and mix until well combined.
- In a separate bowl, combine the flour, baking soda, cornstarch and salt. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture and mix until well combined.
- Stir in the cooled pecans.
- Make balls of cookie dough about 2 tablespoons in size.
- Place the balls of cookie dough onto the lined cookie sheet and bake for 7-10 minutes. Cookies will spread a bit and may look a little undercooked when you remove them, but they’ll continue to cook and firm as they cool.
- Remove the cookies from the oven and allow to cool on the cookie sheet for 3-5 minutes, then remove to a cooling rack to finish cooling.
- Once cooled, store cookies in an air tight container for 3-5 days. Cookies are even better the second day after making them.
Nutrition
- Serving Size: 1 Cookie
- Calories: 149
- Sugar: 6.3 g
- Sodium: 114.2 mg
- Fat: 9.5 g
- Carbohydrates: 14.7 g
- Protein: 1.7 g
- Cholesterol: 25.5 mg
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Enjoy!
Wow! The best butter pecan cookies we have ever made! Followed the recipe exactly and brought them to a party. Three people asked us for the recipe. Absolutely better the second day. The only thing we needed to do was to increase the cooking time. Will be adding this to our recipe file.
So glad you enjoyed them!
I added some cinnamon to the pecans while they were roasting which really elevated the cookie and made these the perfect autumn cookie! The batter was also unbelievably dry so I had to add some milk to the dough to get all of my ingredients to combine. I also had the same issue as many others with the cookies hardly spreading and being more domelike. Still delicious and soft though! Big hit.
Not happy – followed the recipe and added the EXACT amount of flour and baked for 10minutes
Now iv’e only got cookies that are still the same shape and not cooked in the middle.Did not spread at all – a waste of pecans.
Yeah they were a no go for new as well and I made them twice ro makes sure.
Don’t like your cookies cooking time is way off want be making theses cookies again
I’m so happy I found your site, I am gonna be making these cookies today !! And also the eggnog cupcakes, well maybe tomorrow if not today on the cupcakes!!! I really appreciate your emails !!! Can’t wait to see pictures of your beautiful twins !!! God Bless You And Your Family !!!
To Jamaica, I’ve been baking since 1963 but am not a scientific home economist. However, one thing I might suggest is baking the cookies right away so that they can rise while cooking. The brown sugar and the soda have a chemical reaction, like the vinegar/soda mixture kids use for science project volcanos. Just as the volcano mix loses its fizz your brown sugar/soda mixture may have already finished reacting by the time you baked the cookies. My husband’s late grandmother taught me that trick. The cookies probably didn’t spread because they were too cold. Wishing you better luck with your next batch!
I made these this afternoon, and they came out absolutely divine! They taste just like butter pecan ice cream. I dipped half of the cookies in milk chocolate and sprinkled with leftover chopped pecans. I will definitely be adding this to my favorite cookie recipes!
Pic of cookies: https://imgur.com/a/iuCX0
Every recipe I’ve tried of yours has been a favorite! Thanks!
So glad you enjoyed them! They look perfect!
I made these cookies today and I had the same problem as previous posters. I followed the directions to a T. I normally put my cookie balls in the fridge to chill bc in the past have had bad experience with them flattening, anyways they kept their shape and were little dome cookies. They taste like pecan shortbread cookies—still delicious. Next time I won’t chill them.
I followed your directions to a T. But cookies came out as the same ball I placed on sheet. Why?
Tough to say from a distance. It could be that more flour was added than needed. I make sure to use weight measurements to avoid that.
Hi Lindsay,
I made this recipe and followed everything just as written however at the time I was cooking dinner and didn’t want to bake the cookies before dinner was done because I knew I’d spoil our appetite, so I placed the dough in the fridge until dinner was done. I made the cookie balls (they were cold) placed them in our preheated oven at 350 and baked for ten minutes but they never flattened out they were little fat domes of cookie. And do we really have to beat the brown sugar and butter for four minutes until fluffy? I did it but I can’t figure where I went wrong. I’m assuming it was because I refrigerated the dough and they didn’t become room temperature. After dinner I set the remaining dough out to become room temp and I just scooped them onto the cookie tray without forming balls to see if they’d spread and they didn’t. Unfortunately I haven’t tried these cookies yet. However the dough was really good. Can you help me with where I made my mistakes. I’m going to do this recipe again, making sure they are two tablespoons of dough each and put them directly in the oven after firming them hopefully that helps.
For what it’s worth I had the same issue- I didn’t refrigerate or let the dough stand, and I got little dome cookies that taste almost soft baked. The cookies were still delicious, they didn’t look as brown or crunchy as the photos here, but I’m not complaining!
My first guess would have been the same as yours – the temperature of the dough. It that didn’t make a difference, my next question would be how you measure your flour? I use weight to avoid adding too much, since that would definitely cause the cookies to not spread as much.
Sorry but anything less than a yield of 36 cookies before doubling is such a waste of time. Does sound good though. Jack
Omg Lindsay congratulations on having twins and purchasing a new home, being able to cook, bake, take care of home, pack a little and share recipes with your followers! You’re a super mom, wife and friend to those who need to see that type of endurance. I found you the day after Thanksgiving because I needed a cheesecake recipe, I choose your strawberry cheesecake recipe and I followed the instructions to the letter and everyone loved it. I did bake it on low 360 degrees until the top was golden brown. I tasted it myself before I added the Cherry topping and man it was really good! so thanks in advance. I love cookies especially ones with pecans or walnuts in them. I wanted to find a biscuit recipe this morning and visited your website to see if you had any in your recipes listing and read your recent cookie post. I am surely going to make these and will write you letting you know how they came out. Try to get some rest today. Many blessings to you and your family.
From the heart,
Jamaica Jackson
Thanks so much, Jamaica! I’m so glad to hear you’ve enjoyed the recipes and the site!
I am in the process of closing on a house right now and it is always such a pain. This is our 4th closing and it is always such a not-awesome experience. Always something comes up that needs to be dealt with RIGHT NOW. Looking for homes is fun, but everything between saying “I want this house” and sitting down on your couch in your new house is exhausting.
If these cookies were on our counter, it would be much better though. 😉
Exactly! And if it isn’t done right now, you’ll delay closing and the world will fall apart. 🙂