Chewy Christmas Butter Pecan Cookies
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Today’s Christmas cookie is a not-too-overly-sweet, chewy butter pecan cookie. If you are a pecan fan, you will love these cookies.
Three key components make these chewy cookies unforgettable. First, the chopped pecans mixed into the cookie batter are toasted with butter, which enhances the pecans’ toasty flavor.
Next is dark brown sugar. It includes molasses, which adds a nice depth of flavor and texture to the cookie. It adds more flavor but not more sweetness.
The final key component is that the butter is melted and browned before it is used in the batter. Melting the butter adds to the chewiness of this cookie, and browning it adds incredible flavor.
Browning butter isn’t hard, but it does require a little time. The butter needs to be tended to so it will brown just right and not get burned. It takes about 5 minutes. The point of browning the butter is to toast the milk solids in the butter. You just cook it a little past the melting point to make the milk solids turn golden brown. This produces a delicious nutty flavor.
You can use this method to brown the butter in any melted recipe. It will just enhance the flavor even more to whatever you add it to.
Ingredients for Chewy Butter Pecan Cookie Recipe
- BUTTER
- PECAN HALVES
- ALL-PURPOSE FLOUR
- CORNSTARCH
- SALT
- CINNAMON
- BAKING SODA
- DARK BROWN SUGAR
- GRANULATED SUGAR
- VANILLA
- EGGS
Instructions for Butter Pecan Cookies
1: Toast the Pecans
- Melt 1 1/2 tablespoons of butter in a large skillet over medium heat.
- Add the chopped pecans and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 to 5 minutes or until lightly toasted.
- Remove from heat and set aside to cool.
2: Prepare the Dry Ingredients
- In a large mixing bowl, whisk together the flour, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda until thoroughly combined. Set aside.
3: Brown the Butter
- To brown the butter, begin by melting it in a heavy-bottom pan over medium-low heat. Lift the pan occasionally and swirl the butter in the bottom of the pan as it melts.
- Once the butter is melted, keep lifting and swirling it. You should really keep an eye on it because it can burn quickly if it isn’t tended to. Keep swirling until the milk solids turn a light brown color. You will even smell a light, nutty flavor when this happens.
4: Mix the Wet Ingredients
- To the browned butter, add both sugars and vanilla extract, whisking until smooth and combined.
- Beat in the eggs, one at a time, mixing until just incorporated.
5: Combine the Dough
- Using a rubber spatula, gently fold the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients, mixing until just combined.
- Fold in the toasted pecans, ensuring they are evenly distributed throughout the dough.
6: Chill the Dough
- Cover the mixing bowl with plastic wrap and refrigerate the dough for at least 2 hours, or up to 2 days. The dough should be firm but scoopable. If chilled for more than 2 hours, allow the dough to sit at room temperature for a few minutes to soften slightly before scooping.
7: Prepare for Baking
- Preheat your oven to 375°F.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper.
- Scoop 3-tablespoon-sized portions of dough onto the prepared baking sheet, spacing them about 2 inches apart to allow for spreading.
8: Shape the Cookies
- Flatten each ball of dough slightly into a disc shape.
- Gently press your thumb into the center of each disc to create a small indentation.
- Place a pecan half into each indentation for decoration.
9: Bake the Cookies
- Bake the cookies at 375°F for 9 minutes, or until the edges are lightly browned and set, while the centers remain slightly soft.
- While the cookies are still warm, sprinkle them lightly with granulated sugar for added sweetness.
10: Cool and Enjoy
- Allow the cookies to cool on the baking sheet for about 15 minutes, then transfer the baked cookies carefully to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Repeat with the remaining cookie dough.
These cookies will be a hit!
These butter pecan cookies are rich, nutty, and full of warm, comforting flavors—perfect for holiday baking or as a special treat any time of year!
I took these cookies to my work. I work in the lunch room at one of our local schools with a bunch of ladies. Since we all work in a kitchen, we all pretty much know food.
The ladies at work loved the cookies and were asking for the recipe. They love that these are different from the norm and not overly sweet. These are a new cookie favorite for me.
FOR MORE RECIPES LIKE THIS, TRY:
- Chewy Brown Sugar Chocolate Chip Cookies
- Maple Pecan Pie
- Chocolate Pretzel Pecan Pie
- Pecan Praline Bars
Chewy Butter Pecan Cookies
Real Mom Kitchen
Ingredients
For the Buttered Pecans:
- 1 ½ Tbsp butter
- 1 ½ cups pecan halves finely chopped
For the Butter Pecan Cookies:
- 2 ¼ cups flour
- 2 ½ Tbsp cornstarch
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp ground cinnamon
- 1 tsp baking soda
- 1 cup butter
- 1 cup dark brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tsp vanilla
- 2 large eggs
- 16-20 pecan halves for decoration
Instructions
For the Buttered Pecans:
- In a large skillet, melt the 1 1/2 Tbsp of butter over medium heat. Add in chopped pecans and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 to 5 minutes until lightly toasted. Set aside until needed.
For the Butter Pecan Cookies:
- In a large bowl, whisk the flour, cornstarch, salt, cinnamon, and baking soda together until combined.
- Brown the butter by melting the butter in a heavy bottom pan over medium-low heat. (see how in notes)
- Remove pan from heat and pour butter into a large, heatproof mixing bowl. Add in both sugars and vanilla, whisk to combine.
- Beat in eggs, one at a time, beating until eggs are just combined.
- Using a rubber spatula, fold in the flour mixture, stirring until just combined. Fold in the buttered pecans.
- Cover bowl and refrigerate for at least 2 hours, and up to 2 days. You want the dough to be firm, but scoopable. If you refrigerate for more than 2 hours, you’ll need to let the dough sit at room temperature until it’s scoopable.
Preheat oven to 375 degrees.
- Line a large baking sheet with parchment paper. Scoop rounds of dough that are 3 tablespoons in size onto the prepared sheet, leaving 2 inches in between each cookie for spreading.
- Flatten dough slighty to be more of a disc shape. The gently press your thumb into the top of the disc making a slight indentation. Place a pecan half into each of the indetations.
- Bake at 375 degrees for 9 minutes, or until lightly browned and edges are set but the center is still a little soft. Sprinkle warm cookies with a little granulated sugar. Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 15 minutes, then carefully transfer to a cooling rack. Repeat with remaining cookie dough.
Notes
- How to brown butter – Lift the pan ocassionally and swirl the butter in the bottom of the pan. Keep lifting and swirling the butter until the butter is all melted and the milk solids turn a light brown color. You will even smell a light nutty flavor.
- Cookies will stay “fresh” for 3 days stored in an airtight container.
- Cookie dough will keep in the fridge for 48 hours. Alternatively, you may scoop and freeze the cookie dough for up to 2 months. You will need to add an extra minute or two to the bake time if baking frozen dough.
- You can make smaller sized cookies, but you’ll need to decrease the bake time by a minute or two.
Nutrition
Recipe adapted from Baker By Nature.
