Butter Pecan Cookies

These Butter Pecan Cookies are soft, chewy cookie that’s wildly delicious! They’re easy to make in under 1 hour using the signature combo of brown butter, vanilla, pecans, and brown sugary sweetness!

Try these other wonderful and easy cookie recipes too! Cowboy Cookies, No-Bake Chocolate Oatmeal Cookies, or these Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies.

Ingredients You’ll Need

Below is a list of the ingredients you’ll need to gather to make this recipe. Scroll down to the full recipe card for the specific amounts.

• Butter, divided: If you’ve never made browned butter before, I can’t wait to show you. Once you try it, you’ll be forever hooked on the extra buttery flavor! I used salted butter but feel free to use unsalted butter with a pinch of salt added.
• Brown sugar: Used to sweeten the cookies and add moisture while the caramel flavoring of the light brown sugar goes great with the pecans and butter. It’s so much better than granulated sugar in these cookies. Use dark brown sugar if you’d like.
• Large egg: Needed to bind all the ingredients together so they don’t fall apart.
• Vanilla extract: A flavor enhancer and a very signature ingredient in the cookies.
• All-purpose flour: When measured accurately, the flour gives the cookie structure but also the perfect texture. Not too heavy or dense and perfectly soft. I have also made them with Bob’s Red Mill One-to-One gluten free flour.
• Baking soda: A leavening agent that won’t allow your cookies to fall flat!
• Chopped pecans: If you want, you can toast them first, to give them an even more robust nutty taste.

How to Make these Butter Pecan Cookies

This recipe will come together in a few simple steps, and even with 30 minutes in the fridge, they’re still ready in under 1 hour!

Brown the Butter

Step 1: Place a stick of butter in a small sauce pan over medium heat. Allow it to melt then cook for 5 minutes, stirring or swirling the pan occasionally.

Once it turns light brown, you’ll notice a familiar nutty aroma and brown milk solids at the bottom of the pan will appear. That’s the good stuff! We like to call this liquid gold.

Step 2: Add the browned butter to a large mixing bowl. Also add any bits from the bottom of the pan. Melt the remaining 4 tablespoons of butter and add it to the bowl as well.

Then, whisk in the brown sugar or use an electric hand mixer to beat. Follow this with the egg and vanilla extract. Mix to combine.

Step 3: In a separate smaller bowl, mix the flour and baking soda. Then add these dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just barely combined. There should be pockets or lumps of flour.

Step 4: Gently fold in the pecans until they are evenly distributed. Do not overmix. Chill the dough in the fridge for 30 minutes and in the meantime preheat the oven to 375 ° F. (Don’t skip this important step or they will be too thin)

Step 5: Once chilled, scoop out 1 ½ – 2 Tablespoons of dough and use your hands to roll dough into balls. Place them on a prepared baking sheet about 2 inches apart (they will spread a bit). Gently press down each one so it’s no thicker than ½ an inch.

Step 6: Bake in preheated oven for 12-14 minutes until golden brown with crispy edges. They will be soft once out of the oven (great for adding in a nut or sprinkling with sea salt) and will continue to bake a bit on the tray. I give the tray a little tap on the stove top to help them set.

Allow them to cool on the cookie sheet for a 2 minutes and then transfer to a cooling rack and then enjoy a cookie or three!

Tips

• Watch your butter. As easy as making brown butter is, it’s just as easy to cross that fine line between brown and burnt. Watch it closely!
• For even baking, it’s always helpful to start with room-temperature ingredients. Especially when adding hot butter to the mix. Bring your egg to room temperature ahead of time.
• When making brown butter use a light-colored pan. If your pan is too dark it’s harder to see how quickly your butter is turning brown.
• The right amount of flour. As with any baking recipe, make sure to measure flour correctly! Use a scale or the spoon and level method to ensure you’re not using too much flour.
• Overmixing the dough will cause your butter pecan cookies to be denser and not as light and chewy.

Storing Leftover Cookies

Room Temperature:  The cookies stay fresh when stored in an airtight container for up to 4 days. No need to keep them in the fridge, but they do need to remain covered. Otherwise, they’ll dry out.

Freeze:  The baked cookies freeze well so I suggest even making two batches of these delicious cookies and freezing one! They will keep for up to 3 months this way. 

You can even freeze the dough balls if you’d like. I like to flash freeze them first on a cookie sheet then place them in a freezer bag with a layer of parchment paper between them so they don’t stick together.  Cook them right from the freezer and just add a couple of extra minutes to the bake time.

FAQ’s

Easy Pecan Cookies Recipe

These Butter Pecan Cookies are soft, chewy cookie that's wildly delicious! They’re easy to make in under 1 hour using the signature combo of brown butter, vanilla, pecans, and brown sugary sweetness!

4.84 from 148 votes

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Prep Time: 10 minutes minutes

Cook Time: 15 minutes minutes

Chlling time: 30 minutes minutes

Total Time: 55 minutes minutes

Servings: 18 cookies

Calories: 204kcal

Author: Sherri Hagymas

Ingredients

• ▢ 12 tablespoons butter divided (1 ½ sticks)
• ▢ 1 cup brown sugar
• ▢ 1 large egg
• ▢ 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• ▢ 1 ¾ cups all purpose flour
• ▢ 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ▢ 1 cup chopped pecans

Instructions

• Place 8 tablespoons of butter (1 stick) of butter in a small pan and heat over over medium heat until melted.
  12 tablespoons butter
• Then cook it for approximately 5 minutes until it turns light brown, stirring occasionally.
• Add the browned butter to a large mixing bowl. also add any bits from the bottom of the pan.
• Melt the other 4 tablespoons (1/ 2stick)of butter (in a pan or in the microwave for a few seconds) and add it to the mixing bowl with the browned butter.
• Add the brown sugar and beat with an electric mixer or whisk to combine.
  1 cup brown sugar
• Then add the egg and vanilla extract and mix in until combined.
  1 large egg, 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• In a separate small bowl, add the flour and baking soda and toss to mix together.
  1 ¾ cups all purpose flour, 1 teaspoon baking soda
• Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients and mix until just barely combined and large lumps of flour are mixing in.
• Add the pecans and gently stir them into the dough until the pecans are evenly distributed. (be careful not to over-mix or they will be more dense).
  1 cup chopped pecans
• Place the bowl in the refrigerator for 30 minutes to chill. ‘
• Preheat the oven to 375 ° F while the dough is in the refrigerator.
• After chilling, scoop out 1 ½ – 2 tablespoons of dough balls and place them on parchment lined baking sheet 2 inches apart.
• Press down each ball slightly so it’s no thicker than ½”.
• Bake for 12-14 minutes.
• Allow the cookies to cool on the tray for 10 minutes.

Notes

1. Once out of the oven, sprinkle each cookie with some coarse salt. The sweet and salty combination is addicting!
2. If you prefer to keep things sweet, roll the balls of dough in white sugar before baking.
3. For presentation, press one whole pecan on top of the cookies as it comes out of the oven. It’s cute and lets people know what they’re about to get more of.
4. For an extra dose of warmth, add some cinnamon to your cookie dough. They’re the perfect fall cookie recipe!
5. Stir in a ½ cup of white chocolate chips or toffee bits to the batter before scooping.
6. Use dark brown sugar if you’d like.
7. When browning the butter use a light-colored pan. If your pan is too dark it’s harder to see how quickly your butter is turning darkening.
8. As with any baking recipe, make sure to measure flour correctly! Use a scale or the spoon and level method to ensure you’re not using too much flour.
9. Overmixing the dough will cause your the to be denser and not as light and chewy.

Nutrition

Serving: 1cookie | Calories: 204kcal | Carbohydrates: 22g | Protein: 2g | Fat: 12g | Saturated Fat: 5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 2g | Monounsaturated Fat: 5g | Trans Fat: 0.3g | Cholesterol: 30mg | Sodium: 128mg | Potassium: 60mg | Fiber: 1g | Sugar: 12g | Vitamin A: 252IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 20mg | Iron: 1mg

Nutritional Disclosure

Nutrition information is automatically calculated and should only be used as an approximation.

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