This brown sugar pecan cookie recipe has buttery melt-in-your-mouth texture that everyone in your family will love. The toasted pecans give them a rich nutty flavor and the brown sugar provides a chewy texture and a deep rich molasses flavor. This is the perfect cookie to make when you want something a little sweet and a little salty at the same time.
You all, every time I bite into one of these cookies I'm just amazed at how good they taste. They're soft, and buttery, and the brown sugar gives them an incredibly deep maple flavor. My other favorite recipes using brown sugar are Chocolate Chip Skillet Cookie and Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies.
And when you add the crunch of the toasted pecans, these cookies are absolutely out of this world.
The sweet-salty taste is the other reason I love these cookies. The salted pecans and the salted butter are perfect with the sweetness of the brown sugar. The salted roasted pecans come from Trader Joe's, but if you can't find salted pecans, start with raw pecans, and toast them in the oven.
Brown Sugar Pecan Cookie Ingredients
Here are the ingredients you'll need to make these incredibly delicious pecan cookies:
- Dark Brown Sugar: Dark brown sugar helps make these cookies soft and chewy and gives them a deep warm maple flavor. You can use light brown sugar. The flavor won’t be as rich, but the cookie will still taste amazing.
- Salted Butter. Salted butter is used instead of unsalted butter to achieve the salty-sweet cookie of my dreams. If you use unsalted butter, add 3/4 teaspoon of kosher salt to the recipe. Make sure to use room-temperature butter for the best texture and to ensure the dough comes together.
- Toasted Salted Pecans: I get these pecans from Trader Joe’s. The toasted nuts add a deep nutty flavor and the saltiness continues to build on that combination of salty and sweet. If you’re using regular untoasted pecans, toast the nuts in a 350 degree F oven for 8-10 minutes until they are lightly browned. Toasted nuts give a rich nutty flavor to the cookie.
Full ingredients, measurements, and instructions are in the recipe card at the bottom of this post.
How to Make these Brown Sugar Cookies
Even though these pecan cookies don’t have a lot of ingredients start out by measuring out all the ingredients before you start making the cookies. Using a kitchen scale to weigh the ingredients will ensure the best results and is quicker than measuring by volume (i.e. using measuring cups).
Step 1: Chop the pecans into fairly large pieces and set them aside in a small bowl.
Step 2: Place the brown sugar, salted butter, and vanilla extract in the bowl of a stand mixer. The kosher salt is optional.
Step 3: Mix on low speed with the paddle attachment mix and then increase to medium speed and mix until the dough is creamy and lighter in color.
Step 4: Add all of the flour all at once and mix on low speed until the flour is fully incorporated and the cookie dough starts to come together into large clumps.
Step 5: Add the chopped pecans and mix until the pecans are distributed throughout the dough.
Step 6: Divide the dough into two even pieces. I list the approximate weight of the dough in the recipe card below so you don’t have to guess.
Step 7: Lightly flour your working surface, either your counter or a board. Flatten the first piece of dough to remove any air pockets, then shape the dough into a 6-1/2 -inch x 1-1/2 -inch round log.
As you’re shaping the log avoid a thick middle or skinny ends by applying even pressure with your fingers across the length of the log.
Step 8: Wrap the cookie dough log in wax paper or parchment paper and twist the ends of the wax paper to completely cover the dough.
After you’ve made your round log of cookie dough, you’ll want to maintain its shape, especially if it’s a soft, malleable dough that might flatten out in the refrigerator or freezer.
If you happen to have the cardboard tube from an empty paper towel roll lying around, snip it lengthwise and use that to cradle the dough. If you don’t, simply give your dough a rotation every 15 minutes or so to evenly distribute the pressure as it chills.
Chill the dough for at least 2 hours and for up to 2 days.
Step 9: Line a half baking sheet (12 x 17 inches) with parchment paper and preheat the oven. With a sharp knife slice the cookies into 1/2-inch thick rounds
Step 10: Sprinkle the top of the cookies with a little flaky sea salt. Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes. The bottoms will be light golden brown.
Why Toasting Pecans Is a Necessary Step
While it may seem like an extra thing to do or even unnecessary, the extra few minutes it takes to toast the nuts are definitely worth it in terms of flavor. You might be thinking: “But they are going into the oven anyway!”
First, untoasted nuts will not get a toasty aromatic flavor just by being added to the cookie dough —all the moisture from the brown sugar and fat, and the gluten surrounding the nuts will prevent them from getting toasted. Second, toasting nuts separately brings out all the natural oil of your nuts—be it pecans, peanuts, macadamia nuts, walnuts, or almonds.
Plus if you toast the nuts before adding them to the dough, the nuts will stay toasty and crunchy throughout the whole baking process.
Variations
These cookies are so delicious, but you can experiment with variations.
- Add 3 ounces of chocolate chips to the cookie dough
- You can make these cookies with toasted walnuts if you don't have pecans.
- Add pecan halves to the top of the cookies before placing them in the oven, for extra crunch
- Dip the cookies in melted chocolate after they are cooled. See my Chocolate Shortbread Recipe for the chocolate glaze recipe.
Pro Tips for Making This Recipe
- For the best results use a kitchen scale to weigh the ingredients. The ratio of flour, butter, and sugar is the key to the cookies keeping their shape. Too much flour will result in a dry, crumbly cookie and too little flour will result in a cookie that spreads.
- Use great tasting butter. The taste of the butter is very prominent once the cookies are baked so make sure your butter tastes great.
- Bake the cookies on parchment paper instead of Silpat. I noticed that the bottom of the cookies flare out just a little bit when baked on Silpat
- When baking multiple batches, don't place unbaked cookies on a warm baking sheet. Let the baking sheet completely cool before baking the next batch.
Did you make these delicious brown sugar pecan cookies? If so, please let me know and leave a rating and comment below.
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Brown Sugar Pecan Cookies
Ingredients
- 1-3/4 cups + 1 tablespoon (227 grams) unbleached all-purpose flour
- 12 tablespoons (169 grams) salted butter room temperature
- 1/2 cup + 2 tablespoons (125 grams) packed dark brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt optional
- 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 3/4 cup (86 grams) salted roasted pecans chopped
- Maldon sea salt
Instructions
Make the Cookie Dough
- Measure your flour into a bowl and whisk to aerate the flour and remove any lumps.
- In a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer combine the salted butter, brown sugar, vanilla extract, and kosher salt. Only add the kosher salt if you want your cookies a little extra salty. Mix on low until ingredients are roughly combined then increase mixer speed to medium and beat until mixture is lighter in color and fluffy, about 3 minutes.
- Add all of the flour at once and mix on low speed until the flour is well combined and the dough comes together into large clumps, about 5 minutes. At first, the cookie dough will have a crumbly texture and then it will come together.
- Add the chopped pecans and mix on low speed until the pecans are distributed throughout the dough.
- Turn the cookie dough out onto a lightly floured surface. Use your hands to shape the dough into a large ball and then divide it in half. Each half should weigh about 300 grams. Shape each half into a log about 6-1/2 inches long and 1-1/2 inches thick. Wrap each log in wax wrap and refrigerate for at least 2 hours.
- The cookie dough can be refrigerated for up to 2 days. You can also freeze the cookie dough logs for up to 3 months. After the dough has refrigerated for 2 hours, please the logs in a freezer storage bag and place them in the freezer.
Bake the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350°F. Line a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Using a sharp blade to slice the ends of the cookie logs to even out the ends. Use a thin sharp blade or a serrated knife and slice each log into 1/2 inch rounds and place each slice on a cookie sheet about 1-inch apart. These cookies don’t spread much. Sprinkle each cookie with flaky sea salt and bake for 12-14 minutes until slightly browned on the bottom edges.
- Remove the cookies from the oven. Let them cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes and then place them on a wire rack to finish cooling. And then enjoy.
Storing the Cookies
- Store the cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 7 days.
Sheena says
My husband says these are some of the best cookies that he has ever eaten. And believe me, he has eaten a lot of cookies!
Cheryl Norris says
Hi Sheena
Thank you so much for visiting the blog and trying this recipe. I'm so glad your husband enjoyed them and I hope you did too. I tested this recipe so many times, that when I finally got it, my husband who is my taste tester, said "good, I'm ready to try something new." It's good to know his work was not in vain.
Gail says
These are spectacular! I am adding these to one of my favorites, and will keep the dough in my freezer so it will be available at any moment for a quick treat. I love the sweet/salty vibe. Thank you so much. Your recipes have always been incredible. Your site is fabulous. Thank you for all you do, it is appreciated.
Cheryl Norris says
Hi Gail
I'm so glad you love these cookies. That's a smart idea to keep dough in the freezer. And thank you so much for not only trying this recipe, but for your compliment on my blog and my other recipes.
Laura says
Took these to our work holiday cookie exchange today and they were a big hit! Love the flavor!
Cheryl Norris says
Hi Laura
Thank you for trying this recipe. I'm thrilled to hear that you love the flavor and that they were and hit at the office party. Yay!
Nancy Lou says
Fabulous flavor even when veganized using a high quality organic non hydrogenated margarine brand vitaquel. I toasted myself the raw pecans and added when cooled about 1/2 teaspoon of fleur de sel de Guérande instead of adding on top of 🍪 . And of course the rapadura/moscavado sugar is Top ! Merci beaucoup Cheryl 🩵
Joyce Rogers-Brown says
Hello Ms. Baker Extraordinaire!
I have one short ?: what causes the "ridge" around the perimeter of the tops of these cookies in your photo?
Thank you so much.
Cheryl Norris says
Hi Joyce
I most humbly thank you for my new title 😄. The ridge is because the outside of the cookie sets while the center is still baking. The cookie puffs up a little while the cookies are baking. When the cookies cool the center falls leaving the ridge.
Alex says
These were so good!! I made my dough into two 2”x5” rectangle prisms instead of logs so it didn’t have to rotate them in the fridge and they baked up perfectly!
Deborah says
These cookies are a huge hit whenever I make them! The sweet/salty balance is perfect. I love the precision of measuring dry ingredients by weight and appreciate you showing that option in your recipe. Instead of rolling the dough into logs before chilling and slicing, I simply used a 1 1/2 tbsp cookie scoop to make drop cookies, lightly flattening the dough balls with my fingers before chilling them for two hours and then baking. Worked great and easier for me.
Cheryl Norris says
Hi Deborah
I'm glad you love weighing the ingredients. I find it the easiest way to get consistent results. When I was testing this recipe I was worried that I might be pushing the salty part too far, but your review along with others makes me happy that I did. Thank you for trying this recipe and leaving this fantastic review.
Ranja says
I looooved this recipe and these cookies. I made them for my kids with a big bag of pecans I bought from the store. I love that the measurements are in grams and standard units, and I think the recipe is really clear. I will try more of your recipes! These turns out so well.
Cheryl Norris says
Hi Ranja
Thank you so much for this wonderful review, it made my day, that and the news you plan to try other recipes. I'm so glad you enjoyed the cookies and found the recipe instructions clear and helpful
Eric says
No comment has mentioned that this recipe has two different gram measurements for each measurement. What am I missing?
For instance:
Pecans 74 grams (86 grams)
Cheryl Norris says
Hi Eric
I don't see that when I look at the recipe card even in incognito mode. Could you send me a screenshot of what you're seeing? Please send it to bakesbybrownsugar@gmail.com. Thank you.
Mase says
Keeper! This turned out to be the favorite at the cookie exchange this year.
Cheryl Norris says
Woohoo! Thank you Mase for trying it and letting me know it was a favorite.
susan says
Perfect. Buttery, lightly sweet, with the extra kick from the salt. Another Cheryl hit.