My Favorite Pecan Pie Cookies

If you, like most Americans love a classic pecan pie around the holidays you will obsess over my pecan pie cookies. Each bite taste exactly like a slice of grandmas pecan pie. With hints of brown butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, molasses, crunchy pecans and homemade toffee bits this cookie is bound to become one of your favorite cookies too.

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WHY YOU WILL LOVE THIS COOKIE

• No need to chill the cookie dough. You can have a fresh, flavorful and completely homemade cookie in under an hour.
• No need for a mixer. The cookies come together easily in a mixing bowl with a rubber spatula.
• Finger licking good, these cookies are the perfect mini dessert for any occasion without the mess of a pie. No forks or plates needed.

Ingredient Notes

• It is important to use high quality butter if you want your cookies to have a rich butter flavor. I use Kirklands Grass Fed butter or Kerrygold Grass Fed Unsalted butter with a teaspoon of Redmonds Real Sea Salt
• Next use a good flour. You want an un bleached all purpose flour. One that is less processed. My go to favorite flours to bake with are Wheat Montana White All Purpose Flour or King Arthurs Organic All Purpose White Flour. You can also use an ancient grain like Kamut Flour. Just make sure to use 3/4 cup for every cup of flour because it is more dense than white flour.

Recipe variations

• If pecans are not your thing try the cookies without the pecans and replace them with an extra 1/2 cup of toffee bits.
• You can also omit the pecans and toffee bits from the recipe and roll the cookie dough balls into cinnamon and sugar for a delicious brown sugar snickerdoodle cookie. Just add a 1/4 cup of organic cane sugar to a bowl with 1 teaspoon of cinnamon and mix together with a fork.

How to make the Pecan Pie Cookies

1. If you want to make homemade toffee for the cookies make it first before making the cookie dough. Recipe for my homemade toffee is below in the recipe card.
2. Then preheat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit and line two standard cookie sheets with parchment paper.
3. In a medium sauce pan brown the butter and let it cool for 2o minutes.
4. After 20 minutes transfer the cooled butter to a large mixing bowl along with the brown sugar and beat the two together until light and fluffy.
5. Add in the egg, egg yolks, vanilla extract water and molasses then mix until smooth.
6. In a smaller mixing bowl combine the flour, baking soda, salt, ground cinnamon, chopped pecans and toffee bits.
7. Now add the flour mixture to the egg mixture and fold them into until just incorporated.
8. Scoop the dough with a large cookie scoop and add no more than 5-6 cookies onto a sheet pan at a time.
9. Bake the cookies at 350 F for 10-15 minutes.
10. Cool and enjoy.

expert tips

• Place an oven thermometer into the oven and then preheat it to 350 F. Before baking the cookies check to see what your oven temperature is. If the thermometer says the oven is 375 F then lower your oven temperature to 325 F for a more even bake.
• Use a Pure Grade Aluminum baking sheet. I love my USA Sheet Pans. They are non stick, contain pure 303 Aluminum Alloy and conduct heat evenly so my cookies turn out perfect every time.
• Use a large 2.75 oz cookie scoop to get 15 large bakery style cookies that are soft and chewy in the middle and crunchy on the outside.
• Do not forget the parchment paper for lining the baking sheets. The parchment paper gives the cookie dough something to hold onto and can help prevent the cookies from flattening and spreading too much while baking.
• After the cookies have baked, before cooling them, shape them using a large, circular cookie cutter or cup. One that is slightly bigger than the baked cookies. Simple swirl the cookie cutter around each warm cookie to get perfect circular cookies.

5 from 1 vote

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Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Brown Butter, Cookie Recipe, Cookies, Holiday Cookies, Homemade Toffee, Mollases, Pecan Pie, Pie Cookies

My Favorite Pecan Pie Cookies

If you, like most Americans love a classic pecan pie around the holidays you will become obsessed with my pecan pie cookies. Each bite taste exactly like a slice of grandmas pecan pie. With hints of browned butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, molasses, crunchy pecans and homemade toffee bits this cookie is bound to become one of your favorite cookies too.

Servings: 13 Large Cookies

Author: Cookiee Club

Equipment

• 1 Mixing bowl
• 1 Measuring Cup Set
• 1 Rubber Spatula
• 1-3 Baking Sheet
• Parchment Paper
• 1 Cookie Scoop
• 1 Cookie Spatula
• 1 Cookie Cooling Rack
• 1 Medium Sauce Pan
• 1 Candy Thermometer

Ingredients

Homemade Toffee Bits

• ½ cup butter salted or unsalted
• 1 cup organic brown sugar
• 1 teaspoon sea salt

Cookie Dough

• 1 cup butter salted or unsalted
• 1 ½ cups organic dark brown sugar
• 1 egg
• 2 egg yolks
• 1 teaspoon pure molasses
• 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
• 2 tablespoons water
• ½ teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• ⅓ cup bread flour
• 2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour
• 1 cup chopped whole pecans
• ¾ cup toffee bits homemade or store bought

Instructions

Homemade Toffee Bits

• Begin to make the toffee by lining a cookie sheet with parchment paper.
• Then in a medium sauce pan over medium heat melt the butter in the pot.
• Next add in the brown sugar and salt and whisk vigorously for one minute until combined.
• Continue to cook the candy, stirring constantly until it looks like melted peanut butter and the thermometer reads 295-305 degrees Fahrenheit. This should take about 10 minutes.
• Immediately pour the hot caramel onto the cookie sheet with parchment paper and smooth it out as much as possible with the spatula.
• Let the toffee cool and harden, about 20 minutes. Then crush up the candy with a measuring cup or a mallet into tiny shards to use in the cookie dough.

Cookie Dough

• Start by preheating the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
• Next line two standard (13×18) cookie sheets with parchment paper and set aside.
• Begin making the recipe by browning the butter.
• Add the butter to a medium saucepan over medium heat and melt the butter, stirring occasionally to avoid burning.
• Continue to melt the butter for about 7 minutes until the butter foams and golden brown bits form on the bottom of the pan.
• Remove the browned butter from the stove, pour it into a bowl and let it cool for 20 min.
• Now find a large mixing bowl and begin to make the cookie dough.
• Scrape the cooled brown butter into the bowl along with the brown sugar and mix them together until light and fluffy.
• Add the egg, two egg yolks, vanilla extract, molasses and 2 Tablespoons of water to the bowl.
• Mix until combined.
• Then in a smaller mixing bowl add all-purpose flour, bread flour, salt, baking soda and cinnamon; mix the ingredients together with a fork.
• Lightly chop the pecans and toss them into the dry ingredients.
• Add 1/2 cup of toffee bits to the dry ingredients too.
• Now transfer the dry ingredients into the wet ingredients and with a rubber spatula, fold the two together until the last bit of flour disappears.
• Using a large cookie scoop, form cookie dough balls and place no more than 5 cookies on a baking tray at a time.
• Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes at 350 degrees Fahrenheit until the edges are lightly browned but the centers are still soft.
• Continue until all the cookies are baked.
• Cool the cookies and enjoy.

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