These pecan pie cookies are made with a soft butter cookie and topped with gooey, delicious pecan pie filling. Make these cookies when you want the flavor of pecan pie without the effort!
Pecan pie has always been my favorite pie flavor and since it’s cookie season I thought I would combine these two great desserts to create these pecan pie cookies! The recipe is pretty straightforward. If you’re eager to make them go ahead and press the “jump to recipe” button. For tips on how to make the best pecan pie cookies, read below!
The Cookie Base
For the base of these pecan pie cookies we are using a super simple short cookie dough. This cookie is packed with buttery sugar cookie flavor but doesn’t spread too much in the oven. It’s the perfect base to hold our spiced pecan pie filling!
In order to create an indent in the cookies to hold the pecan pie filling, you’ll need to follow a few steps:
- Scoop a larger amount of cookie dough than normal—roughly three tablespoons of cookie dough. This is a large cookie people!
- After placing the dough on the baking tray, take a 1/4 cup measuring cup and press down until an indent has been created. I recommend dipping the bottom of the measuring cup into a bit of flour to keep it from sticking to the dough. The cookie dough should be roughly 3” in diameter before you put it in the oven.
- After pressing an indent into each ball of dough, I like to pinch the sides to close any cracks that were made when I pressed the dough.
- During baking the cookies will puff up ever so slightly so once you remove them, take the 1/4 cup measuring cup and LIGHTLY press the centers down again. Don’t press too hard or the texture in the center of the cookie will be wrong.
The Pecan Pie Filling
This pecan pie filling is so good, you will definitely try to find as many foods as possible to dip in it or put it on! We make it by combining the following ingredients in a saucepan:
Unsalted Butter
Brown Sugar
Dark Corn Syrup
Heavy Cream
Cinnamon
Salt
Corn Starch
Pecans
We make the pecan pie filling while the cookies are baking and allow it to cool for about 20 minutes before topping the cookies with it. The more the filling cools, the more it will thicken. You want to add it to the cookies when it’s still easy to scoop with a spoon, which is why I recommend about 20 minutes after you’ve taken it off the heat.
Top with Flaky Salt!
Not because it’s trendy, but because we want to cut through the sweetness of the pecan pie filling and balance all of the flavors in these pecan pie cookies!
If you like these pecan pie cookies you’ll love my Butter Tart Cookie Bars, they earned me a Hollywood Handshake from Paul Hollywood on The Great American Baking Show and they have a lot of similar elements to these cookies!
Happy Holiday Baking!
Pecan Pie Cookies
Ingredients
For the Cookies
- 1 cup unsalted butter 226g, 2 sticks, room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar 100g
- 2 1/2 cups all purpose flour 320g
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
For the Pecan Pie Filling
- 1/2 cup unsalted butter 113g, cold
- 3/4 cup brown sugar 156g
- 1/4 cup dark corn syrup 80ml
- 1 tsp cinnamon
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 1 tsp cornstarch
- 1/4 cup heavy cream 50ml
- 3/4 cups roughly chopped pecans 100g
- flaky salt to garnish
Instructions
For the Cookies
- Preheat the oven to 350°F (roughly 180°C) and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
- In a large bowl, mix 1 cup (226g) of room temperature butter with 1/2 cup (100g) of granulated sugar using a spatula.*
- Once combined, add 2 1/2 cups (320g) of all purpose flour, 1/2 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of vanilla and mix again until just combined.
- Scoop balls of cookie dough, 3 Tbsp each, roll them into a ball and place on a cookie sheet. These cookies are large, you may want to bake in two batches.
- Using a 1/4 cup measuring cup, press an indent into the center of each cookie dough ball, dipping the bottom of the 1/4 cup measuring cup into some flour so it doesn't stick.
- Once you've created an edge, pinch together any cracks that were created when you made the indent so that there is a smooth border.
- Bake for 13-15 minutes or until the bottoms start to brown slightly. These cookies are large, so their bake time is longer than normal.
- Once baked, remove from the oven and allow to cool.
For the Pecan Pie Filling
- In a small saucepan, add 1/2 cup (113g) of cold unsalted butter, 3/4 cup (156g) of brown sugar and 1/4 cup (80ml) of dark corn syrup and heat over medium heat until the sugar dissolves and the mixture begins to bubble slightly.
- Add 1 tsp of cinnamon, 1/2 tsp of salt and 1 tsp of cornstarch directly to the pan and stir well. The mixture will start to thicken, keep it moving.
- Add 1/4 cup (50ml) of heavy cream and 3/4 cup (100g) of slightly chopped pecans and stir. Once the filling has thickened slightly, remove it from the heat to cool for about 20 minutes.
For the Assembly
- Spoon the cooled pecan pie filling into the indents in the cookies, sprinkle with a bit of flaky salt and enjoy!
- The longer the cookies sit, the more the pecan pie filling will thicken.
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