Oh my goodness guys, these cookies. These buttery, nutty, and crumbly brown butter maple pecan cookies are made with toasty brown butter and filled with roasted pecans. Dipped in a maple glaze made with maple syrup and a sprinkle of pecans, these cookies are so incredibly delicious, and would be the perfect addition to your holiday cookie platter. Bring these to your next cookie swap and they are sure to be a hit.
*Updated 12/3/23*
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Why You Will Love These Cookies
- These brown butter maple pecan cookies are similar in texture to a shortbread cookie, so the cookies will have a soft, sandy, shortbread texture when baked.
- These cookies are buttery, and nutty, toasty and deep in flavor. Brown butter is the star of these cookies and provides so much flavor.
- The maple glaze takes these cookies to the next level. Using real maple syrup in this glaze along with a little bit of a good quality maple extract, really amps up the maple flavor. Maple, brown butter and pecans are a knock out flavor combination.
Recipe Ingredients
Unsalted butter
Powdered/Confectioners' sugar
Fine sea salt
All purpose flour
Pecans - finely chopped and toasted
Maple syrup - Use real maple syrup, not pancake syrup.
Maple extract - Maple syrup has a mild maple flavor. The extract gives some extra maple flavor.
Cream, milk - to bind the dough
Recipe Instructions
- Brown the butter until deep golden brown. Cool to just warm.
- Refrigerate the brown butter until solid but still scoopable.
- Beat together brown butter, confectioners sugar and salt.
- Beat in the flour and pecans until just combined. Add a few tablespoons of cream if needed.
- Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured surface or mat and wrap tightly with plastic wrap.
- Flatten the dough to a disc and refrigerate for 30 minutes. Preheat the oven to 350F and line two cookie sheets with parchment.
- Roll the dough to ¼" thick and cut out cookie shapes. I used a 3" fluted cookie cutter.
- Place cookies on cookie sheet and chill for 20 minutes.
- Bake the cookies until they begin to brown around the edges and the center is set.
- Cool completely on the cookie sheet before glazing.
- Whisk together the confectioners sugar, maple syrup, maple extract and salt until combined. Whisk in water as needed to thin the glaze.
- Dip the cookies into the glaze, halfway, then place on parchment paper to dry. Sprinkle with pecans. Let the glaze set before serving.
Baking Tips
- Once chilled and ready to use, roll out the dough while it is still wrapped in plastic wrap. The dough will stretch the plastic wrap and will be especially helpful in getting the dough to keep its shape, and getting a head start in rolling it out.
- Browning the butter takes minutes, but cooling and solidifying the butter takes some time. You can make the brown butter in advance, up to a week ahead if needed. Exact times for cooling in the recipe card are estimates.
- With any cookie dough that needs to be chilled, allow the dough to come to cool room temperature before rolling it out, if you've let the dough chill to the point the butter has firmed back up. Trying to roll it out cold is not recommended. It will be near impossible to keep the dough together and will be incredibly difficult to roll it out.
Storage and Freezing
Cookie dough can be frozen for up to 3 months.
Baked and unglazed cookies can be stored in an airtight container and frozen for up to 3 months. They can also be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 5 days.
Glazed cookies can be stored at room temperature in an airtight container for 3-5 days. Keep the cookies from sticking to each other by layering them in a single layer, with layers divided by parchment or wax paper.
FAQs
Brown butter can be tricky, because we're not always sure how much water evaporates during cooking. I make these cookies often and never need to add any liquid. But, if the dough seems too dry when mixing, you can add up to three tablespoons of cream, half and half, milk, or yogurt to the dough. You want the dough to just be able to hold together, and no large pockets of dry flour to remain. Adding just a small amount of liquid will not effect the texture or flavor of the cookies. However, too much liquid can make the cookies tough, so use only as needed.
With the first round of chilling, the dough is not being chilled to keep it cold necessarily, but it's to let the dough rest and let the flour properly absorb the liquid and to relax the gluten so that it is easier to roll.
The second round of chilling is for the butter to harden a bit so the cookies will keep their shape when baking.
Rolling the dough out between two pieces of parchment paper or wax paper, will help prevent any sticking and make the dough easier and faster to roll. Bonus, it's also less mess. I almost exclusively do this with most roll out doughs these days.
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More Cookie Recipes to Try
Recipe
Brown Butter Maple Pecan Cookies
Ingredients
Cookies
- 1 cup unsalted butter
- ½ cup confectioners sugar
- ½ tsp fine sea salt
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 2-3 tablespoons cream or half and half
- ½ cup pecans, toasted and finely chopped (plus some for sprinkling)
Maple Glaze
- 2 cups confectioners sugar
- 3 tablespoons maple syrup
- ½ teaspoon maple extract
- ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
- 2-3 tablespoons water
Instructions
- In a medium sauce pan over medium low heat, cook the butter until it is a deep golden brown color and smells nutty and toasted, about 5 -7 minutes. Remove the pan from the heat.1 cup unsalted butter
- Let the butter cool to luke warm, for about an hour. Place the cooled butter in the refrigerator until solid but scoopable and still soft, for an additional 1-2 hours. The texture will be similar to shortening, or tub butter.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the brown butter, confectioners' sugar and the salt until well combined.½ cup confectioners sugar, ½ teaspoon fine sea salt
- Beat in the flour and the pecans until just combined, and no large pockets of flour remains in the bowl. If the dough is still dry and sandy, stream in the cream until the dough starts to come together.2 cups all purpose flour, ½ cup pecans, toasted and finely chopped (plus some for sprinkling), 2-3 tablespoons cream or half and half
- Transfer the dough to a lightly floured surface or a non-stick mat, and form the dough into a ball. Wrap tightly with plastic wrap and flatten to a disc, about 1" high. Chill the dough in the refrigerator for 30 minutes.
- Preheat the oven to 350F. Line two cookies sheets with parchment.
- On a lightly floured surface or a non-stick mat, roll out the dough to about ¼" thick.
- Using a round fluted cookie cutter, cut out rounds out of the dough and place on the parchment cookie sheets, leaving about 2" between the cookies. Chill the cookies for 20 minutes.
- Bake the cookies for 15-17 minutes until the edges are just starting to lightly brown and the centers of the cookies look set. Cool the cookies completely on the baking sheet.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together the confectioner's sugar, maple syrup, and maple extract until smooth. Add the water as needed. The glaze consistency should be thick enough to coat the cookie, similar to melted chocolate in texture.2 cups confectioners sugar, 3 tablespoons maple syrup, 2-3 tablespoons water, ½ teaspoon maple extract, ⅛ teaspoon fine sea salt
- Dip the cookies into the glaze, halfway, then place on parchment paper.
- While the glaze is still wet, sprinkle with finely chopped pecans. Let the glaze set before serving or storing.
Lala says
Hi, these cookies look both beautiful and delicious. I was wondering if there is a way to add some maple flavor to the cookie itself. Do you think adding 1-2 tsp of maple extract to the batter would work? Also, I want to pipe the icing on my cookies. Is it thick enough for some light piping work?
Ashley says
Hi Lala. I'd add 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp maple extract to the dough. The glaze is not thick enough to pipe. Royal icing would be better to pipe on the cookies.
Toni McCormick says
I made a 1/2 batch--baking as we speak. Due to a historic snow event (N.O.) gets an 1 or 2 inches every 7-15 years lastly less than a day--we couldn't get out for Maple SYRUP. I had pure maple SUGAR on hand in addition to the extract; used that for the glaze.
In addition to some pecan meal could one sub a little maple sugar instead of the confection sugar or would it change dough structure?
Ashley says
I believe switching out the sugars could cause the cookies to have a sandier texture, but I think they'd be great!
Toni McCormick says
You had me at the brown butter & pecans! Would it be possible to replace some of the flour (1/4-1/2 cup) w pecan meal to increase pecan flavor?
Ashley says
Sure!
SW says
Hi! Could you please tell me what brand of scalloped cookie cutter you used that it held its shape so well? Mine must not be as deeply fluted as yours as the shape isn't as defined after baking. Thank you!
Ashley says
I'm not sure what brand, but I got it at either Hobby Lobby or Michael's craft store.
Mayka Tustison says
I'm planning on making this today but I don't have maple flavoring just maple syrup. I'm not in a place I can find it at the store either. Should I just add more syrup?
Ashley says
Hi Mayka! No need to add extra maple, you can just omit the maple extract. Note that the maple flavor will be a bit more mild. Enjoy!
Nadine says
Pretty good cookies! I had to add water to the dough to get it to stick and that helped a lot! Next time I make these I would maybe add some of the maple extract into the shortbread too. It was lacking a little and all the flavour for the cookie was just in the icing. Easy to make and happy how they turned out, personally I would just tweek my next batch a little bit 🙂
Lisa Marie says
So these are DELICIOUS. And pretty easy to make if you have patience. My total time was 4.5 hours (not 40 mins as the recipe states), but that includes refrigeration time, bake time, etc…the whole process… I actually used vanilla greek yogurt to form the dough better which worked really well. I may also increase the maple extract in the glaze from 1/2 tsp to 1 tsp next time because I like the flavor but don’t want the sweetness of too much maple syrup.
Kyra says
Hey could you make this gluten free ?
Ashley says
Hi Kyra. You can try replacing the flour with a cup for cup gluten free blend, but I haven't tried it to see if it works well. In theory, it should. If you try it, please let me know!
Christina Binder says
I recently baked these amazing cookies, had to add the cream/milk to get the dough to hold together. Once cooled I tempered some chocolate chips and sprinkled the warm chocolate with some leftover chopped toasted nuts and toasted coconut…so yummy 😋
Lauren says
I make shortbread all the time. Loved this recipe. When I rolled out the dough it would not come together. Very crumbly. I added a wee bit of milk like the other commenter. Now in asking this my butter was in fridge all night and a NOT soft when I mixed batter. Was this maybe why?
They ore in oven baking can’t wait to try. Thanks.
Lauren
Ashley says
Hi Lauren!
Yes, the butter being hard does contribute to the dough being crumbly. It's absolutely fine adding a little bit of milk.
Sometimes, depending on the butter brand, fat percentage and how the long the butter cooks, more water can evaporate while browning, which can lead to more of a crumbly dough.
Lauren says
Well there were delicious. Thank u for the recipe.
Michelle says
So yummy! Has got to be one of my favorite cookies. Buttery, nutty and short with that maple glaze. Perfecto!
Ashley says
Thank you Michelle! So happy you loved them!
Heatherb says
Would this dough work with cookie stamps?
Ashley says
Hi Heather! I'm not sure. These cookies are similar to a shortbread, so I think it could work. If you try it, let me know how it works out!
Claire says
Looking forward to trying this recipe! What size cookie cutter did you use? Thank you!
Ashley says
Hi Claire. I used a 3" cookie cutter.
Shannon says
The picture of your cookies almost look like they have a base layer of icing on them, plus the glaze - is this just the way the cookie looks?
Ashley says
Hi Shannon! It's just how the glaze has kind of pooled beneath the cookies as they set. It can be avoided by placing them on a wire rack to dry and drip off the excess glaze.
Dee says
How long will these keep??
Ashley says
Hi Dee. They will keep for a week in an airtight container. Ash xx
Kateoshaw says
I made the recipe twice. The second time I reduced the refrigeration to one hour which made the cookies easier to handle. I also reduced the powdered sugar in the frosting to 1/2 cup which made it easier to dip the cookies. They are wonderful cookies with a great maple taste.
Kristina says
Could I make the dough ahead of time and freeze? Or should I just keep in the fridge? I am trying to prep for thanksgiving. I would be making the dough 3-4 days ahead of time. Thank you!
Laura says
Hi! So I’m not sure why but after baking the cookies, the top were sticky, looked almost as if they were not fully baked but the bottoms were starting to brown. When I touched them, some dough came off on my fingers. I’ve never seen that before when baking. Not sure what I did wrong.
Ashley says
Hi Laura. This can happen sometimes with shortbread because there is low moisture content. Moisture binds cookie dough generally, but with shortbread, it's more fat binding than moisture binding, hence shortbread's typical sandy, crumbly texture. Low moisture also means melt in your mouth, and a lighter texture. I hope you enjoyed them! Ash
Yolanda Turner says
Hi Laura, I love these cookies but when I made them yesterday, and over again today, they have that surface stickiness that I'm sure is the same as you experienced. The cookies are delicious, but this stickiness is really a pain. I have to say that when I first tried the recipe about two months ago, the batch I made did not have this stickiness. But, for the life of me, I can't figure out why this new batch has it. I called the King Arthur Flour baking hot line and they were stumped, as well. I'm not sure about the response you originally got from this website. My feeling is that the stickiness makes the cookies inedible - too messy. Wish I could figure this out. If you have solved this mystery, please publish the remedy. Thanks.
Ashley says
Hi Yolanda. It's normal for a shortbread to be sandy on top, but not sticky. I'm trying to troubleshoot why some bakers are having this problem. A few questions. Did you add the milk/cream at the end of the recipe? How long did you bake them? I do think I have an idea of what could be causing this.
Mariam says
I’m making this right now and the butter is almost grainy? Did I overcook it? Smells so good tho! Do I need to strain it?
Ashley says
Hi Mariam! Nope, sounds perfect. No need to strain it.
Michelle says
Made these for my annual cookie exchange party. They were a big hit. I would have won best tasting cookie, but I eliminated that award this year and instead had a best looking cookie vote. I tied for the win!
A says
Do you think you could make these workout nuts and they would turn out ok? Should anything be added to replace?
Ashley says
I think you can make them without nuts and they'll be great. Replace the 1/2 cup of pistachios with an additional 1/2 cup of flour. Enjoy!
Mary says
These would be gorgeous on the Christmas cookie plate.
Debbie DeCarlo says
I made these cookies twice for cookie boxes this holiday. They are wonderful.
Jenni says
Is the 1/2 cup pecans measured *before or after* they have been chopped?
Ashley says
Hi Jenni! Measure pecans before they've been chopped.
Ann says
These cookies are amazing. My family and friends all loved these. The brown butter in combination with the maple syrup is divine. Thank you for this recipe.
Dreefy says
Is it possible to make these dairy free? They sound mouthwatering but I can not have butter anymore. *insert heartbreak here*
Ashley says
Hi! I have never tried it, but you can try it with vegan butter. Most won't brown like regular butter will, but I have heard that Miyoko's brand will.
Vanessa says
Thanks for sharing! Do they freeze well?
Ashley says
They do! You can freeze them cut out and unbaked, or baked without the glaze. I prefer to freeze them without the glaze, just because any moisture when defrosting can cause the glaze to melt.
Shelby says
How long can these be stored baked and frozen?
Ashley says
They can be stored at room temperature for 3-4 days and frozen without glaze for up to 3 months.
Suzanne says
This looks so good! What a fun cookie to make with kids!
Chrissie says
Can you freeze these cookies with the maple glaze on?
Ashley says
Yep, sure can! Be sure the icing is 100% dry first. Place wax paper or parchment between the cookies when stacking.
Samantha says
Made these cookies today! When I was mixing the dough it was too crumbly and wasn't forming together, I fixed this by adding a touch of milk and 1 tbsp of butter and it worked great! Also, 17 mins for the cook time was too long for my cookies. 12 mins seemed to be great. Other then that, tasted delicious!
Stacey Davis says
Hello just found this recipe cant wait to add it to my fall cookie list, does the cookie glaze crust for easy packing,
Ashley says
Yep! Just let it dry completely before packing. -Ash
Jessica says
I have to say that your blog has some of the best looking recipes. Just wanted to know how many cookies does this recipe make.
Ashley says
Hi Jessica! The batch makes 16-20 cookies. Hope you love them!