Browned Butter Pecan Sandies - delicious butter cookies made completely from scratch! These holiday cookies will be a fantastic choice for Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's parties. Kids love them and adults adore these. These pecan sandies are everybody's favorite cookies!
The cookies are made with browned butter chopped pecans, and I will show you how to carefully brown the butter without burning it (including step-by-step photos), how to add chopped pecans to the browned butter to toast them a bit. And, finally, this recipe will explain how to create these cute pecan sandies, which are rolled in granulated sugar before baking and each cookie is then individually topped with a pecan half!
With pecans on top and brushed with maple syrup, these pecan sandies are the ultimate Autumn treat. These cookies will be devoured by your family, friends, co-workers in no time!
The browned butter pecan sandies keep well at room temperature for 1 week, and you can freeze them for up to 2 months!
While these cookies taste great just as they are, without the maple syrup, you can also brush maple syrup over the top of the pecan sandies for an extra shine and flavor. It's an optional step, and I recommend that you try it on a couple of cookies, taste them, and only then decide whether to brush the rest of the cookies with the maple syrup:
And, now, get ready - I have a lot of step-by-step photos describing how to make browned butter and how to make these cookies!
How to make browned butter
In a medium saucepan, stir the butter (cut into small pieces) over medium heat until melted, stirring constantly:
Continue to cook the butter over medium heat, simmering, stirring often. The butter will soon start to bubble and foam. As the butter foams, keep stirring and reduce heat if needed. Keep a close look at the butter - it will soon start to turn brown (which you will see through the foam):
How to cook pecans in browned butter
As soon as the butter starts to brown, add chopped pecans. The mixture will foam even more:
Continue cooking the butter with chopped pecans, constantly stirring, for not more than 1 minute, on low heat. Make sure to watch closely not to burn chopped pecans:
After you've cooked the butter with chopped pecans for about 1 minute, remove from heat and immediately pour this butter-pecan mixture into a separate, cool heatproof bowl. DO NOT LEAVE the butter with chopped pecans in the same pan you cooked them, otherwise, butter and pecans will burn!
Cool the butter-pecan mixture in a separate heat-proof bowl for about 20-30 minutes, or even longer, depending on your kitchen temperature. The butter-pecan mixture should thicken and solidify, and when mixed it should look like that:
How to make cookie dough
Now that you've made brown butter with pecans, it's time to start making the cookie dough.
Add powdered sugar, brown sugar, 3 tablespoons half-and-half, vanilla, and salt into the cooled butter-pecan mixture:
Stir until sugars are smoothly incorporated:
Mix in the flour until dough forms. If the mixture is too crumbly and doesn't hold together, add small amounts of additional half-and-half, and continue to work the mixture. The dough should look like on my photo - the dough should form a huge ball and hold it together:
How to shape pecan cookies
Divide dough into 4 equal portions. Divide each ¼th of the dough into 9 equal balls. Roll each ball in coarse sugar. Place balls about 2 ½ inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets:
Press a pecan half firmly into each ball. If edges of the cookies crack, just push back together:
Bake one baking sheet at a time for 13 minutes until cookies start to brown. Transfer the baking sheet to a wire rack. Let cool 10 minutes for cookies to firm up. Using a wide spatula, transfer cookies to a wire rack.
Optional: Brush pecans on top with maple syrup. Do it only to a few cookies, try them, and brush more cookies, if desired.
Your amazing browned butter pecan sandies are all ready for everybody to grab! A delicious treat for kids and adults alike!
Related pecan cookie recipes
Browned Butter Pecan Sandies
Ingredients
- 1 cup butter , unsalted, cut into small pieces
- 1 cup pecans , chopped
- ¾ cup powdered sugar
- ¼ cup brown sugar , packed
- 4 tablespoons half and half or cream
- 2 teaspoons vanilla
- ½ teaspoon salt
- 2 cups all-purpose flour , unbleached
- ⅓ cup sugar , coarse
- 36 pecan halves
- ⅓ cup maple syrup optional
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
How to make browned butter with pecans
- In a medium saucepan, stir the butter (cut into small pieces) over medium heat until melted, stirring constantly. Continue to cook the butter over medium heat, simmering, stirring often. The butter will soon start to bubble and foam.
- As the butter foams, keep stirring and reduce heat if needed. Keep a close look at the butter and as soon as it starts to turn brown (which you will see through the foam), add chopped pecans. The mixture will foam even more.
- Continue cooking the butter with chopped pecans, constantly stirring, for not more than 1 minute, on low heat. Make sure to watch closely not to burn chopped pecans. Remove from heat and immediately pour this butter-pecan mixture into a separate, cool heatproof bowl.
- DO NOT LEAVE the butter with chopped pecans in the same pan you cooked them, otherwise butter and pecans will burn! Cool the butter-pecan mixture in a separate heat-proof bowl for about 20-30 minutes, or even longer, depending on your kitchen temperature. The butter-pecan mixture should thicken and solidify.
How to make cookie dough for pecan sandies
- Add powdered sugar, brown sugar, 3 tablespoons half-and-half, vanilla, and salt into the cooled butter-pecan mixture and stir until sugars are smoothly incorporated.
- Mix in the flour until dough forms. If mixture is too crumbly and doesn't hold together, add small amounts of additional half-and-half, and continue to work the mixture. The dough should look like on my photo above (scroll up and you'll see step-by-step photos).
How to shape pecan sandies
- Divide dough into 4 equal portions. Divide each ¼th of the dough into 9 equal balls. Roll each ball in coarse sugar. Place balls about 2 ½ inches apart on parchment-lined baking sheets; press a pecan half firmly into each ball. If edges of the cookies crack, just push back together.
How to bake pecan sandies
- Bake one baking sheet at a time for 13 minutes until cookies start to brown.
- Transfer baking sheet to a wire rack. Let cool 10 minutes for cookies to firm up. Using a wide spatula, transfer cookies to wire rack.
- Optional: Brush pecans on top with maple syrup. Do it only to a few cookies, try them, and brush more cookies, if desired.
Notes
Nutrition
Nutrition Disclaimer:
The nutritional information on this website is only an estimate and is provided for convenience and as a courtesy only. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed. It should not be used as a substitute for a professional nutritionist’s advice.
What is meant by ‘half and half’?
What gluten free flour would you suggest making these with?
Kathy, I would use 1 for 1 or measure for measure gluten-free flour.
Do you think that almond milk could be substituted for the half and half to make this dairy free?
Lindsey, yes you can us almond milk instead of half-and-half in the same proportions here, without making any changes.
Is the maple syrup brushed on before the cookies are baked or after?
Sharon, I brushed the maple syrup after the cookies were baked.
Julia- I cannot explain in words how delicious these cookies are. Omg. YES to the brushed maple syrup, too. Thank you for sharing, I’ll be subscribing!
Tai, I am so happy you gave this recipe a try and took the time to leave a comment! Glad you liked the cookies! 🙂
Excellent cookies! Made them this Thanksgiving. They were pretty looking and very delicious. Thank you for sharing!
You are very welcome!
This looks so good and is definitely going to be on my list for holiday treats!! I've just discovered your recipes and I'm enjoying browsing through. The pictures are wonderful!! Thanks for sharing your inspiration.
Melissa, thank you for such a wonderful comment - it made my day! 🙂 Glad you're finding the inspiration in these recipes and photos!
Do you think this recipe would translate well to do a giant skillet cookie?
I think it actually would! Why not? It's a buttery cookie so should do just fine as a larger cookie.
I’m baking these today but I don’t see the temperature for baking in the oven?
Bake these in the preheated oven at 350 F.
Love love love these! Thank you julia for the rscipe and perfect description. These cookies turned out really good- I made some of them with birch-syrup (instead of maple syrup) that I brought from Canada while I was there.. I -also love that combination! - thank you Julia, with love from Amsterdam
Anna, you're very welcome! 🙂 So happy you enjoyed these cookies! 🙂
Oh my these were a hit!! I made these back in December for a cookie exchange and I froze the left over cookie batter. And today as I was cleaning out my freezer I seen these. So decided to bake the rest, only problem is I keep digging my fingers in the unbaked cookie batter.... IT'S SOOO GOOD!! I did eventually bake them ommitting the pecans that you put on top since I had none and it was STILL good like the first time I made them!
Oh and some of my friends was asking me the recipe for this delicious insane cookies. I was gonna say "It's an old family recipe" haha jk 😉
but I directed them here to give you credit.
Hi Karen! Thank you for taking your time to leave such a nice comment that made my day! I am so glad you liked the cookies, and good to know that the cookie batter kept well since December! I agree - these do have that good old, cozy "old family recipe" feel and taste to them. 🙂
This recipe is fantastic! The first time I made them, they looked and tasted great. I just made these today for the second time and they turned out flat instead of holding their shape. Still delicious of course but they look nothing like the first time I made them. Any idea what could have went wrong? I ensured the butter was solidified before I made the batter. I just went back and read over the ingredients and instructions and I didn't miss anything. The only thing I did different this time was use my kitchen aid to mix everything instead of hand mixing. It's 10 degrees out so I know humidity is not a factor ha.
Thank you - I am glad you liked it! About the second time you made it - if you ensured that the butter was solidified before adding the rest of the ingredients, maybe you just measured the flour differently this time and ended up not adding enough flour? Was the uncooked cookie dough quite crumbly? It should've been. If this issue happens again, make sure that the uncooked cookie dough is very crumbly and holds its shape well. If not - add more flour.
I made these little delights for Thanksgiving...they were wonderful!!!
Thank you! So glad you liked them!