These Brown Sugar Pecan Cookies are soft, buttery, brown sugar cookies topped with brown sugar frosting and more pecans — perfect for Christmas baking or any day of the year! Includes step by step recipe video
You’ll also love these Pecan Pie Bars, The Best Snickerdoodle Recipe, and these Soft Molasses Cookies!
Post and photos updated and video added October 11, 2017.
I know what you’re thinking.
I’m all about a dense, chewy, fudgy cookie. And these cookies are soft and fluffy.
I’m all about chocolate. And these are, well, not.
And I totally wish I could deliver a batch of these to all of you personally so that you could understand just how good they are. But I can’t. You’re just going to have to make a batch for yourselves and thank me later.
Yes, they’re soft and fluffy instead of dense and chewy like most of the cookies I make. But they’re filled with brown sugar. And they’re topped with brown sugar frosting. And pecans. Pee-cans.
Sorry, I’m Canadian.
But I tried to channel my secret inner Southern girl when I made you these praline-inspired cookies.
Now, when you make these, there is just the perfect amount of frosting for the cookies plus about 3 tablespoons. Feel free to spoon those right into your mouth. You don’t even have to tell anyone.
This Brown Sugar Frosting is my new favorite thing. It’s so easy because the sugar and milk are melted together, and everything else can just be stirred in. But then, with 5-10 minutes it’s firmed right up so you can stack them right away. And if your frosting gets a little cool and difficult to spread, just pop it in the microwave for 10 seconds or back on the stove on low for a few minutes, and you’re good to go (I actually had to do this twice while making these).
Christmas or not, you need these in your life.
Tips and Tricks for Making these Brown Sugar Pecan Cookies:
- I don’t chill my dough before rolling and baking these, but if your butter was quite warm you might find your cookies are a little flat. If you want them to hold up better and be thicker after baking, just pop the dough in the fridge for 20-30 minutes.
- Since I’ve started baking my cookies on parchment paper I just can’t stop — they come off without a fuss and the clean up is nill. Plus, you can reuse and reuse and reuse parchment paper for baking! I highly recommend these parchment baking sheets.
- These cookies hold up well and are perfect for gift giving! I love these Christmas cookie boxes for gifting baking — and they can also be reused!
Watch the recipe video and see how easy they are to make!
Brown Sugar Pecan Cookies
written by Ashley Fehr
Ingredients
Cookies:
- 1 cup butter room temperature
- 1/2 cup granulated sugar
- 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
- 1 large egg
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 2 cups flour I did 50% whole wheat, 50% all-purpose, but you could use all-purpose
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt
- 1/2 cup finely chopped pecans
- 36 pecan halves or chopped pecans toasted, optional
Frosting:
- 1 cup packed brown sugar
- 1/2 cup milk or cream I use 1% milk
- 1 tbsp butter or margarine
- 2 cups powdered sugar sifted
Instructions
- Cookies:In the bowl of a stand mixer, beat butter and sugars until light and fluffy. Add in egg and vanilla and beat until combined.
- Add in flour, baking soda, and salt beat until combined. Stir in chopped pecans.
- Cover and refrigerate 30 minutes (or more).
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Shape into 1″ balls (I used a 1 tbsp cookie scoop) and place a couple inches apart on lightly greased cookie sheets or parchment paper. Bake 10 minutes or until set (not glossy at all in the middle) and lightly browned at the edges. Cool before frosting.
- FrostingCombine brown sugar and milk in a small pot over medium heat. Bring to a boil and boil 3-4 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and stir in butter.
- Stir in 1½ cups powdered sugar and whisk or beat with a mixer until smooth. If frosting is too thin, add more sugar, but keep in mind it will firm up dramatically within a few minutes.
- Spread each cookie with about 1 tbsp frosting and top with a pecan or chopped pecans. Let frosting set before storing.
Nutrition Information
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Danielle says
Did you use salted or unsalted butter to make the cookies?
Ashley Fehr says
I use salted — the frosting is quite sweet so I like the contrast!
Deb says
Absolutely amazingly great cookies! Thank you for sharing them!
Ashley Fehr says
I’m so happy to hear that Deb!
Marcia says
can these cookies be frozen?
Ashley Fehr says
Yes! Absolutely!
Traci says
Would you freeze without frosting then make it and add when ready to serve?
Ashley Fehr says
I have definitely frozen them already frosted! I don’t think the quality changes.
Kara says
I cannot wait to make these cookies! They look absolutely delicious! I was wondering how long they will stay fresh at room temperature? Thank you!
Kara says
I just wanted to come back and say—-WOW! These are amazing!! Thank you for an awesome cookie recipe….one I will DEFINITELY be making again (and again)!
Ashley Fehr says
I’m so happy to hear that! Thanks for leaving a comment!
Melissa says
I’m so mad! Usually I can restrain myself when making cookies from eating them all and I have seriously eaten 1/2 dozen since I finished the frosting! =) These cookies are amazing, and I am SO happy I decided to try them tonight! Thanks for another great recipe to keep in my cookie arsenal!
Ashley Fehr says
Haha, well I’m glad to hear they were good anyway! Thanks for coming back and leaving a comment!
Sarah says
I’m in the middle of making these and I cannot get the frosting to work! I combine the milk and brown sugar and within a couple moments on the heat it clumps. I thought maybe this was just normal so I continued with it through to the end but when I added the icing sugar it actually smelled weird. Not sure if it’s something with the milk? I’m just using 1% fresh cold milk. Or the brown sugar being dark brown?
Ashley Fehr says
I’m so sorry to hear that — I’ve honestly never had that problem! Does it clump into one? Or is it clumpy in general? It does look a little weird sometimes at the beginning, but once it gets simmering it should come together and become thicker and more like caramel. How did it taste in the end?
Sarah says
The cookie itself turned out great! I ended up substituting with just a regular buttercream frosting. It was very odd – it stayed chunky (like separated with little chunks) throughout. It boiled and bubbled like it normally should but then when I added it to the sugar it still had all the weird lumps in it. All in all it was okay – maybe some combination just wasn’t working for me. I also made your butter tart squares today – totally to die for!! Thank you! -S
Ashley Fehr says
Thanks Sarah! Did you whisk the brown sugar mixture? I think if I stirred without whisking it might not become smooth. I’ll have to take a look at the recipe and be sure that I specified that! I’m so glad to hear you liked the butter tarts!
Anna says
These cookies are AMAZING!
Ashley Fehr says
Thank you so much Anna!
Rhii says
This recipe is wonderful! I like to experiment with recipes but I made it just as you said and love it so much! I was hoping to bring some to friends for Thanksgiving but my family ate most of them as soon as the icing dried!! Stumbled upon your website from Pinterest and if you have other recipes like this I will definitely be back for more!
Ashley Fehr says
I’m so glad to hear that Rhii! I actually made a new blondie version of those this year, and I think I might like them even more! Just because baking them in one pan saves you time rolling cookies 😉 They’re both delicious! Glad you (and they) liked them!
Anna says
Hi Ashley,
These look so delicious! I’m making them, this weekend. Have u ever tried them with toffee bits??
-Anna
Ashley Fehr says
I haven’t but I think that’d be great! Even if you just sprinkled some on top of the frosting I think it’d be wonderful 🙂
Lee says
The recipe looks great! Do you use light or dark brown sugar for these?
Nicole Valdron says
I just made these and they are fantastic! So flavorful and soft! I made them for my dad because he loves brown sugar treats. I’m sure he will eat way too many of these 😉
Ashley Fehr says
So glad you liked them! Thanks for letting me know!
Rosie hale says
will these bake up right at high altitudes?
Ashley says
Sorry Rosie, I don’t have any experience baking at high altitudes. I would make any adjustments that you normally have to make when you’re baking from other recipes. Sorry!
Erica says
These are so good! I toasted pecans for in and on top of cookies. Also added about 1 1/2 tbsp of maple syrup to frosting!
Ashley says
Maple would be awesome with these! Thanks Erica!
Caitlyn says
Making these for Mothers Day. So much positive feedback I cant wait to try them! Thanks for sharing!
Ashley says
Thanks Caitlyn! They’ve gone over very well! Let me know what you think 🙂
Shauna says
Hi, always i used to check blog posts here in the early hours in the daylight,
because i enjoy to learn mre and more.
Renata says
How long can I store the cookies after frosting outside the fridge? Thank you for the amazing recipe!
Ashley says
Glad you liked them! I checked the original recipe and it doesn’t say anything about storage. I’m sure they would be fine for a few days, but I’m always a little leery about leaving out frosting with dairy in it for too long. If I’m not serving them within a couple days, I usually freeze them and bring a few out as needed. Hope that helps!
brittany says
Super yummy! I did want to spoon feed myself the frosting! Super sweet, but that’s what a cookie is supposed to be right!? Will make again!
Ashley says
Thanks! Glad to hear you liked them!
Yiskah says
Like you, I had to reheat the icing, however, after reheating it acquired a strange crystallized texture. Do you know what I did wrong? Did I heat it too long?
Ashley says
I would try reheating over really low heat and for just long enough to soften it, and stir well. I had to reheat mine a couple times and I didn’t notice a change in texture.
Lilli @ Sugar and Cinnamon says
They still look amazingly good! Could definitely have one of these right now 🙂
Ashley says
Thanks Lilli!
Elyse says
I found the icing quite runny even after adding another cup of icing sugar. Did I not boil long enough? Otherwise they were great!
Ashley says
That is really strange! It definitely doesn’t have to be boiled too long. My problem was keeping it soft enough to frost the cookies with! I actually had to reheat mine a couple times because it had become too thick. I’m not quite sure what happened there.