I obsess over cookie baking every year. I really do. Sort of like how I obsess over decorating for Christmas- (I will have to give you a tour this year because I have gone way overboard in the last few days)- it’s like a sickness.
This was a cookie that I actually concocted this fall, but I loved it so much that it has gone on my Christmas Cookie list too. (Do you guys want me to make you a list of all my essential Christmas Cookies?) I have all the family favorites, but then I have to add a few newbie/ try em’ out recipes- some of them make it into the annual rotation- Like these Brown Sugar Pecan Cookies.
I froze them last time and would go digging through the freezer all the time and cut off a little piece and then go eat another little piece, and then another, and then another, and then… well, you get the picture…
To make these Brown Sugar Pecan Cookies with Caramel Glaze, this is what you do:
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare two sheet pans with silpats or parchment paper. In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream together the butter and the brown sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs and the vanilla and combine well.
In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda and kosher salt and then add to the butter and sugar. Add the pecans and mix in well.
Scoop the cookies out onto the prepared sheet pans and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Let cool while you prepare the caramel.
Put the powdered sugar in a heat proof bowl (like a pyrex). In a medium saucepan, combine the brown sugar and heavy cream and stir together and cook until simmering. When boiling remove from the heat and add to the powdered sugar, Whisk until smooth.
Drizzle the glaze over the cookies and let cool until the cookies set up, about 30 minutes.
Serve immediately or stir in an airtight container. These also freeze well.
Recipe: Brown Sugar Pecan Cookies with Caramel Glaze
Makes 18 cookies
Ingredients
- 1 cup soft butter
- 1 ½ cups brown sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 teaspoon vanilla
- 2 ¼ cups flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup toasted pecan pieces
- Brown Sugar Caramel Glaze
- ½ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup heavy cream
- 2 cups powdered sugar
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and prepare two sheet pans with silpats or parchment paper.
- In the bowl of a standing mixer, cream together the butter and the brown sugar until fluffy. Add the eggs and the vanilla and combine well.
- In a separate bowl combine the flour, baking soda and kosher salt and then add to the butter and sugar. Add the pecans and mix in well.
- Scoop the cookies out onto the prepared sheet pans and bake at 350 degrees for 10 minutes. Let cool while you prepare the caramel.
- Put the powdered sugar in a heat proof bowl (like a pyrex). In a medium saucepan, combine the brown sugar and heavy cream and stir together and cook until simmering. When boiling remove from the heat and add to the powdered sugar, Whisk until smooth.
- Drizzle the glaze over the cookies and let cool until the cookies set up, about 30 minutes. Serve immediately or stir in an airtight container. These also freeze well.
Preparation time: 10 minute(s)
Cooking time: 15 minute(s)
Fabulous cookies, I’m drooling over that caramel glaze!
The caramel glaze on these cookies is what sold me on this recipe. The glaze looks like it would taste so good.
mmm these look perfect Heather! I love the glaze!
Thank you for such a great recipe. I have been trying to find a recipe for caramel glaze that will not make the crispy cookies softer, due to moisture content in the glaze. Does this glaze totally harden once it is set on the cookie? Does it alter the crispy texture of any cookies, if not consumed for a week or two? Any help you can provide will be greatly appreciated. Once again, thank you for posting such wonderful recipes.
I can’t wait to see these at my front door! Oh, wait. 😉
Yummy! You can’t go wrong with carmel and pecans!
I made a cookie recently with a glaze much like this; it took what was a good cookie over the top. These look absolutely delicious; wish I had one with my coffee!
Um, Heather, we’re all friends here, right? Because I have to be honest with you. I think you have an, ahem, serious issue with seriously good sweet treats and this issue is starting to affect us. First you give us a recipe for chocolate stuffed buns – okay, well, we can handle that. Then three days later, you give us brown sugar pecan cookies WITH a caramel glaze – well, this is starting to get a little out of hand, don’t you think? AND NOW you want to spring your essential Christmas Cookie List on us???? Aaaggghh! It’s just all too much crazy deliciousness.
Seriously, I think I went into a euphoric sugar-induced high just looking at these yummy cookies.
Oh my gosh! These look to die for! Love love love pecan. Yes, please make a Christmas Cookie list.
I went to a memorial service and one of the highlights of this amazing lady’s life was every year she took a week off from work to make hundreds of Christmas cookies to give away. Everyone there expressed how much her tin of cookies meant to them. I vowed right then and there to set aside cookie baking days this year for my granddaughters. My own mom made four cookies each Christmas and to this day we all miss them. I made up a story about it for the kids and they pester me relentlessly to tell it to them. Cookies, they make the best memories.
Gorgeous cookies, Heather! There’s no way I could eat just one! 🙂
I love that we both made brown sugar cookies:) Can’t wait to make yours!
These sound so good and I love that caramel glaze!
the caramel glaze had me mesmerized!
I could have these every week! They look so good and I love that caramel glaze!!
Woo hoo! These cookies look great ~ love the glaze 🙂
Oh to have a bite of one of those right now! Pinning for now 😉
Wow! I made these yesterday and my family fell in love with them. They all want to see these cookies in their cookie baskets at Christmas time!
I used a 1 1/2″ ice cream scoop and ended up with 30 generously sized 3-4″ cookies. I think someone must have been eating a lot of cookie dough to end up with just 18 cookies!
I baked them in my convection oven and they needed the full 10 minutes of oven time to get their edges crispy. As it turned out, they didn’t need to be crispy because once the leftovers have been covered up overnight, they all got soft. And delicious, and caramelly and filled with crunchy pecan bits.
There was plenty of glass for all 30 cookies, with enough left in the pan for someone special to snarf down. Thanks for a great recipe!
This recipe is very good. I also added a couple things that I think helped put this over the top:
1 generous teaspoon of cinnamon to the dough
~3-4 tbsp bourbon to the glaze (estimate)
Also, this makes way more than 18 cookies…it’s just the standard recipe with only brown sugar (obviously use dark brown). I would also go at least 1 1/4 cups of pecans. This was a super simple and delicious recipe – thanks!
I made these cookies today and am not pleased with the texture. They are more like a cake than a cookie. The flavor of both the cookie and the glaze is incredible but I would the cookie to have a little crunch and chewy definition. I am a huge cookie fan and bake quite frequently. I followed the recipe exactly and just wondered if you have any suggestions? Thank you:)