My parents divorced when I was a kid, which meant we started splitting our Christmases between my dad’s family and my stepdad’s family. We opted to skip the Christmas Eve’s at my grandma’s house to spend the day at my aunt and uncle’s where extended family of second and third cousins would pile in. Kids in the basement playing games, watching movies, or playing Nintendo (I’m old), while the adults upstairs talked, cooked, and eventually pulled out the Scrabble board.
Dinner was always early afternoon, stretched out along a long folding table in my uncle’s photography studio. Dinner was always early so we could have leftovers for supper later on. Ham and turkey were normally the staples. And, just like at my grandma’s on Christmas Eve, there were a ton of cookies for dessert.
Just as I posted my grandma’s sugar cookies a couple of days ago, she also made butter pecan cookies. And these were and are my favorite cookies! I would say these are hands down my husband’s favorite cookie. Or, as he’d say, these, my mint chocolate chip, and Kris Kringle’s are his favorite cookies.
These cookies melt in the mouth with a slight crunch from the pecan. The pecan adds the perfect amount of nutty flavor without overwhelming the butter cookie. And the powdered sugar on the outside add an additional touch of sweetness. And what I love about these cookies is that they don’t taste too sweet. My husband doesn’t like sugar cookies because they’re too sweet for him. These are the perfect amount of sweetness.
Because these are butter cookies, I refrigerate them before rolling them into balls. Otherwise, the heat of my hands starts to melt the butter and make them mushy. Also, refrigerating them helps prevent them from spreading too much. Some years I’ll form them into crescents rather than balls, but this year I chose to stick with how my grandma always made them.
If you’ve never had butter pecan cookies, I highly recommend you try them! And maybe you’ll be like my family and have a whole discussion on how each of us pronounces pecan 😂.
Enjoy!
The Best Butter Pecan Cookies
- Prep Time: 20 minutes
- Cook Time: 32 minutes
- Total Time: 52 minutes
- Yield: 18 to 20 cookies 1x
- Category: Baking, Dessert
Ingredients
1 cup butter, room temperature
¾ cup firmly packed brown sugar
½ TB vanilla extract
2 cups flour
1 cup chopped pecan
~⅓ cup powdered sugar
Instructions
Using either a stand mixer with the whisk attachment or an electric hand mixer with a large bowl, add the butter and brown sugar to the bowl and cream together on high speed until light and fluffy. Blend in the vanilla extract.
Gradually add the flour, half a cup at a time, mixing until thoroughly combined. With a rubber spatula, stir in the pecan pieces. Refrigerate for 30 minutes.
Preheat the oven to 350°. Prepare two baking sheets with silicone mats or parchment paper.
Scoop about a third of a cup of powdered sugar into a dipping bowl. Roll the dough into about 1½” balls. Dip and roll each ball into the powdered sugar and place on the baking sheet, spaced about 2 inches apart.
Bake one sheet at a time for about 14 to 16 minutes, or until lightly golden brown. They will still seem squishy but will firm up as they cool. Let cool on a wire rack.
Enjoy!
