Spiced Maple Pecan Cookies
A buttery brown sugar cookie dough is transformed with maple syrup, maple spiced pecans, and white chocolate to make a crisp and chewy cookie that you need to add to your baking list this fall.
This is a no fuss cookie recipe; the hardest part is the chill time but, you can make these the night before to bake up fresh the next day. They are packed with warm maple flavor and have a wonderful spice that delicately lingers with every bite from the Maple Spiced Pecans I made earlier this week.
Since trying the Hatch chili and lime cookies late this summer, I have really opened my creative cookie mind to incorporate more spicy elements to my sweet bakes. This recipe delivers the perfect balance of sweet and heat which make them a wonderful addition to any fall baking.
Looking for a spicy twist to a maple pecan cookie? Keep reading!
Why I Love This Recipe
Hint of Spice-The Maple Spiced Pecans I had made in my previous post are roasted pecans with cayenne, black pepper, salt, and maple syrup. As they are, they have a nice amount of warm heat to them from the black pepper and cayenne being toasted in the oven with the pecans. In this cookie, the spice is tamed by the butter in the cookie dough and the white chocolate; fat tends to taper down the spiciness of foods, that’s why it’s recommended to drink milk or eat something creamy if you have too much spice! These fatty, delicious, elements subdue the spice but they don’t tame it completely. After the second bite of these cookies your palate is met with just a whisper of heat, and it builds as you eat through the pockets of chopped spiced pecans which are mixed throughout the dough. This proves a wonderful eating experience, especially if you want a gentle warmth in your cookie instead of a bigger pop of spice.
Texture-Roasted pecans give a nice crunch while the white chocolate adds a pleasant creaminess to the cookie. The base is a maple brown sugar cookie, so it is soft in the middle with crisp and chewy edges. The maple syrup will help the cookies spread a bit more during baking and they will brown slightly more on the bottom and the edges. This creates a crispness to the edges of the cookies that stay crisp for days.
Easy Recipe-the dough for this cookie recipe is easy to put together and only takes minutes to scoop out. They taste like they would be more complex, but they are really very simple. Also, the recipe for the spiced pecans will take 10-15 minutes to make and you can prepare this several days ahead.
Fall Cookie Flavor-This is another recipe I enjoy making during the fall that doesn’t require cinnamon, pumpkin, or apple, but is still big on fall flavor by using maple syrup to flavor the cookie.
Ingredients You Need
-Butter- I use unsalted butter that has been sitting at room temperature for an hour.
-Granulated & brown sugar
-Eggs
-Vanilla extract
-Flour
-Baking Soda & Baking Powder
-Salt-for cookie dough. I use kosher salt.
-White Chocolate- I used a 4-ounce white chocolate bar that I roughly chopped into half inch chunks. White chocolate chips would work great here as well as a substitute.
-Maple Syrup-this is to flavor the dough and add a chewier texture to the finished cookies.
-Maple Extract-this is optional. I had some in my baking box, so I wanted to use the last of it up, but I have baked these maple cookies without the extract, and they came out just as good. If you want to buy it you can, but it’s not necessary.
Let’s Make Cookies!
The dough for this cookie is quite easy to throw together and only takes about 10 minutes to prepare. After making and scooping the dough, I let it rest in the fridge to firm up before baking. As with most cookies on this blog, letting the dough rest after they have been filled is essential and even more so with a dough that has maple syrup and spiced pecans. You can bake them after an hour or two of chilling, but they improve in flavor and texture if you can leave them overnight to chill. You can leave these in the fridge for up to 3 days before baking.
Cream the butter and both types of sugars in a bowl until very creamy. I like to see the butter light in color and fluffy, this usually takes around 3-5 minutes on high speed.
I add in the egg, vanilla extract, maple extract, and maple syrup, and continue mixing on high for a few more minutes. I like to sift my dry ingredients on top of the bowl then mix on low until it just comes together.
I prepare the white chocolate bar but chopping in to ½ inch pieces. I also give a rough chop to the spiced pecans at this time as well.
I add the Maple Spiced Pecans and white chocolate pieces to the dough and mix on low for several turns of the mixer.
I scoop the dough with a 3-ounce cookie scoop to get 15 portions of dough. I did have one half scoop left that I let my kids gobble up as my taste testers, so I didn’t count that one.
I chill the dough overnight before baking these cookies. I recommend letting them rest for at least an hour or two in the fridge before turning your oven on to allow the flavors of the maple to develop. Also, you can make this easy recipe in advance and freeze the dough. If baking from frozen add 2-3 minutes to your bake time.
I bake these cookies on parchment paper at 375*F for 10-12 minutes. I look for golden edges and set tops, or tops that look dry to the touch. Be careful not to overbake these as the maple spiced pecans will burn on the bottom of the cookie. I was able to fit 8 cookies on a baking sheet to bake at a time.
I let the cookies cool for a few minutes on the pan before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely. I had some leftover white chocolate from another recipe and decided to put some on top of the cooling cookies. I wasn’t in love with the look of it though to be honest, I much preferred these cookies without anything on top since they are packed full of flavor.
The right amount of spice and lots of warm maple flavor in these cookies. They are best enjoyed warm in my opinion, and you can easily reheat them in a warm oven or in the air fryer for a few minutes. The edges of these cookie stay crispy for several days after baking and you can store these cookies in a container with a tight-fitting lid for up to a week. Although, I highly doubt they would last that long!
If you try this recipe and love it as much as I do, please tag, follow, and like @sunshinetxcookies on Instagram and Facebook. New posts every Thursday so be sure to follow me for more delicious cookie recipes. Happy Baking!
Spiced Maple Pecan Cookies
Ingredients
- 2 sticks butter room temperature, unsalted
- ¾ cup brown sugar
- ½ cup granulated sugar
- 2 tbspns maple syrup
- 2 eggs room temperature
- 1 tspn vanilla extract
- 1 tspn maple extract optional
- ½ tspn baking powder
- ½ tspn baking soda
- 1 white chocolate bar (3 ounces at least) chopped into chunks
- ½ cup spiced pecans https://sunshinetxcookies.com/?p=1949 for spiced pecan recipe!
- ½ tspn kosher salt
- 2¾ cup all purpose flour
Instructions
- Cream butter and sugar for 3-5 minutes at high speed. You want the mixture to be pale and fluffy.
- Add in the eggs one at a time and the vanilla and maple extracts. Mix to combine well.
- Sift the dry ingredients on top of the wet mixture and mix to combine. Do not overmix, stop mixing once it comes together as a dough.
- Chop the white chocolate and spiced pecans and add to the dough making sure it is mixed evenly throughout the dough.
- Using a three ounce cookie scoop, or three tablespoons of dough per cookie, scoop out all of the dough onto a parchment lined baking sheet.
- Allow the cookies to chill in the fridge for at least an hour or two, preferably overnight. This will help the flavors of the cookie to develop.
- Preheat oven to 375*F.
- Bake the cookies for 10-12 minutes until golden brown. These cookies will spread slightly so leave at least 2 inch spacing around the cookies.
- Cool for 5 minutes on the pan before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely. You can add white chocolate pieces or chips to the tops if you would like as they are cooling.
- Enjoy!
