Butter Pecan Cookies Brown Butter (Printable)

Nutty butter pecan treats with toasted nuts, browned butter, and a touch of flaky sea salt.

# What You'll Need:

→ Brown Butter

01 - 1 cup unsalted butter

→ Cookies

02 - 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
03 - 1 teaspoon baking soda
04 - 1/2 teaspoon fine sea salt
05 - 1 cup packed light brown sugar
06 - 1/2 cup granulated sugar
07 - 2 large eggs, room temperature
08 - 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
09 - 1 1/2 cups pecan halves, toasted and coarsely chopped

→ Finishing

10 - Flaky sea salt for sprinkling

# Steps:

01 - In a medium saucepan over medium heat, melt butter. Continue cooking, swirling often, until butter foams, turns golden brown, and develops a nutty aroma, approximately 5-7 minutes. Pour into a large mixing bowl and cool for 10 minutes.
02 - While butter cools, preheat oven to 350°F. Spread pecan halves on a baking sheet and toast for 6-8 minutes, stirring halfway through. Cool completely, then chop coarsely.
03 - Add brown sugar and granulated sugar to cooled brown butter. Beat until well combined. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition, then stir in vanilla extract.
04 - In a separate bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, and fine sea salt. Gradually add dry ingredients to wet mixture, mixing until just combined. Fold in toasted pecans.
05 - Line baking sheets with parchment paper. Scoop dough using approximately 2 tablespoons per cookie onto sheets, spacing 2 inches apart. Sprinkle each cookie with a pinch of flaky sea salt.
06 - Bake for 12-14 minutes, until edges are golden and centers appear just set. Allow cookies to cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire rack for complete cooling.

# Expert Tips:

01 -
  • Brown butter does the heavy lifting—it tastes like autumn in a single ingredient, so the cookie itself becomes almost effortless.
  • The contrast of flaky sea salt against sweet cookie dough is the kind of small detail that makes people ask for the recipe before they finish eating.
  • These bake up in under 15 minutes, which means you can go from craving to cooling rack faster than you'd think possible.
02 -
  • Brown butter can flip from golden to burnt in seconds, so pay attention and don't walk away—the payoff is worth your focus.
  • If your dough feels too soft to scoop cleanly, refrigerating it for an hour makes handling it so much easier, and the flavors deepen too.
03 -
  • Chilling the dough for 1–2 hours (or even overnight) deepens the flavors and prevents excessive spreading in the oven.
  • Room-temperature eggs incorporate more smoothly into the butter mixture, giving you a more emulsified dough that bakes more evenly.
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