This butterscotch cookies recipe make the most perfectly soft, buttery and crumbly cookies with a delightful combination of rich butterscotch flavor and satisfying crunch of pecans. With their delicate and melt in your mouth shortbread-like texture, these cookies are a true delight for butterscotch cookie lovers.
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❤️Why you will love this recipe
- This is an easy cookie recipe with fairly simple and basic ingredients.
- The cookies have a perfect combination of butterscotch flavor and pecan nuts.
- These homemade cookies have the most perfect cookie texture with their soft and crumbly, melt in your mouth texture.
- The recipe makes absolutely delicious cookies, they will become your next family favorite.
- The cookies make great festive treats for the holiday season, as gifts and they are also great as an everyday snack with a cold glass of milk.
Like this recipe? Here are my other cookie recipes you might want to check out:
📋Ingredients
- All purpose flour + baking powder + salt - combine and sift these together to break any lumps before mixing into the cookie dough.
- Butter - I used salted butter, but if you prefer to use unsalted butter, add a small pinch of extra salt in the recipe.
- Soft dark brown sugar -adds a lovely depth in flavor in the cookies.
- Egg yolk - helps to hold the dough, the butterscotch chips and pecans together.
- Vanilla extract - adds a lovely flavor to the cookies.
- Chopped pecan nuts - The pecan nuts I had were whole unroasted ones, so I chopped them into large chunks (into halves and thirds) and dry roasted them for a few minutes. I let them cool down before adding them to the butterscotch sugar cookie dough.
- Butterscotch morsels (chips) - contribute to the lovely butterscotch taste and flavor in the cookies.
*Refer to the recipe card below for exact quantities of the ingredients above. For best results, use a digital kitchen scale where applicable*
🧾Substitution and variations
- Dark brown sugar can be replaced with light brown sugar or even granulated sugar (white sugar). Use the exact same quantity as indicated in the recipe card below.
- Pecan nuts can be replaced with any other nuts of your choice. Macadamia nuts are a good choice.
- In addition to the sweet butterscotch chips, you can also include chocolate chips (milk chocolate chips, white chocolate chips, semi-sweet chocolate chips or dark chocolate chips) to make butterscotch chocolate chip cookies. If you wish to include chocolate chips, reduce the butterscotch chips to 50g or 75g and replace the balance with the chocolate chips.
This recipe has not been tested with other substitutions or variations. If you do try, please let me know in the comments section below!
👩🏻🍳How to make
Mixing the dough
If you are using whole unroasted pecan nuts, you will need to chop them into small pieces and dry roast them in a pan over low heat. Keep the heat low and keep stirring the nuts to avoid them from browning too much. Remove the nuts from the heat when they are have browned lightly and set them aside in a large bowl to cool down completely.
- To mix the cookie dough, start by creaming the butter and brown sugar with an electric mixer (stand mixer or hand mixer) in a mixing bowl. Do not overbeat, suffice if the mixture appears creamy. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula.
- Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract and continue beating until all traces of the egg and vanilla are no longer visible.
- Combine flour, baking powder and salt and sift them. Fold these dry ingredients (flour mixture) into the creamed wet ingredients mixture.
- Mix until the dough comes together.
- Add in the butterscotch chips and chopped pecans and mix until they are well incorporated.
Shaping the cookies
- Scoop cookie dough into 1 tablespoons sizes. I used my measuring spoon to scoop the dough so that my cookies are of consistent size, but you can also do it free form by pinching the dough via estimation. You can also use any cookie scoop with a 1 tablespoon capacity. Shape the cookie dough into round balls.
- Drop the cookie dough balls into a round cookie cutter.
- And flatten them with your fingers.
- Carefully remove the butterscotch cookie dough from the round cutters by pushing them out gently with your thumb or the ends of a small rolling pin.
- Place the cookies onto a parchment paper lined (or baking sheet or cookie sheet lined) baking tray, and position them slightly apart from one another. The cookies do not spread during baking and they only puff up very slightly.
- Bake cookies at 160°Celsius for a bake time of 15 minutes. The cookies will turn golden brown on the sides and edges when done.
- Remove the butterscotch brown sugar cookies from the oven and let them rest on the tray for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely to room temperature.
- Store the butterscotch chips cookies in an air-tight container or cookie jar. This recipe makes about 35 butterscotch sugar cookies.
🍽️Serving & storage
- These butterscotch sugar cookies can last for a good 2 to 3 weeks, provided they are kept in an airtight container. This will ensure they remain crumbly and the nuts remain crunchy.
💡Expert tips
- Use high-quality ingredients. Opt for real butter and pure vanilla extract to enhance the flavor of the cookies.
- Toasting the pecans before adding them to the cookie dough brings out their natural oils and enhances their nutty flavor. Simply chop the nuts and dry roast them over low heat until they become crunchy and fragrant. Let them cool before incorporating into the dough.
💭FAQs
Can you adjust the amount of butterscotch chips and pecan nuts in this recipe?
Yes, you can.
While reducing the butterscotch chips and pecan nuts in the recipe is perfectly fine, do note that increasing too much might render it hard to shape the cookies. You will need sufficient dough to hold these chips and nuts together, so if you add too much, the cookie dough might not be sufficient to hold them together to form into the round cookies.
Can you omit the pecan nuts in the recipe?
Yes, you can. You can totally omit them or you can replace them with any other nuts you like.
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📖Recipe
Butterscotch Cookies with Pecans
Butterscotch cookies with a perfectly buttery, soft and crumbly texture. These thick pecan filled cookies make great holiday gifts too!
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Yield: 35 cookies
For best results, use the metrics measurements. US customary measurements have not been tested and are only meant for guide.
Ingredients
- 200 g all purpose flour
- 150 g butter
- ½ teaspoon baking powder
- 100 g soft dark brown sugar
- 1 egg yolk
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 100 g chopped pecan nuts toasted
- 100 g butterscotch chips
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 160°Celsius. Line baking trays with baking paper.
- Sift flour and baking powder and leave aside.
- In a clean bowl, cream butter and sugar until creamy.
- Add the egg yolk and vanilla extract and continue beating until the mixture is well incorporated.
- Combine flour, baking powder and salt and sift them.
- Fold these dry ingredients (flour mixture) into the creamed wet ingredients mixture. Mix until the dough comes together.
- Add in the butterscotch chips and toasted pecan nuts and mix until they are well distributed in the cookie dough.
- Scoop about 1 tablespoon of dough and shape into round balls.
- Flatten the balls with fingers and place them on the lined baking trays. For perfectly round cookies, drop each cookie dough ball into a round cookie cutter and flatten the dough with your fingers or the end of a small rolling pin. Carefully and gently push the dough out of the cutter onto the lined baking trays.
- Place the cookies slightly apart from one another.
- Bake the butterscotch sugar cookies for about 15 minutes at 150°Celsius, until they have turned golden brown.
- Remove cookies from oven and let them cool on the baking tray for about 5 minutes before transferring them to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Store the cookies in an airtight container.
Notes
- Use high-quality ingredients. Opt for real butter and pure vanilla extract to enhance the flavor of the cookies.
- Toasting the pecans before adding them to the cookie dough brings out their natural oils and enhances their nutty flavor. Simply chop the nuts and dry roast them over low heat until they become crunchy and fragrant. Let them cool before incorporating into the dough.
Nutrition
Calories: 95.3kcal | Carbohydrates: 10.2g | Protein: 1g | Fat: 5.8g | Saturated Fat: 2.5g | Polyunsaturated Fat: 0.8g | Monounsaturated Fat: 2.2g | Trans Fat: 0.1g | Cholesterol: 15.1mg | Sodium: 65.6mg | Potassium: 23.5mg | Fiber: 0.4g | Sugar: 5.2g | Vitamin A: 119IU | Vitamin C: 0.1mg | Calcium: 10.4mg | Iron: 0.4mg
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