These pecan shortbread cookies combine butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and pecans to make one extraordinarily flavorful cookie. Made in 1 bowl without eggs or leavening, this shortbread is soft yet dense with crisp crumbly edges. We’ll use the simple slice and bake method, which helps guarantee thick cookies. No rolling pin required!
Tell Me About Shortbread!
Traditional shortbread is made from one part sugar, two parts butter, and three parts flour. Eggs and leavening are typically absent, so you enjoy that trademark dense/crumbly texture. Butter and sugar add flavor and keep the cookies soft. I have several shortbread variations on my website. However, I love using the slice and bake method for this style of cookie.
While rolling out and cutting into shapes allows for different designs and decorations, sometimes the dough is just easier to roll into a log and slice. Or try baking shortbread in a cake pan and cutting into triangles like my wedge-shaped shortbread cookies and salted chocolate pistachio shortbread.
I also have drop shortbread cookies on my website including cherry almond shortbread cookies and pistachio cookies.
This Pecan Shortbread Is:
- A 1-bowl cookie recipe
- Brown sugared & cinnamon spiced
- Extra soft in the centers
- Not dry; it’s very buttery
- Crisp/crumbly on the edges
- Thick thick thick
- Coated in toasted pecans and coarse sugar
- Easy slice-and-bake style
Slice and Bake Cookie Style
If you aren’t already, it’s time to fall in love with the slice and bake cookie.
The cookies are slice-and-bake style, which you know is my favorite. Make the cookie dough, roll into logs, chill the logs, slice the logs, bake the sliced cookies. This isn’t a new concept—I’ve shared a few other variations before including:
- Santa’s Whiskers Cookies
I even published a chocolate version, a maple walnut version, and a vanilla spice version in Sally’s Cookie Addiction. Some of these flavors include an egg, so they don’t have the same deliciously dense/crumbly texture of today’s shortbread version.
How to Make Pecan Shortbread
Now that you know the style of cookie, let’s walk through the process.
- Make the cookie dough in 1 bowl. Beat butter and sugars together until very creamy. Beat in the vanilla, then add the dry ingredients. Cookie dough will be thick.
- Roll into logs. Divide the dough in half on a floured work surface. Do your best to roll each into logs. Why 2 logs? There’s too much dough for 1 log. Plus, two smaller logs chill quicker.
- Chill the logs. Wrap each in plastic wrap, then chill for 3-4 hours. All good cookies need to chill out in the refrigerator first!
- Roll the logs into chopped pecans. You can actually do this before or after chilling the logs. The pecans on the outer edges become nice and toasty. I actually add a little coarse sugar to the mix, so the edges are crunchy and sweet, too. YES!
- Slice & bake.Slice the logs into about 12 cookies, arrange on cookie sheets, and bake.
Here’s a photo of the creamed butter and sugars, as well as a photo of the finely chopped pecans. We want pecan pieces in each bite, so chop them up small as if you were making pecan sugar cookies.
Cookie dough is thick & buttery, and quite similar to the dough we need for snowball cookies.
Chill the Cookie Dough as Logs
Chilling the dough is key to this pecan shortbread. Divide the cookie dough in half, then roll each half into a log. Chill these logs for at least 3-4 hours. Seems like awhile, but I actually prefer to chill them overnight—so this is a fantastic recipe to make ahead. If you skip the chilling, expect the Great Cookie Spread on your baking sheets.
Only 8 Ingredients in Pecan Shortbread
Have I mentioned you only need 8 basic ingredients? And isn’t it incredible how many different cookie recipes we can make from the same basic ingredients including butter, sugars, vanilla, flour, cinnamon, salt, and nuts? Just another reason why it’s ok to shout “I LOVE BAKING” from the rooftops.
I love how the cinnamon, brown sugar, vanilla, and pecan flavors combine in 1 cookie. Sort of like my maple pecan sticky buns and maple brown sugar cookies, only without the maple. Or brown sugar cookies with added pecans. (But trust me, these flavorful cookies aren’t lacking anything!)
Sally’s Cookie Palooza
This recipe is part of my annual cookie countdown called Sally’s Cookie Palooza. It’s the biggest, most delicious event of the year! Browse dozens of cookie recipes over on the Sally’s Cookie Palooza page including:
- Chocolate Ginger Cookies
- Peanut Butter Blossoms
- Spritz Cookies
- Snowball Cookies
- Dark Chocolate Orange Biscotti
- Hot Cocoa Cookies
and here are my top 10 cookie baking tools if you’re looking for recommendations!
Pecan Shortbread
5 Stars4 Stars3 Stars2 Stars1 Star4.5 from 37 reviews
- Author: Sally
- Prep Time: 3 hours, 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 14 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: 2 dozen
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Save Recipe
Description
Made in 1 bowl without eggs or leavening, this pecan shortbread is soft yet dense with crisp crumbly edges. We’ll use the simple slice and bake method, which helps guarantee thick cookies. No rolling pin required!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour()
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (100g) finely chopped pecans
Rolling
- 1/4 cup (50g) coarse sugar (I prefer this coarse sugar)
- 1/4 cup (32g) finely chopped pecans
Instructions
- In a large bowl using a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until combined and creamy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract on high speed. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the flour, cinnamon, and salt, then beat on low speed until combined. Beat in the chopped pecans. The cookie dough may look like it won’t come together, but keep beating—I promise, it will! The cookie dough will be thick.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and, with floured hands, divide or cut into two. Shape each half into an 8-inch log, about 2.5 inches in diameter. The measurements don’t have to be exact. Tightly wrap the logs in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3-4 hours and up to 5 days. Chilling is mandatory for this cookie dough. I prefer to chill mine for 4 hours or even overnight—the colder the dough, the thicker the cookies.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats.Set aside.
- For Rolling: You can actually roll the logs before or after chilling them. Mix the coarse sugar and chopped pecans together on a large plate. One at a time, roll the log into the mixture. Press it down so the nuts and sugar stick to all sides.
- Slice each log into 12 equally thick cookies and place cookies on baking sheets about 2 inches apart.
- Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes or until brown around the edges.Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cookies will stay fresh covered at room temperature for 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Baked cookies freeze well up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature, if desired, before serving. You can make/assemble the cookie dough logs and chill in the refrigerator for up to 5 days (see step 2). Cookie dough logsfreeze well too, up to 3 months. Allow the logs to thaw overnight in the refrigerator then continue with step 3.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Coarse Sugar | Cooling Rack
- Pecans:I always use unsalted raw pecans. If you love salty sweet cookies, you can use salted/roasted pecans. Whichever you use, chop the pecans into very fine pieces. The smaller the pecan pieces, the more that can squeeze into each cookie and around the edges. It will be impossible to roll the logs into large chunks of pecans.
- Brown Sugar Shortbread: I used to have a recipe on the site for brown sugar shortbread. This recipe is very similar, but here is the ingredient list if you’d like to make that version instead:2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1 cup (2 sticks; 230g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature; 1 cup (200g) packed light brown sugar ; 1/3 cup (67g) packed dark brown sugar; 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract; optional: 2/3 cup (135g) coarse sugar, for rolling
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
