These maple pecan cookies are chewy on the inside, lightly crispy on the outside and filled with crunchy chopped pecans and sweet maple flavor. These cookies are a delicious fall bake.
We keep this cookie recipe a little lighter by cutting back on sugar and using reduced fat plant-based butter. The result: cookies you don’t have to feel guilty about enjoying. Dunks perfectly in a glass of milk. 😉
Ingredients in Maple Pecan Cookies
- Brown or turbinado sugar – gives these cookies notes of caramel and molasses. We prefer dark brown sugar, but light or turbinado sugar works well too.
- Pure maple syrup – natural sweetener that gives an extra kick of maple.
- Maple and vanilla extracts – the maple extract is key for making the perfect maple flavored sugar cookies. Vanilla extract gives a slight sweetness to these cookies as well.
- Plant-based butter – we recommend plant-based butter (we love Earth Balance buttery spread) because it keeps these cookies lower in fat without sacrificing flavor or texture. If you’re set on using real butter, keep it unsalted.
- White or regular whole wheat flour – to sneak in a little more nutrients than white all-purpose flour.
- Egg – binding agent.
- Chopped pecans – for irresistible nutty crunch.
How to Make Maple Pecan Cookies
Preheat the oven to 350°F.
Mix together the whole wheat flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. In a large stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar on medium speed. Mix in maple syrup, egg, vanilla extract and maple extract. Fold in the chopped pecans.
Spoon a generous 1 tablespoon of dough onto the cookie sheet. Repeat until all of the dough is used, spacing the cookies about 1 inch apart. You can leave the dough in balls or flatten slightly with your palm. You will end up with about 20 cookies.
Bake the cookies for 11 to 13 minutes, or until lightly golden on the top and bottom. Remove from the oven and allow to cool about 1 minute on the baking sheet before transferring to parchment paper. This recipe yields about 20 cookies 2″ to 2½” in diameter.
Let us know what you think about this recipe by dropping a comment and/or rating on the recipe card. Please consider sharing this recipe on Pinterest and/or social media if you enjoyed it (we greatly appreciate it)! 💕
Check out our other sweet holiday treats:
- Dark Chocolate Cranberry Walnut Cookies
- Soft Chocolate Chip Cookies
- White Chocolate Peppermint Cookies
- Avocado Brownies
- Pumpkin Cheesecake Brownies
- Chocolate Almond Butter Bars
Maple Pecan Cookies
Equipment
Ingredients
- 2 c white or regular whole wheat flour
- 1 tsp baking soda
- ½ tsp salt
- â…“ c plant-based or unsalted butter
- ½ c turbinado or brown sugar
- â…“ c maple syrup
- 1 egg
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tsp maple extract
- ¾ c pecans, chopped
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350°F.
- Mix together whole wheat flour, baking soda, and salt in a medium mixing bowl. In a large stand mixer, cream together butter and sugar on medium speed. Mix in maple syrup, egg, vanilla extract and maple extract. Fold in the chopped pecans.
- Spoon a generous 1 tablespoon of dough onto the cookie sheet. Repeat until all of the dough is used, spacing the cookies about 1 inch apart. You can leave the dough in balls or flatten slightly with your palm. You will end up with about 20 cookies.
- Bake the cookies for 11 to 13 minutes, or until lightly golden on the top and bottom. Remove from the oven and allow to cool about 1 minute on the baking sheet before transferring to parchment paper. This recipe yields about 20 cookies 2" to 2½" in diameter.
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