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The best ever Chewy Brown Butter Pretzel Pecan Cookies. Homemade brown sugar cookies, made with browned butter, sweet maple, and a secret ingredient that really makes these cookies better than the rest. There are vanilla-toasted pecans, salted pretzels, and plenty of sweet chocolate chunks that melt in your mouth. There’s really nothing not to love! Perfect for holiday baking, gifting, and of course, snacking between meals.
I’ve created more cookie recipes than I care to really sit down and count, but these are special. They’re definitely in my personal top 5 for most delicious, I just love these. They remind me so much of the holidays, but most importantly they’re just delicious!
Salty, sweet, swirled with the wonderful flavors of brown sugar and vanilla, and full of chocolate. Oh, and they’ve got lightly crisped edges and chewy centers.
These really might just be the perfect holiday cookie.
Let me back up a little here and explain. Every single November without fail, I share at least one new cookie recipe with the idea of snacking on the cookies throughout Thanksgiving Day.
My mom grew up enjoying what she called, Aunt Debbie’s Turkey Cookies, on Thanksgiving. She’d even get to enjoy a few before dinner. And from all the stories I’ve heard about these cookies, she really loved them!
I’ve never been given that recipe, so instead, I made my own variation. I love butter pecans, chocolate, and vanilla paired together. So this year, my heart was set on a butter pecan cookie.
I wanted to make them special – really delicious to the point of calling them
“addicting”.
So I added pretzels, and oh my goodness, that was the key.
Details
I start out by toasting the nuts with the pretzels. I love tossing them with maple, vanilla, cinnamon, and sea salt. They turn out so delicious. I then give the nuts and pretzels a nice chop.
While those are toasting, brown the butter. When the butter has browned, let it chill a bit before mixing up the dough. The rest goes really quickly.
To make the cookies
Take the brown butter and beat it together with dark brown sugar, maple syrup, apple butter (that’s the secret ingredient you must trust me on), an egg, and some vanilla. Mix, mix, mix, then stir in the dry ingredients, flour, baking soda, and salt.
For the apple butter, I use my homemade maple apple butter. This is one of my favorite things to keep in the fridge. You can use my recipe or pick some up at Trader Joe’s, Whole Foods, Thrive Market, or via Amazon. I will say that the homemade recipe works a little better for the cookies, but either is great! Just make sure your apple butter is spiced for best flavor.
Mix in the pecans, the pretzels, and plenty of chocolate chunks. Then, to make the cookies really sparkle, roll the dough balls through coarse sugar.
It’s not even December yet and I feel like these are the perfect holiday cookie. I’m getting so excited for this year’s cookie box!
Looking for holiday cookie recipes? Here are a few ideas:
Soft Pumpkin Sugar Cookies with Cinnamon Brown Butter Frosting
Chocolate Bourbon Chai Latte Cupcakes with Butter Pecan Frosting
Glazed Brown Sugar Maple Cookies
Pumpkin Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies
Brown Butter Pumpkin Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies
Lastly, if you make these Chewy Brown Butter Pretzel Pecan Cookies be sure to leave a comment and/or give this recipe a rating! Above all, I love to hear from you guys and always do my best to respond to each and every comment. And of course, if you do make this recipe, don’t forget to tag me on Instagram! Looking through the photos of recipes you all have made is my favorite!
Chewy Brown Butter Pretzel Pecan Cookies
Servings: 24 cookies
Calories Per Serving: 173 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 1 cup raw pecans
- 1 cup salted pretzel twists
- 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 2 sticks (1 cup) salted butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup dark or light brown sugar
- 2 tablespoons, plus 1/4 cup maple syrup
- 1/4 cup apple butter (see notes for subs)
- 1 egg, at room temperature
- 3 teaspoons vanilla extract
- 2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon baking soda
- 1/2 teaspoon kosher salt
- 1 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips or chunks
- 1/3 cup coarse sugar
Instructions
- 1. Preheat the oven to 350° F. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. Toss the pecans and pretzels with 2 tablespoons maple syrup, 2 teaspoons vanilla, cinnamon, and a pinch of salt. Bake 8-10 minutes, until toasted. Once cool, roughly chop.2. Add the butter to a small saucepan set over medium heat, cooking until the butter begins to brown, 3-4 minutes. Remove from the heat and transfer to a heatproof bowl. Stick in the freezer to chill, 10-15 minutes, but no longer.3. Line a baking sheet with parchment paper. 4. In a bowl, beat together the browned butter, brown sugar, maple syrup, apple butter, egg, and vanilla until combined. Add the flour, baking soda, and salt. Fold in the chocolate chips, pecans, and half of the pretzels.5. Roll the dough into tablespoon size balls, then roll through the course sugar and place 3 inches apart on the prepared baking sheet. Insert your desired amount of pretzels to each cookie. 6. Bake for 8 minutes. Remove the pan from the oven and tap the baking sheet gently on the counter to flatten. Return to the oven and bake another 2-3 minutes or until the cookies are just beginning to set on the edges, but still doughy in the center. Let the cookies cool on the baking sheet. They will continue to cook slightly as they sit. Eat warm (highly recommend), or let cool and store in an airtight container for up to 4 days.
Notes
Apple Butter Replacement: use an equal amount of apple sauce or molasses. In a pinch, use additional maple.
If you’re Cookie Dough is Dry: reduce the flour to 2 1/4 cups and add 1-2 tablespoons of additional maple syrup
Gave this recipe a try because my toddler loves pretzels & we all love chocolate chip! Wow! These are fantastic. I’m particular about cookies and the flavor and texture of these brings me back to my childhood! I love a good chewy chocolate chip cookie and the buttery flavor reminds me of my mom’s baking. I followed the recipe exactly.. 10 min cooling of butter in the fridge, room temp egg, tapping.. and added an extra tap at the end 🙂 I added one minute of cook time (may have been unnecessary), so 8min + 4min for me. Mine we’re not as flat as the photos but I like them exactly the way they are!! The texture is spot on. I am curious how they will hold up the next two days. Some cookies harden and some maintain their texture.. TBD. These are delicious and will be added to our holiday cookie rotation but I do have one question. I’m accustomed to using unsalted butter in baking, would using unsalted next time change the cookie?? Thanks!
Hey Rachel,
Happy Monday!❄️🎄 I appreciate you making this recipe and sharing your review, so glad to hear it was enjoyed! You can keep these in an airtight container on the counter:) I always use salted butter I think it adds so much more flavor. xT
Few remaining cookies are still soft a few days later! So exciting!
So glad to hear this!!
Making this now! So excited. Is step 4 1 teaspoon of vanilla or 3, since 2 were already used with the pretzels and pecans? Thanks so much!
Hey Jessica,
You are going to use 1 teaspoon of vanilla in step 4. Please let me know if you have any other questions, I hope you love these cookies! xT
Could this be turned into a cookie bar?
Hey Hilary,
I haven’t tested that with this recipe! Here are some recipes you might enjoy:
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/pretzel-snickers-chocolate-chip-cookie-bars/
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/kentucky-derby-pie-chocolate-chip-cookie-bars/
https://www.halfbakedharvest.com/chocolate-chip-peanut-butter-swirled-cookie-bars/
I hope this helps! xT
I live in Wisconsin. Since you’re at high altitude, would the recipe need to be adjusted for me?
Hey Sarah,
You can go ahead and follow the recipe as written, these should turn out well for you! Let me know if you give the recipe a try! xT
I made these yesterday for a dinner and they were definitely a HUGE hit!! So yummy!!! Even my 8 year old thought they were amazing and asked for me to bake more tonight! The picture you have of the cookies show whole pecans, should I not chop them up next time? And I used pretzel twists and it looks like you used pretzel sticks. It was my first time making brown butter, and I need to let mine cook just a tad longer next time for the full effect!
Hey Kelly,
Wonderful!!🎅 I love to hear that this recipe turned out well for you, thanks so much for making it and your comment! I just did a rough chop with the pecans so some of them were still whole, pretzels twists or sticks are great! xT
I made these delicious cookies…twice. The first time I followed directions as stated. They were too fluffy. The second time I took them out at 6 minutes to bang on the counter. Then cooked four more minutes. They were flatter!!!
Hey Donna,
Love it!! Thanks so much for making this recipe and sharing your feedback! So glad it was enjoyed:) Happy Monday!🎄
Oh my, these are these delicious! I made them with gluten-free flour and pretzels for my celiac daughter. They are so amazing. They remind me of my favorite brown sugar, cookies, but filled with more yummy things!
Hey there,
Amazing!! Thanks so much for making this and sharing your feedback! So glad to hear they were enjoyed:) xx
Hey! Love the flavor a bit confused with the pretzel process.
It says to mix in half in step three but I accidentally blended the pecans and pretzel all together.
Hi Katie,
You can use half of that mix, should be just fine! Let me know how the cookies turn out, I hope you love them! xx
I absolutely adore this cookie recipe! My friend had surgery so I brought these delicious nuggets to her and they were an instant hit!! This will definitely go into our cookie rotation! Thanks so much!!
Hey Ashley,
Happy Friday! ☃️ So glad to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, I appreciate you making it! xT
Can I omit the apple butter? Or is there something I could substitute for it?
Hey Elizabeth,
You will want to use a thick apple sauce in place of the apple butter. Let me know how this recipe turns out, I hope you love it! xx
Thank you for the recipe.
I doubled the recipe and had so much dough so I put what I didn’t bake that first night in an airtight container in the fridge. I basically made a few cookies everyday over 4 days and they all turned out great. I’d say I actually preferred the cookies that were baked the day after when the dough had chilled as they were chewier and not fluffy like the ones made from the fresh dough the first night.
Hey Connie,
Happy Monday!❄️ I am so glad to hear that this recipe was enjoyed, thanks a lot for making it! xx
Making these for a cookie exchange next weekend and made a test batch tonight. Like Amber, mine turned out fluffy. I used light brown sugar instead of dark, splurged for Kerrygold butter since I was browning it. I did put the butter in the freezer to cool, but only for 15 min. I even tapped the pan on the counter at the 8 min, mark. Any thoughts on what I should do differently next time?
Hi Lisa,
Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try and sharing your feedback! Did you chill the dough at all? That will prevent the cookies from spreading. Next time, try gently pressing the dough down with your hand before baking and be sure to do the tapping trick. I hope this helps! xx
These are so good, and were a holiday cookie party hit!
Hey Renee,
Thanks so much for giving this recipe a try, I love to hear that it turned out well for you! Happy Tuesday! 🎄
Hi I made this cookies! They taste really good but turned out fluffy and I’m not sure what I did wrong. I really like crispy cookies and I think whenever you baked them they were thinner and crispier. Thoughts?
Hey Amber,
Happy Sunday!!☃️ Thanks a lot for making this recipe, I love to hear that it turned out well for you! Did you chill your dough at all? Next time, try tapping your baking sheet on the counter for a flatter cookie. xT
Me too! I would love to know how to make them flatter and chewier….
Hi Alice,
Next time, try tapping your baking sheet on the counter for a flatter cookie:) xx
Hi! I’ve made these cookies a few times and they’re just delicious. I’d love to make them for a friend, but she’s allergic to pecans. Do you think these cookies would taste good with hazelnuts? Thank you!
Hey Rachel,
Wonderful!!🎄 I love to hear that this recipe was a winner, thanks so much for making it and sharing your review! Sure, I bet hazelnuts would be delicious! xx
Hi! Have you or can you make ahead and freeze? If so, how?
Thanks,
Stefanie
Hey Stefanie,
You could roll the dough balls out to freeze, but I would wait to add the pretzel so it doesn’t get soggy. Let me know if you give this recipe a try, I hope you love it! xx
Hi! It says egg in directions but not ingredients. How many?
Hi Beth,
The recipe calls for 1 egg at room temperature. Please let me know if you have any other questions, I hope these cookies are delish! xT
Hi, when you say to roll the cookies into the coarse sugar, your sugar is brown. What sugar do you recommend using? Thank you,
Kathy
Hi Kathy,
Here is the link for the sugar that I used:
https://shopstyle.it/l/bAg73
Please let me know if you have any other questions! xT
Thank you for writing back, I appreciate it. I will be baking these this week. Love your Blog, Stories and I am looking forward to receiving your cookbook for Christmas! Thanks again!
Kathy