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I am so EXCITED about these cookies.
These cookies are simple – like really simple, but they’re also one of my favorites.
I adore this combo of brown butter, vanilla, pecans and um chocolate…lots of chocolate. 🙂
To me, these are the flavors of Thanksgiving – warm, cozy and super sweet. Nothing better, right?!?! I mean, yeah there’s turkey and gravy and all the sides, but what about the snacks, the nibbles and the sweets? Ok, there is usually pie for dessert, but I feel like you need something slightly sweet to nibble on in between the appetizers, the turkey and the pies.
What? Hey, I kind of have rather BIG expectations of Thanksgiving!
Also, you should know that it’s about that time of year when I start breaking out my “Eloise” talk. You see, Eloise at Christmastime will forever be one of my favorite holiday movies and I like to channel my inner Eloise this time of year.
Don’t judge. I am just a holiday freak.
Back when my family lived in Ohio, every Thanksgiving was spent at my Aunt Deb’s house in Pennsylvania. My Aunt Debbie has cooked Thanksgiving dinner for as long as I can remember. And for as long as I can remember, she has made turkey cookies every Thanksgiving. These said turkey cookies happen to be insanely delicious…or so I am told. Honestly, I remember what they look like, but I don’t really recall ever eating them…dang! Anyway, my mom has said they used to be her favorite part of the meal.
These cookies are famous though, like it’s not just my mom who raves about them, everyone in the family talks about the Turkey Cookies. Now here’s the thing. My Aunt is keeping her recipe top-secret. I swear, she may take it to the grave with her.
SO.
I created my own little Thanksgiving butter cookie. Granted these are nowhere near as cute as Turkey Cookies (cause a cookie cut, shaped and decorated like a Turkey will always win big on Thanksgiving…duh), but I am hoping they are equally delicious. I can’t say more delicious cause like I said, I don’t really remember the Turkey Cookies. Mom (who has been a brutally honest and brutally tough critic these days) says these cookies are just as good, so I will take it.
And ok, I am pretty sure my cookies are a million and one times easier than my aunts.
I actually think it’s pretty cool my aunt is keeping the recipe secret…but really, maybe she’ll tell me someday? Maybe?!? Well, I have hope anyway.
Here’s the deal, this is a ONE bowl, no fuss cookie. The hardest part is allowing the dough to chill out in the fridge (or the freezer if you are short on time). It requires a good amount of butter (and brown butter…aka the best kind of butter), some sugar, flour, salt, a heavy dose of vanilla, pecans and a generous dip in some melted chocolate. <–YES.
These Slice N Bake Vanilla Brown Butter Pecan Cookies literally take 10-15 minutes to fully prep and then it’s just chill, slice, bake, pour a cold glass of milk, cookies go for a dip in some chocolate… EAT.
Simple as that.
Perfect for an afternoon snack, to munch on throughout Thanksgiving Day, or even to gift for the holidays…if you can resist eating them all yourself, which I will not lie is a HARD task to do. Just telling it like it is.
OH, OH. I also have to give a shout out to all my candle lovers out there that these cookies, a super comfy couch or better yet, a wood burning fire, a glass of milk, a good movie/tv show/book/magazine (in my world, a Christmas Movie) and a Gingerbread Spice OR Pumpkin Pie candle is possibly one of the bestest ways in the world to end your night. Again, just sayin.
Slice 'N' Bake Vanilla Brown Butter Pecan Cookies...Dipped in Chocolate.
Servings: 30 Cookies
Calories Per Serving: 166 kcal
Nutritional information is only an estimate. The accuracy of the nutritional information for any recipe on this site is not guaranteed.
Ingredients
- 2 sticks (16 tablespoons) unsalted butter
- 2 teaspoons vanilla OR 1 vanilla bean seeds scraped out
- 1/4 cup sugar
- 1/4 cup brown sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 2- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1-2 tablespoons water if your dough seems dry
- 3/4 cup raw pecans very finely chopped
- 1 egg beaten (the is the egg wash)
- 1 cup coarse turbinado sugar
- 1 1/2 cups semi-sweet or milk chocolate chips
Instructions
- Add the butter to a medium saucepan with high sides. Allow the butter to brown lightly until it smells toasted, about 5 minutes, stirring often. Butter will foam and then settle back down. Remove from the heat and let cool slightly. Stir in the vanilla or vanilla bean seeds, granulated sugar, brown sugar and salt. Add two cups flour and stir until fully combined. If the dough is still to moist to form a ball and hold, then add the remaining flour 1/4 cup at a time. Add 1-2 tablespoons water if these needs to be moistened a bit.
- Stir in the pecans.
- Place the dough on a large piece of wax paper or plastic wrap. Using your hands, shape it into a log about 12 inches long and about 2 inches in diameter. Wrap the dough up in the wax paper and place the fridge for 3 hours or overnight. If you have an empty cardboard paper towel ring laying round, cut this lengthwise down the center and then fit your dough roll inside to help the dough set in a round shape.
- Preheat oven to 350 degrees F.
- Unwrap the dough and place it on a cutting board. Brush dough with egg wash, and roll in course sanding sugar. Using a really sharp knife, cut the log into 1/2 inch slices. It is important to cut in a quick forward motion. Do not move the knife back and forth. Use force when cutting. If you cut too slow, the dough will crack. Carefully Arrange the slices 1 inch apart on baking sheet. Bake the cookies for 10-14 minutes, their edges will be golden brown. Let cool 10 minutes on the baking sheet and then VERY carefully transfer to a cooling rack. These cookies are very fragile, so be gentle with them.
- Melt the chocolate over a double broiler or in the microwave on full power, stirring every 30 seconds until smooth. Drizzle the chocolate over each cookie OR dip each cookie in the chocolate and if desired sprinkle with flaky sea salt. To harden the chocolate, place the tray of cookies in the fridge for 5 minutes. Store cookies in an airtight container for up 4 days at room temperature.
I’ll have some chocolate with my cookies, please… Don’t mind if I do.
These cookies look sooo good! We need some new cookie recipes… chocolate chip cookies get old after a while. Love the way you dipped them in chocolate. YUM!
Thanks so much!! Hope you have a great weekend!!
I am in the process of making my cookies now! The dough turned out perfect, I was able to cut the dough into cookies no problem- I did leave the dough in my fridge for an extra hour or two and used a very sharp knife which may have helped with the cutting. The cookies are not perfectly circular but they are baking in the oven now! I can’t wait to dip and drizzle the chocolate once the cookies cool. I’m bringing them to a Friendsgiving on Saturday 🙂
YES! Hope you love them!! Happy Friendsgiving, Abby! Tell the gang I say hi!! 🙂
Slice n bake cookies are the best, these are just gorgeous!!
Agreed! Thanks so much Laura!
These *really* did not work for me. The dough was pretty dry but held together enough to get the log into the freezer (I used just the 2 cups of flour), but when I went to slice it it crumbled apart like dust. I was trying to cut them pretty thick, but no luck. So I ended up mixing the crumbled dough and the egg I was using for the egg wash and used that dough instead, which worked out pretty well. It tasted good, but really wasn’t what I was hoping for.
Oh these are so gorgeous Teighan!! SO many wonderful autumn flavours, and I love how excited you get about the holidays! My holiday excitement hasn’t really hit yet as we don’t have Thanksgiving and Christmas is still a little way away, but you have inspired me to get into the holiday baking haha. Your chocolate dipping photos have my mouth watering – think I need to make melted chocolate happen asap around here! <3
These look beautiful, just perfect! And now I’m super intrigued about these turkey cookies! 😀
haha! I know, me too! Thanks Sam!
I’m making the cookies right now and even the raw dough taste delicious! Slight problem is that the cookies when splicing are breaking apart.. so I only got 1/2 of the cookies because the rest were large crumbs. Is my dough dry?
Hey Connie! I am so sorry! It sounds like one, your dough may be dry, two you maybe be slicing the cookies too small OR three, the pecans are to big and or causing the dough to crack. Any of those sound like the answer? let me know, I hope i can help!
I tried to make those cookies last night and unfortunately it was a complete disaster! First the bourbon sugar fail – it just got caramelized in the oven (I had to bang it with a meat tenderizer to crush it). I am really not sure what i did wrong there. The cookies completely fall apart and crumbled after baking (not to mention the stupid sugar melted all around them and I couldn’t even lift them up!). I guess my dough was too dry? I bake a lot but that was a total fail 🙁 but at least I have a lot of cookie crumbles to put over my ice cream!
Hi Kiki!!
Oh no!! That is horrible, I am so sorry. I am thinking that yes your dough was too dry. Did it hold together while is was still in dough form? Also, how thin did you slice the cookies? I have made these cookies so many times without any issues, so I can’t believe you has so much trouble. I am SO sorry. Let me know if you have questions. hopping we can figure out the problem.
It was kind of holding together – I added 2 c + like a 1/4 c of flour. It was impossible to slice them later as they were falling apart. But I guess this could be fixed with adding less flour.
What is going on with this bourbon sugar though? I really liked the idea of it but it just turned liquid in my oven and then when i put it on cookies it all melted around them and there was almost no sugar left on the cookies (that crumbled anyway after I tried to take them out of the baking sheet).
What kind of sugar did you use?
turbinado sugar
I could spend hours looking at your beautiful photography and wonderful recipes!
Wow, thank you so much!! 🙂
Amazing design and images. I really love this post and thanks for sharing.
Thank you so much, Preston!
I love the sound of your thanksgiving dinner!
These cookies are so original and I’ve never seen or heard of anything like them. The cookies dipped in melted chocolate look simply delicious.
Thanks for this recipe!
Thank you so much, Payton! Hope you had a great day! 🙂
Tieghan, I think I could eat every single cookie pictured in this post!! Sad, but no joke!! These cookies include all my favorite ingredients! Pecans, brown butter, vanilla beans and chocolate! Life doesn’t get any better! Delish friend!
Haha! I agree! 🙂
Thanks Mary Ann!
These cookies sound amazing! Vanilla, pecans, brown butter, chocolate – all of the absolutely wonderful things in one cookie 🙂
Dani | http://www.styledvariety.com
Thanks Dani!
Slice and bake cookies are a lifesaver during the holidays. And these look stunning!
Agree! Thanks Nicole!!
I LOVE slice ‘n bake cookies (I mean, who doesn’t?) so these beauties are a total must!! pinny pinned 🙂
Thanks Christine!