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These Brown Butter Bourbon Pecan Chocolate Chunk Cookies are crunchy, chewy, and SO flavorful! The perfect holiday cookie recipe. And a must try for bourbon lovers!
Brown Butter Bourbon Cookies
Yesterday I made a batch of blueberry bourbon hand pies and realized upon cleaning up that our bottle of bourbon was almost empty. It had less than 3 tablespoons left… so instead of putting it back on the bar cart, I decided to test a cookie recipe I’ve been dreaming about for a while now. Brown Butter Bourbon Pecan Chocolate Chunk Cookies! I figured I’d play around with the recipe and then share them sometime in the Fall, because let’s be honest… these beauties are holiday baking material! But the results turned out SO epic that I knew I couldn’t keep them from you all Summer.
Because cookies this good wait for no season! So without further ado, I present you with brown butter bourbon chocolate chunk pecan cookies!
Each bite is crunchy, chewy, flavorful, and lightly spiked with bourbon! And don’t worry… you’re not going to get a buzz from these beauties. But the bourbon does add a special flavor that really shines through! Everyone will want to know what the “secret ingredient” is!
Tips and Tricks for Recipe Success:
- First of all, let me ask you a question: do you know how to brown butter? If you do, feel free to skip this lecture. But if you don’t, I’ve got you covered! Browning butter is insanely simple and I’m going to walk you through each step! To brown butter you’ll need a skillet or saute pan, butter, and a little patience. You’ll melt the butter as normal, then continue to cook it over medium heat – stirring occasionally – until it reaches a golden brown color. Watch your butter closely as it browns, because it can burn easily! Once it’s nice and golden brown, remove it from the heat and pour it into a heatproof bowl – being sure to scrape all of the golden bits off the bottom of the pan. And that’s it! Easy, right?
- You can use any brand of bourbon you want. We use bulleit because it’s what we usually have on our bar cart.
- Make sure you finely chop your pecans before toasting them.
- For decoration, you can press a pecan on top of the cookie dough before they bake. You can also sprinkle the cookies with a little sea salt right when they come out of the oven for a sweet and salty flavor combo.
- Finally, be sure you don’t over bake these cookies! They only need about 12 minutes in the oven, and will firm up quite a bit as they cool. Over baked cookies will be dry and crumbly… not chewy like we want!
Sweet, salty, crunchy, gooey, and BOOZY… who says you can’t have it all!?
More Cookie Recipes:
- Bourbon Molasses Cookies
- Brown Butter Bourbon Butter Pecan Chocolate Chunk Blondies
- Butter Pecan Cookies
More Pecan Recipes:
- No Corn Syrup Pecan Pie
- Bourbon Pecan Brownies
- 6-Ingredient Butter Pecan Fudge
- Overnight Pecan Pie French Toast
Brown Butter Bourbon Pecan Chocolate Chunk Cookies
Ingredients
For the Buttered Pecans:
- 1 and 1/2 cups (170 grams) pecan halves, finely chopped
- 1 and 1/2 tablespoons (24 grams) unsalted butter
For the Brown Butter Bourbon Pecan Chocolate Chunk Cookies:
- 2 sticks (226 grams) unsalted butter, melted until browned
- 2 and 1/2 cups (300 grams) all-purpose flour
- 1 teaspoon (5 grams) salt
- 1/2 teaspoon (1 gram) ground cinnamon
- 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
- 1 teaspoon baking powder
- 1 cup (213 grams) dark brown sugar, packed
- 1/2 cup (99 grams) granulated sugar
- 2 teaspoons (8 grams) vanilla extract
- 3 Tablespoons (42 grams) bourbon
- 2 large eggs, at room temperature
- 8 ounces semi-sweet OR dark chocolate, roughly chopped into chunks
- 24 pecan halves, for decoration, optional
- 1 Tablespoon flaky sea salt, optional
Instructions
For the Buttered Pecans:
- Melt butter in a large skillet over medium heat. Add in chopped pecans and cook, stirring occasionally, for 4 to 5 minutes, or until lightly toasted. Set aside until needed.
For the Brown Butter:
- In a saucepan, over medium heat, melt the butter. Continue to cook the butter. swirling the pan occasionally. Keep a close eye here. The top of the butter should become foamy. And you should hear tiny popping noises. The butter will develop into a rich amber color, with tiny brown bits at the bottom. And it will have a slightly nutty aroma. Once the butter reaches this stage, remove from heat immediately and pour into a large mixing bowl.
For the Brown Butter Bourbon Pecan Chocolate Chunk Cookies:
- In a large bowl combine flour, salt, cinnamon, baking soda, and baking powder; whisk well to combine then set aside until needed.
- In a large bowl using a handheld electric mixer, or in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine melted browned butter and both sugars and beat on medium-speed until well combined; about 1 minutes.
- Add in the vanilla and bourbon and beat until combined.
- Add in the eggs, one at a time, beating for 15 seconds after each addition. Turn mixer off. Using a wooden spoon or sturdy rubber spatula, gently fold in the flour, stirring only until the flour begins to disappear. Fold in the chocolate chunks and buttered pecans.
- Cover bowl and refrigerate for 4 hours.
To Bake:
- Preheat the oven to 350 degrees (F). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper.
- Using a large cookie scoop, divide the dough into 3-tablespoon sized balls and place onto prepared baking sheets, leaving about 3 inches between each ball of dough for spreading.
- Firmly press a pecan half on top of each ball of cookie dough.
- Bake, one tray at a time, in a preheated oven for 12 minutes, or until golden brown. If any edges spread out while baking, use a spatula and gently press them back in as soon as you remove the cookies from the oven.
- Press extra chocolate chunks and pecans pieces on top of warm cookies. Then sprinkle with sea salt.
- Allow cookies to cool on the pan for 15 minutes, then carefully transfer to a cooling rack.
This is the best chocolate chip cookie recipe I have ever come across. I think the bourbon, cinnamon, chocolate chunks, pecans make this recipe. I believe the way you FOLD the flour mixture in is what makes these cookies so fluffy, which I love about them. I do not like flat chocolate chip cookies. Again, best recipe EVER!
Your “tips and tricks” on browning butter do not match the directions in the recipe. I thought it odd you would brown butter in a saucepan and then in “tips and tricks” it says to use a sauté pan or skillet. You also mention two levels of heat. In the recipe it’s medium high and in “tips and tricks” it’s medium. My results were much better using “tips and tricks”.
Hi. I browned my butter earlier today and it’s at room temperature but it’s not solid.it is liquid. Hope I can still use it. Tastes delicious. Can’t wait to make these. Cookies.
Hi how many days can I leave the cookies in the freezer
You can freeze the cookie dough balls for up to 2 months!
I have a recipe similar but makes bars instead of cookies. This recipe sounds much better. Would this recipe works for bars instead of cookies? If so any changes?
Just made these for the second time. I left the cinnamon out both times because it just didn’t seem to go with the other flavors. I seriously think it’s the browned butter that makes all the difference in these cookies. It adds a depth of flavor and a caramely, nutty, I don’t know what amazing something that you just can’t get by using the butter as is. When people taste them, they always go, “Mmmm” like they’re trying to figure out what that flavor is. It’s the browned butter! I think browned butter would work in most baking that uses butter. I think I may try it from now on. Thanks for this recipe!
Let me start with a disclaimer. I’m not a fan of cookies. I LOVE bourbon and pecans so I tried this recipe for a Friendsgiving. Everyone loved them and I even got requests for purchasing further batches. They were so popular that I gave them as gifts to my cookie loving friends. I’m working from home today and have a batch in the oven now.
Delicious cookies! Followed the recipe exactly. Our family favorite, we will be making these again! Thanks for sharing
I tried this recipe recently. The cookie has a great texture. Mine did not flatten completely, but that is okay with me. They were raised a bit in the center, but cooked through. As a result, the center is nice and soft, and makes for a great bite. I have a regular group of testers for new recipes. Everyone agreed that they could detect no flavor of bourbon in the cookies. I originally thought of cutting back on the bourbon because alcohol, like extracts, can be very strong. I am glad that I did not do that. I may try doubling the amount of bourbon next time and see how that turns out. I don’t want the bourbon flavor to be overly strong, but I want for the cookies to have a discernable hint of bourbon flavor, similar to a bourbon pecan pie. After eating three cookies, I was only able to taste the cinnamon in one bite, and it was not prominent. Although I like cinnamon, I think I would leave the cinnamon out completely, due to that fact. I think that the wonderful flavor of the brown butter may overshadow some of the other ingredients. All in all, it’s a very good recipe.
I stumbled upon this recipe on Pinterest. I read someone’s comment about how these are the best cookies ever. I might almost have to agree with that statement. I was pleasantly surprised with the fantastic results from this recipe. If I change anything the next time it will be to maybe use a little bit less cinnamon since I am a bit sensitive to that space. The boyfriend said they were the best cookies ever and definitely headed the advice on the bake time. The cookies came out as pure perfection. Thank you.
My husband loves pecans, bourbon and chocolate. One of his favorite versions of the pecan pie I make uses these three, so I was excited to try these coookies. I am not a fan of nuts in my baked goods so I halved the amount of pecans. I first made 12 cookies w/o any pecans in the dough (followed recipe exactly) then added the pecans and made another 15 (I used my largest cookie scoop so probably not 3 TBSPs). My son said the version without the pecans is probably what the stairway to heaven is paved with! High praise indeed! My husband LOVES the pecan version too! Amazingly a friend picked out the cinnamon flavor in them, and I was surprised what a dominant flavor that was with all the bourbon! Thanks for a fabulous cookie recipe, these will be added to my favorites!!!!