Vegan Butter Pecan Cookies
on Jul 23, 2020, Updated Jan 27, 2022
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These vegan Butter Pecan Cookies might be some of my favorite cookies in the whole world! And it blows my mind that they taste so good because they look kinda…ordinary? 🤷🏻♀️
Simple as they may appear, these old fashioned cookies are flavorful and tender, with slightly crispy edges and a soft, chewy center.
Not to be dramatic…😁…but I’m pretty sure this cozy combination of vanilla, brown sugar, and pecans is soothing to the soul and since these are the kind of cookies that are great for dunking, I like dipping them – while they’re still warm from the oven – into a glass of cold almond milk.
I worked so hard on this recipe and tweaked it until I felt like it was the perfect combination of sweet, buttery, and slightly salty. Just like a classic Pecan Sandy but with a much better, bakery- style cookie texture 👩🏻🍳
I hope you’ll give this recipe a try and enjoy a moment of comfort and calm with this old-timey treat 🍪
REASONS TO LOVE THIS RECIPE
- super easy and it doesn’t take long at all
- the cookies stay soft for days
- the dough is freezer-friendly, and you can bake from frozen if desired
- meal – prep friendly
- again, good old fashioned flavors like vanilla, brown sugar, and pecans are soothing to the soul (#facts)
FOR BEST RESULTS
- Spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level off with the back of knife.
- Do the same thing with the brown sugar and then press it down to pack it into the measuring cup. Firm pressure but no need to go crazy! It doesn’t need to be rock hard, but it should hold its shape when you transfer it into the bowl.
- Beat the butter and sugars for a long time – until light and fluffy – but when you mix in the dry ingredients, just stir until combined.
- Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes before serving.
- Store leftover cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
- Freeze the dough by rolling it into balls first, and then placing the dough into a freezer-safe container. They’ll keep for up to one year. You can bake the dough them from frozen but I usually add one more minute of bake time if needed.
Vegan Butter Pecan Cookies
These soft brown sugar cookies – made with vegan and butter toasted pecans – are perfect for dunking into a cold glass of almond milk! This quick and easy recipe stores well and stay soft for a few days in an airtight container 🙂
Ingredients
Wet Ingredients
- 1 tbsp ground flax seeds
- 2 tbsp water
- 6 tbsp vegan butter, sticks work better than tubs, softened
- ¼ cup cane sugar
- ⅓ cup light brown sugar, packed
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
Dry Ingredeints
- 1 cup + 2 tbsp flour
- 3/4 tsp baking powder
- 1/4 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp kosher salt
- 1/2 tsp corn starch
- 1/3 cup pecans, chopped
Instructions
Create the Flax "Egg"
- In a small bowl, add 1 tbsp of ground flax seeds and 2 tbsp of water. Stir and set aside to thicken.
Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and chop the pecans if necessary. Set aside.
Mix the Dry Ingredients
- In large mixing bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and corn starch. Whisk well to incorporate and set aside.
Mix the Wet Ingredients
- In a large mixing bowl, combine the softened butter, cane sugar, and brown sugar. Cream until smooth, creamy, and lighter in color. This takes about two minutes by hand.
- Then add the vanilla and thickened flax egg. Beat for another minute or until very light and fluffy.
Combine
- Add half of the dry ingredeints into the bowl with the wet ingredeints and mix to combine. Then add the remaining flour and mix one more time.
- Then stir in the pecans and just mix until even distrubuted, but be careful not to overmix at this point.
Bake
- Divide the dough evenly into 13 balls and place on a lined cookie sheet.
- Bake for 8 minutes then, using an oven mix, carefully pull the oven rack forward about half way and pick up the tray of cookies. Smack it against the rack 4 times then set it back down and carefully push the rack back in place.
- Bake for 3-4 minutes, then remove and let the cookies contiue baking outside of the oven by keeping them in place on the cookie sheet for another 5 minutes. Just set the tray on a cooling rack or heat-safe surrface and allow the cookies to settle and create a delicious texture. This step is not optional because one..you can eat scalding hot cookies when they're fresh-out-of-the-oven because…your tongue would be sad..but also, the cookies need a few minutes with that residual heat to become the perfect consitency so don't skip this step 🙂
ENJOY!
- These are great dunking cookies so pour yourself a cold glass of almond milk and enjoy the delicousness of a warm homemade cookie dunked in milk. Doesn't get much better than that 🙂
Notes
For best results:
- Spoon the flour into the measuring cup and level off with the back of knife.
- Do the same thing with the brown sugar and then press it down to pack it into the measuring cup. Firm pressure but no need to go crazy! It doesn’t need to be rock hard, but it should hold its shape when you transfer it into the bowl.
- Beat the butter and sugars for a long time – until light and fluffy – but when you mix in the dry ingredients, just stir until combined.
- Allow to cool on the baking sheet for 5-10 minutes before serving.
- Store leftover cookies in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 3 days.
- Freeze the dough by rolling it into balls first, and then placing the dough into a freezer-safe container. They’ll keep for up to one year. You can bake the dough them from frozen but I usually add one more minute of bake time if needed.
This was really tasty but the consistency was nowhere near what was depicted on your video– my cookies came out very flat and crispy. I used almond and oat flour in place of white flour, but I don’t think that would make that much of a difference, or maybe it did! I also added cinnamon to enhance the pecan flavor.
Hey Susan, Yeah adding almond flour will change the consistency a lot because it’s much denser 🙂 Since almond flour is very finely milled almonds, it’s higher in fat and therefore changes the wet-to-dry ratio of the ingredients which effects the texture quite a bit. Hope that helps! Nicole
I made these and just substituted the flour for Bob’s Red Mill 1:1 Gluten Free Baking Flour. They came out perfect and I can’t wait to share them with family. I love all your tips for making perfect cookies. I have made the Food 52 chocolate chip cookies from your video a while back about a hundred times because everyone loves them. Thank you Nikki for creating such cozy and delicious recipes. I’ve been watching your youtube videos over and over because they are so cozy and comforting in this crazy world right now.
Aw thank you Gabby! That honestly means the world to me! I work so hard on my recipes and on my videos, so it’s awesome to hear that you enjoy them and that they’ve been cozy for you to watch during these crazy times. Thanks for letting me know. And I’m so glad that you enjoyed my cookies! Great to know they work well with gluten free flour, I’ll try that next time 😊
I made this recipe as written and they turned out great! I will be making again, but will be doubling the amount of pecans to ensure I get some in every bite!
Thanks Kendra! I’m so happy that you liked them! I love these cookies too. Glad you enjoyed 😊
I just made these as part of my Christmas baking and they’re so good! Subtle flavour and a good balance of salty and sweet. The corn starch adds a nice texture.
p.s. so annoying reading the other reviews – “oh I didn’t follow your recipe and it didn’t work out so I’m leaving fewer stars.” 😐😒
I make this all of the time! My fav cookie recipe!
That’s wonderful to hear! I’m so happy you like this recipe 🙂 It’s such a cozy cookie!