These pecan shortbread cookies combine butter, brown sugar, cinnamon, vanilla, and pecans to make one extraordinarily flavorful cookie. Made in 1 bowl without eggs or leavening, this shortbread is soft yet dense with crisp crumbly edges. We’ll use the simple slice and bake method, which helps guarantee thick cookies. No rolling pin required!
Tell Me About Shortbread!
Traditional shortbread is made from one part sugar, two parts butter, and three parts flour. Eggs and leavening are typically absent, so you enjoy that trademark dense/crumbly texture. Butter and sugar add flavor and keep the cookies soft. I have several shortbread variations on my website. However, I love using the slice and bake method for this style of cookie.
While rolling out and cutting into shapes allows for different designs and decorations like we do with lemon shortbread cookies, sometimes the dough is just easier to roll into a log and slice. Or try baking shortbread in a cake pan and cutting into triangles like my wedge-shaped shortbread cookies and salted chocolate pistachio shortbread.
I also have drop shortbread cookies on my website including cherry almond shortbread cookies and pistachio cookies.
This Pecan Shortbread Is:
- A 1-bowl cookie recipe
- Brown sugared & cinnamon spiced
- Extra soft in the centers
- Not dry; it’s very buttery
- Crisp/crumbly on the edges
- Thick thick thick
- Coated in toasted pecans and coarse sugar
- Easy slice-and-bake style
Slice and Bake Cookie Style
If you aren’t already, it’s time to fall in love with the slice and bake cookie.
The cookies are slice-and-bake style, which you know is my favorite. Make the cookie dough, roll into logs, chill the logs, slice the logs, bake the sliced cookies. This isn’t a new concept—I’ve shared a few other variations before including:
- Sprinkle Slice & Bake Cookies
- Santa’s Whiskers Cookies
- Pistachio Chocolate Chunk Slice & Bake Cookies
- Chocolate Orange Slice & Bake Cookies
- Toasted Hazelnut Slice & Bake Cookies
- Brown Sugar Shortbread Cookies
I even published a chocolate version, a maple walnut version, and a vanilla spice version in Sally’s Cookie Addiction. Some of these flavors include an egg, so they don’t have the same deliciously dense/crumbly texture of today’s shortbread version.
How to Make Pecan Shortbread
Now that you know the style of cookie, let’s walk through the process.
- Make the cookie dough in 1 bowl. Beat butter and sugars together until very creamy. Beat in the vanilla, then add the dry ingredients. Cookie dough will be thick.
- Roll into logs. Divide the dough in half on a floured work surface. Do your best to roll each into logs. Why 2 logs? There’s too much dough for 1 log. Plus, two smaller logs chill quicker.
- Chill the logs. Wrap each in plastic wrap, then chill for 3-4 hours. All good cookies need to chill out in the refrigerator first!
- Roll the logs into chopped pecans. You can actually do this before or after chilling the logs. The pecans on the outer edges become nice and toasty. I actually add a little coarse sugar to the mix, so the edges are crunchy and sweet, too. YES!
- Slice & bake. Slice the logs into about 12 cookies, arrange on cookie sheets, and bake.
Here’s a photo of the creamed butter and sugars, as well as a photo of the finely chopped pecans. We want pecan pieces in each bite, so chop them up small as if you were making pecan sugar cookies.
Cookie dough is thick & buttery, and quite similar to the dough we need for snowball cookies or almond crescent cookies.
Chill the Cookie Dough as Logs
Chilling the dough is key to this pecan shortbread. Divide the cookie dough in half, then roll each half into a log. Chill these logs for at least 3-4 hours. Seems like awhile, but I actually prefer to chill them overnight—so this is a fantastic recipe to make ahead. If you skip the chilling, expect the Great Cookie Spread on your baking sheets.
Only 8 Ingredients in Pecan Shortbread
Have I mentioned you only need 8 basic ingredients? And isn’t it incredible how many different cookie recipes we can make from the same basic ingredients including butter, sugars, vanilla, flour, cinnamon, salt, and nuts? Just another reason why it’s ok to shout “I LOVE BAKING” from the rooftops.
I love how the cinnamon, brown sugar, vanilla, and pecan flavors combine in 1 cookie. Sort of like my maple pecan sticky buns and maple brown sugar cookies, only without the maple. Or brown sugar cookies with added pecans. (But trust me, these flavorful cookies aren’t lacking anything!)
Pecan Shortbread
- Prep Time: 3 hours, 30 minutes
- Cook Time: 14 minutes
- Total Time: 4 hours
- Yield: 2 dozen
- Category: Desserts
- Method: Baking
- Cuisine: American
Description
Made in 1 bowl without eggs or leavening, this pecan shortbread is soft yet dense with crisp crumbly edges. We’ll use the simple slice and bake method, which helps guarantee thick cookies. No rolling pin required!
Ingredients
- 1 cup (16 Tbsp; 226g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature
- 1/2 cup (100g) packed light or dark brown sugar
- 1/4 cup (50g) granulated sugar
- 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
- 2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour (spooned & leveled)
- 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
- 1/4 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup (100g) finely chopped pecans
Rolling
- 1/4 cup (50g) coarse sugar (I prefer this coarse sugar)
- 1/4 cup (32g) finely chopped pecans
Instructions
- In a large bowl using a handheld mixer or stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, beat the butter, brown sugar, and granulated sugar together on medium-high speed until combined and creamy, about 2 minutes. Beat in the vanilla extract on high speed. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl as needed. Add the flour, cinnamon, and salt, then beat on low speed until combined. Beat in the chopped pecans. The cookie dough may look like it won’t come together, but keep beating—I promise, it will! The cookie dough will be thick.
- Turn the dough out onto a floured work surface and, with floured hands, divide or cut into two. Shape each half into an 8-inch log, about 2.5 inches in diameter. The measurements don’t have to be exact. Tightly wrap the logs in plastic wrap and chill in the refrigerator for at least 3-4 hours and up to 5 days. Chilling is mandatory for this cookie dough. I prefer to chill mine for 4 hours or even overnight—the colder the dough, the thicker the cookies.
- Preheat oven to 350°F (177°C). Line two large baking sheets with parchment paper or silicone baking mats. Set aside.
- For Rolling: You can actually roll the logs before or after chilling them. Mix the coarse sugar and chopped pecans together on a large plate. One at a time, roll the log into the mixture. Press it down so the nuts and sugar stick to all sides.
- Slice each log into 12 equally thick cookies and place cookies on baking sheets about 2 inches apart.
- Bake the cookies for 12-14 minutes or until brown around the edges. Remove from the oven and allow cookies to cool on the baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- Cookies will stay fresh covered at room temperature for 1 week.
Notes
- Make Ahead Instructions: Baked cookies freeze well up to 3 months. Thaw overnight in the refrigerator and bring to room temperature, if desired, before serving. You can make/assemble the cookie dough logs and chill in the refrigerator for up to 5 days (see step 2). Cookie dough logs freeze well too, up to 3 months. Allow the logs to thaw overnight in the refrigerator then continue with step 3.
- Special Tools (affiliate links): Electric Mixer (Handheld or Stand) | Baking Sheets | Silicone Baking Mats or Parchment Paper | Coarse Sugar | Cooling Rack
- Pecans: I always use unsalted raw pecans. If you love salty sweet cookies, you can use salted/roasted pecans. Whichever you use, chop the pecans into very fine pieces. The smaller the pecan pieces, the more that can squeeze into each cookie and around the edges. It will be impossible to roll the logs into large chunks of pecans.
- Brown Sugar Shortbread: I used to have a recipe on the site for brown sugar shortbread. This recipe is very similar, but here is the ingredient list if you’d like to make that version instead: 2 and 1/4 cups (281g) all-purpose flour; 1/4 teaspoon salt; 1 cup (2 sticks; 230g) unsalted butter, softened to room temperature; 1 cup (200g) packed light brown sugar ; 1/3 cup (67g) packed dark brown sugar; 1 and 1/2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract; optional: 2/3 cup (135g) coarse sugar, for rolling
- Be sure to check out my top 5 cookie baking tips AND these are my 10 must-have cookie baking tools.
Reader Comments and Reviews
If you are using King Arthur Flour, only weigh out 270g of flour. I learned this the hard way.
I checked some older comments before asking, but would the dough be the same adding the nuts in or would there need to be alterations?
These are incredible! I have pretty good self control with sweets but when I make these it’s a game changer! Absolutely incredible.
I’ve said it before and I will say it again. AMAZING RECIPE! My father in law came to visit with pecan sandies. I said put those premade cookies away and lets make Sally’s! He LOVED these! Your recipes always wow.
Such a great shortbread recipe with that extra nutty flavor. It’s in my regular rotation list. Thanks, Sally. Just perfect.
I made these for my mother-in-law last year for her birthday and she said these were the best cookies she’s ever had! I plan on making them again for her for Mother’s Day. I followed the recipe exactly as written except I didn’t have coarse sugar and just used regular sugar and they still came out great. Thank you for the wonderful recipe!
So happy to read this, Bonnie!
Took about 20 minutes to make (before baking). So easy and delicious! Not too sweet either. Would 10/10 make them again.
Literally the BEST cookie ever! Thank you Sally
Question regarding butter. My excellent baker grandson uses Irish butter, so I did with this recipe too. The dough was just so hard to bring it together so I added one more tablespoon of softened butter which helped some. After one roll kept coming apart I surrendered, patted each roll into eight inch cake pans and slipped them not the fridge! I’ve never baked with Irish butter and it did seem denser, could that be the problem?
Hi Gayle, European style butter has a higher fat content and can make a difference in baking. It usually causes cookies to spread more. If the dough seemed too dry, it could have been too much flour in the dough. How did you measure the flour? Make sure to spoon and level (instead of scooping) to avoid packing in too much flour into your measuring cups – or use a kitchen scale. You can read more about properly measuring baking ingredients in this post.
I would recommend rolling in the sugar/ pecans prior to refrigerating. I waited and the sugar and nuts didn’t want to stick to the cold dough. Otherwise, the recipe was great!
These are amazing!! I made a single batch and cannot keep my husband out of them!! Will be making more soon 🙂 Absolute perfection!
I am going to try these, but whenever I make sliced cookies, I often have trouble with the cutting. The dough tends to crumble and my cuts are not clean. I’ve tried different tools for cutting (carving knife, bread knife, etc) but the result is always the same. Help. Suggestions??
Hi Marlene, how are you measuring your flour? Be sure to spoon and level (or use a kitchen scale) to ensure the flour isn’t over measured. Too much flour can cause the cookie dough to dry out and become crumbly. Otherwise, making sure that you’re using a very sharp knife and making quick cuts will help. Hope you enjoy the cookies!
I would like to bake this in a baking dish and cut into fingers, what size pan would you recommend?
Hi Tamara, this dough should fit well into any of the pan sizes we recommend for our regular shortbread recipe. Or, you can follow the cinnamon pecan version outlined on that page instead. Enjoy!
Amazing cookies! just the right amount of sweetness and flakiness from the butter. I rolled the log after it sat in the fridge overnight, not much of the pecans stuck, unfortunately.
Great cookies! So easy and I love the texture. I don’t really change anything in this recipe except to roll the dough in the course sugar only (not with pecans). Just a preference, though. I also use dark brown sugar. Shortbread cookies are so delicious and these are a favorite!
Tasty! Love the crunch of the pecans and coarse sugar on outside! I made them small so I could make a lot of them. I love finding shortbread variations to try out.
I made the pecan shortbread last night. Soooo good!!
I made a batch of these the other day and my dough would not come together. I had to add some water so I could roll it into logs. I was amazed they turned out in the end. Not my favorite recipe though. Maybe I just don’t like working with shortbread lol
I made these for my Christmas cookies this year and did not modify the recipe at all and they came out delicious and perfect! I know there were a lot of mixed reviews but I had no issues with the recipe. I am an amateur baker so want to give hope to other moms and/or occasional bakers that these cookies can turn out well!
Would it be possible to use a cookie stamp with this recipe? Thanks!
Hi CB, I don’t recommend a cookie stamp for this; the cookies will over-spread. Instead, I recommend my stamped cookies recipe and I’m sure you can add some finely chopped pecans to that dough.
Help! I can’t find your brown butter shortbread cookie recipe that I’ve been making my family at Christmas for the last several years!
Hi Leslie! We recently removed that older recipe from the website. If you send us an email at sally@sallysbakingaddiction.com, we’d be happy to share a copy.
I came here seeking the same thing! Love the brown sugar shortbread cookies and plan on making them for a cookie exchange this weekend.
Would this work is I rolled out and cut with cookie cutters and sprinkled the pecan mixture on top? We don’t like sugar cookies and love shortbread cookies but I want the fun of cutting shapes with the kids.
Hi Jo, this dough isn’y suited for cut-out cookies, but you might enjoy these pecan sugar cookies instead. Let us know if you try them!
This recipe is wonderful! Great flavor and the perfect soft but crunchy shortbread. I omitted the cinnamon and dipped in milk chocolate and toffee bits to make for a cookie that pairs well with coffee. Thanks!
Allergy family here! If I made without nuts, would it need additional flour to compensate?
Hi Aaron, this is a great question. You do not have to add more flour if you leave out the nuts; there’s plenty.
These are wonderful!! I didn’t chop the pecans very finely and then while they were chilling I read the comments and got worried but they came out perfect. I tried thin slices and thick slices, both are delicious. This will absolutely go into my favorites for making often. Any thoughts on subbing other nuts? I’m curious to try these with pistachios. Thank you for a wonderful recipe, so many of me go-to recipes are from Sally’s!!
Hi Robyn, we haven’t tested this recipe with other nuts, but if you try it, please let us know how they turn out! We also have this recipe for pistachio cookies you might enjoy as well.
Super easy to make and we loved how they turned out!
thank you Sally for this wonderful recipe! over the years I have counted on you for excellent, tasty and reliable recipes that always work!
Oh the joy this recipe has brought me
I’ve gone keto for Lent and I’m wondering if this would work well with almond flour? What do you think, I’ve never used it before.
Hello – would there be any problem halving this recipe?
Shouldn’t be an issue!
Hi Sally nice to meet you!
I just made the dough, it’s chilling in the fridge.
I altered your recipe a bit by adding one teaspoon of almond extract in addition to vanilla.
I’ve been on a road to MASTER shortbread cookies once I discovered how easy the ingredients are two years ago. I’m a cookie baking queen ONLY if it’s a cookie I like! Lol
Happy to say I have mastered the shortbread for Chai Spice shortbread and Pecan Dark Chocolate dipped.
I’ve been using Ina’s recipe for shortbreads but it makes too many cookies so I found Your AMAZING recipe Sally!
So easy.
I didn’t use cinnamon and I’m not rolling in sugar.
I’ll bake these this afternoon once it’s chilled 4 hours .
My alterations are I will dip the cookies in melted Dark Chocolate and sprinkle toasted pecans on top.
Shortbreads ship very well in my experience so I’m mailing these to my sister in NYC for Valentine’s since we’re both single.
Yea, No men around to buy us chocolates so we both prefer my shortbread anyway. Lol.
Sally thank you for your generosity of Spirit in sharing your experiences and recipes.
I’m disabled and cannot sit or stand too long so this recipe was perfect I’ll be eating one in4 hours once baked.
Cheers!
Donna Davis
Hi! Can I freeze the dough logs after rolling in the sugar and pecans, or should I save that step for when I thaw the dough? Thanks 🙂
Hi Natalie, save the rolling for after your thaw the dough. Enjoy!