Think pecan praline meets a super chewy baked cookie - YUM. These gluten-free butter pecan cookies are rich, buttery, and packed with toasted pecans in every bite. No chilling of the dough necessary, which means fresh cookies in 30 minutes!
Why You'll Love These Cookies
If I had a dollar for every friend who begged for early access to this gluten-free butter pecan cookie recipe after just one bite, I'd be rolling in dough. Okay, maybe not rolling—but I’d definitely have enough to buy myself a fancy chai latte to enjoy with the cookies.
Think pecan praline meets a super chewy baked cookie — they’re as comforting as they are decadent. I love their buttery, vanilla flavor paired with the nutty, toasted pecans. A nostalgic flavor!
They're quick and easy, no need to chill the dough. You’ll have cookies ready in under 30 minutes.
The base for these butter pecan cookies is adapted from my all-time favorite chewy gluten-free chocolate chip cookies! In all its nutty pecan goodness, I bring you a chewy cookie for non-chocolate lovers.
Ingredients for Gluten-Free Butter Pecan Cookies
For ultra-chewy cookies with crisp edges and a classic chocolate chip cookie flavor, these cookies use a blend of almond flour, sweet rice flour, and tapioca flour.
- Super-fine blanched almond flour: Super-fine blanched almond flour adds flour bulk without drying out the cookie. It imparts the cookie moisture and a subtle nutty sweetness.
- Bob's Red Mill tapioca flour: Like sweet rice flour, tapioca flour offers chewiness, but it also is what helps create the fluffiness and crispy edges. I exclusively recommend Bob's Red Mill brand as I've found other brands to be gritty.
- Sweet rice flour or mochiko: Also called mochiko or glutinous rice flour, sweet rice flour is distinctively different than white rice or brown rice flour. Sweet rice flour is the same flour used to make mochi, and as such, it contributes to the chewiness of the cookie center. I recommend Koda Farms mochiko or Bob's Red Mill. If you can't find sweet rice flour or want a grain-free version, I would replace it by weight with additional tapioca flour. Your bake time might vary a bit, so keep an eye on the cookies for clues that they're done!
- Cornstarch: The tiny bit of cornstarch in this recipe helps maintain thickness during baking. It absorbs moisture and reduces spread, creating a softer and chewier cookie. You can leave the cornstarch out or replace it with an additional teaspoon of tapioca flour, but your cookies will be noticeably thinner.
- Ground Cinnamon: Imparts a warm cozy flavor that pairs with the pecans.
- Toasted pecan pieces: Toasting the pecans is crucial for enhancing the nutty flavor and ensuring the pecans turn irresistibly crunchy in the cookies. Bake the pecans at 300°F for 6-10 minutes. Instead of using a food processor or knife, crumble the pecans into pieces with your fingers. This keeps the chunks larger and crispier, avoiding the fine, dusty bits that can turn into flour-like texture in the cookies.
How to Make Gluten-Free Pecan Cookies
Here's how you get the most deliciously chewy butter pecan cookies in less than 30 minutes. Start by measuring and sifting your flour into a bowl. To be sure you measure the flour correctly, I recommend measuring by weight.
Cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy.
Mix in the egg and vanilla extract.
With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients, mixing until combined.
Mix in the pecan pieces...
...mixing until just combined.
Using a medium cookie scoop, scoop 2 tablespoon-size balls of dough and chill the cookie dough balls while you preheat the oven.
Space the cookies 2 inches apart on a parchment-lined baking sheet.
Bake until the edges are just set but the centers still look underbaked, 8-9 minutes.
Hint: Don’t Overbake: The cookies should look slightly underbaked in the center when you pull them from the oven. They’ll firm up as they cool.
How to get perfectly round even cookies?
Use a Cookie Scoop: A medium cookie scoop ensures evenly sized dough portions, leading to uniform cookies that bake evenly.
Scoot the Warm Cookies: Once the cookies come out of the oven and are still warm, place a round cutter or the rim of a large glass over each cookie and gently swirl it around. This helps reshape any uneven edges into perfect circles while the cookies are still soft.
How to store gluten-free butter pecan cookies
Room Temperature: Store cookies in an airtight container for up to 3 days.
Freezing the Dough: Scoop dough balls onto a baking sheet and freeze until solid. Transfer to a freezer bag and store for up to 3 months. Bake directly from frozen, adding 1-2 extra minutes to the bake time.
Freezing Baked Cookies: Once cooled, freeze the cookies in a single layer. Thaw at room temperature when ready to enjoy.
Recipe
Soft & Chewy Gluten-Free Butter Pecan Cookies
Ingredients
- 112 g (1 cup) super-fine blanched almond flour
- 84 g (¾ cup) Bob’s Red Mill tapioca flour
- 70 g (¼ cup + 3 tablespoons) sweet rice flour, also called "mochiko," distinctly different from white rice flour or brown rice flour
- 1 teaspoon cornstarch
- ½ teaspoon baking soda
- ¼ teaspoon ground cinnamon
- ½ teaspoon kosher salt
- ½ cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 78 g (¼ cup + 2 tablespoons) granulated sugar
- 100 g (½ cup) light brown sugar, preferably organic
- 1 large egg, room temperature
- 1½ teaspoon pure vanilla extract
- 4 oz (1 cup) toasted pecan pieces
INSTRUCTIONS
- In a medium bowl, sift together the dry ingredients. Set aside.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment or in a medium bowl with a hand mixer, cream the butter and sugars until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
- Add the egg and vanilla extract, mixing until just combined, scraping down the sides as needed. With the mixer on low, slowly add the dry ingredients, mixing until combined. Add the pecan pieces and mix until just evenly distributed.
- Using a medium cookie scoop, drop 2 tablespoon-size balls of dough onto a parchment-lined baking sheet, spacing them 2 inches apart. Chill the cookie dough balls while you preheat the oven.
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Working in batches, bake the chilled cookies on the middle rack for 8-9 minutes, until the edges are just set but the centers still look underbaked. Note: if you chill the cookie dough for longer than an hour, you'll need to add 1-2 minutes to your bake time.
- For perfectly round cookies, place a round cutter or the rim of a large glass over each cookie and gently swirl it around. This helps reshape any uneven edges into perfect circles while the cookies are still soft, and, in my opinion, makes the edges taste even better.
- Let cool on the baking sheet for 2-4 min before using a thin metal spatula to transfer the cookies to a wire rack to cool completely.
Notes
Dairy-free
Simply replace the butter with a firm plant-based butter, such as Miyoko’s or Country Crock plant butter.If your cookies spread too much:
I always bake off 1 or 2 tester cookies first so I can make adjustments as needed. If your cookies spread too much, there are two likely culprits. If your flour was not measured properly or you used a different brand of gluten-free flour, your cookies may spread. I recommend always measuring by WEIGHT not volume and using any specific flour brands listed here. Alternatively, they could spread because the cookie dough was too soft. Make sure the butter isn’t overly soft or melted when adding it to the cookies, or if it is, chill the dough in the freezer for 15 minutes before baking to help prevent excessive spreading.Butter Pecan Cookie Variations
Here are a few additional ways I've baked these cookies before if you want to mix things up a bit!
- Maple Icing: Drizzle the cooled cookies with an icing made my mixing 1 cup powdered sugar, ¼ cup maple syrup, and 1 tablespoon melted butter.
- Chocolate Pecan Cookies: Add 1 cup of semisweet chocolate chips or chopped chocolate to the dough for a chocolatey twist.
- Toffee Pecan Cookies: Add 1 cup toffee chips to the dough.
- Cinnamon Sugar Coating: Roll the cookie dough balls in a mixture of ¼ cup granulated sugar and 1 teaspoon ground cinnamon before baking for a buttery snickerdoodle-like twist.
- Pecans on Top: Press 2-3 pecans or large pecan pieces into the top of each cookie dough ball before baking. This will add even more toastiness and crunch to every bite.
Did you make this recipe? Please leave a review and rating to let me and others know how you liked it!
Melissa -
These worked great! I have a really hard time finding good quality gluten free recipes that don't use blends or xanthan gum. As well, one of my daughters can't have eggs and the other can't have dairy. I knew the egg free part might be a stretch so I did the recipe with a regular egg and then I also did a half recipe using a flax egg (1/2 tbs ground flax to 1.5 tbs water for a half recipe). I used coconut oil as my "butter" because we don't have any plant butter on hand. In our case, we baked them for 12 minutes. I knew it was a long shot with the changes I made, but they turned out spectacular! I was astounded. Both versions (regular egg and flax egg) were excellent. Chewy, but crispy on the outside. Absolutely perfect.
Sarah Menanix -
Amazing! Thank you so much for sharing! You should check out my snickerdoodles I just made a big batch last night for teacher appreciation. Used plant butter (I've also made them with coconut oil!) and replaced the eggs with 2 flax eggs (2 tablespoons flax meal + 6 tablespoons water). And they turned out great!
Kent -
THESE WERE PHENOMENAL