Chocolate Chip Pecan Shortbread Cookies are so easy and delicious, full of butter, toasted pecans, brown sugar and chips, that you might not make drop cookies again!
I have a great recipe for Butterscotch Pecan Shortbread Cookies [1] on this site, and I love them because they are a butter-and-sugar delivery system. That’s what a cookie should be, right? I’m constantly touting them to friends as a great all-around cookie that is good on a cookie platter, to bring to neighbors who did you a favor, or even to mail to college students who need a taste of home.
But a friend doesn’t like butterscotch, and admitted she took my recipe and subbed in chocolate chips for the butterscotch chips, and thought they were divine that way.
You don’t have to tell me twice. I had that version in the oven lickety split, and guess what? So should you!
How to make Chocolate Chip Pecan Shortbread Cookies
First, gather your ingredients. For this recipe, you’ll need:
- Butter
- Dark brown sugar
- Vanilla extract (my favorite is Heilala Vanilla from New Zealand, which you can get in a better grocery store, or through LoveFromNewZealand [2])
- Flour, salt
- Chocolate chips
- Toasted chopped pecans
Beat the butter — whip it good! (If you’re not smiling from the Devo reference, we can’t be friends.)
Mix in the rest of the ingredients, and then stir in the chips and pecans by hand, so the paddle/beater doesn’t make them disintegrate.
Scrape the dough into a parchment-lined 9-inch square baking pan.
Use an offset spatula to spread the dough evenly.
Bake. The edges will be light brown, but there is no leavener in this cookie so it won’t puff up.
Cut into 36 squares, and share some with the neighbors. Or your college kid. Or the Amazon driver.
Put some in an elegant serving piece if you want to feel fancy.
Trust me that you can freeze these, but they taste just as good straight from the freezer, so don’t think you’ll be hiding them from yourself in there. Not that I would know.
Chocolate Chip Pecan Shortbread Cookies are so easy and delicious, full of butter, toasted pecans, brown sugar and chips, that you might not make drop cookies again!
Ingredients
- 8 ounces (2 sticks or 16 tablespoons) unsalted butter, at room temperature
- 3/4 cup dark brown sugar
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
- 2 cups all purpose flour
- 3/4 teaspoon salt
- 1 cup chocolate chips
- 1/2-2/3 cup finely chopped toasted pecans
Directions
- Heat oven to 300F degrees.
- In the bowl of a stand mixer using the paddle attachment, beat butter and sugar on medium-high speed until light colored in fluffy, about 3 minutes. Line a 9-inch square baking pan with parchment paper, allowing excess on each side so it can be used to lift cookies from pan later. Set the pan aside. (OR use the butter wrapper to grease the inside of the baking pan.)
- Add vanilla, reduce speed to low, and slowly add flour and salt, beating until just combined. Scrape down the paddle, and mix in chocolate chips and pecans by hand (so they don't disintegrate). Feel free to use the larger amount of pecans if you adore them.
- Scrape dough into the prepared dish, and using an offset spatula, spread the dough evenly.
- Bake for 50 minutes, until firm and slightly golden brown around the edges. Remove from oven, and, using a sharp-edged metal spatula, immediately cut through the cookies to make 36 squares; do not remove cookies from pan. Allow cookies to cool completely in pan, for about 1 hour. (If you don't cut into them immediately after baking, they might not cut evenly and are more likely to crumble.)
- Using the parchment paper "handles," remove whole block of cookies from pan to a cutting board. Separate cookies into squares, using a knife if needed. Store in an airtight container on the counter. They can also be frozen, airtight.
- Makes 36 cookies.
Notes
Recipe source: Based on the recipe for Butterscotch Pecan Shortbread Cookies on Shockingly Delicious. That recipe was adapted from Gail Simmons' recipe for Chocolate Butterscotch Shortbread published in People magazine, Dec. 14, 2015.
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Other Shockingly Delicious chocolate recipes you might like
Emergency Chocolate Brownies (Small batch, in the air fryer) [7]
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