Butter Pecan Cookies
These Butter Pecan Cookies live up to their name. They are buttery and chock full of pecans. They are crisp, sweet, and are the perfect sweet bite after supper. Whether you need keto cookies or not these are divine.
These are one of my favorite cookies ever. I made them for the first time as a newlywed almost 13 years ago when this recipe came in my little Martha Stewart Everyday Food magazine. I’ve made them countless times since. I loved those little Everyday Food recipe books when I had a subscription. As a new bride cooking for 2 for the first time, I needed a bit of help.
I’ve always enjoyed cooking. My best friend and I used to destroy our moms’ kitchens regularly with our experiments. Like typical teenagers, we did things like put Twizzlers into pancakes to see what would happen. They melted and made a mess.
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Meg and I had a blast but between crazy experiments and spending my teenage years as a vegetarian, there were many things I needed to learn how to cook correctly. In the early 2000s, Food Network wasn’t around that I remember so I resorted to cookbooks and magazines. I still have a folder of dozens of recipes I cut from magazines or jotted down on scraps of paper from cookbooks from the library.
A few of my favorite recipes have been inspired by the Everyday Food books. Like this Cranberry Upside Down Cake.
When I perfected my shortbread cookie dough early this month I knew that adding pecans to it would change it into the special sweet known as Butter Pecan Cookies. My husband has always loved this butter pecan cookie recipe as well. He’s not a huge sweets guy but he has a special place in his heart for nut cookies.
Ingredients
Pecans – You can use raw pecans or toast them and cool them first to enhance their flavor. To toast pecans place them on a baking sheet and bake for 6-7 minutes at 400. Watch them closely and check them often. They can burn easily.
Almond Flour – Almond flour has a mild flavor so you don’t taste it in these cookies but it gives keto recipes a great texture.
Coconut Flour – I add a bit of coconut flour to balance the oiliness of the almond flour. You cannot taste it.
Salted Butter – When baking I always use salted butter. If you have unsalted butter just add a pinch of salt.
Sweetener – I use a blend of granular sweeteners with stevia. You will roll the cookie dough balls in the sweetener as well as add it to the dough. I do offer alternatives in the recipe card like monk fruit sweetener.
Gelatin – This is my secret ingredient in keto cookies. It acts as a binder, replacing eggs. It keeps them crisp whereas eggs can make cookies made with alternative flour cakey.
Vanilla Extract – Vanilla enhances the other flavors naturally.
How to Make Butter Pecan Cookies
If you loved pecan sandies growing up I’m sure you’ll love this recipe too. They are ready before you could even put on your coat and head out to the store to buy a package. And with healthy ingredients, my pecan cookies recipe is the better choice.
Step One: Using a food processor to mix up the dough for these is the way to go. If you don’t have a food processor you can finely chop the nuts by hand and then cut in the butter with a pastry cutter until the dough looks like my dough in the below photo.
Step Two: Scoop the dough with a medium cookie scoop. Place each of the dough balls in the sweetener and press down. Rolling the dough in sweetener and pressing them out helps to create a crisper cookie.
It can be tricky to get cookies with almond flour to firm up like a traditional shortbread. The method paired with my eggless cookie dough creates the perfect shortbread texture!
Step Three: Bake until golden brown on parchment paper lined baking sheets.
Variations
Nuts – Swap out the pecans for cashews, hazelnuts, peanuts, walnuts, or almonds.
Pecan Flour – Swap some or all of the almond flour for pecan flour to double down on the pecan flavor.
Chocolate Chips – Make these into a pecan chocolate chip cookie recipe by adding your favorite chocolate chips. Make sure to use sugar free chocolate chips or keto chocolate chips, if needed.
Browned Butter – If you want to make these with brown butter you will have the brown the butter ahead of time and chill it until it is cold before proceeding with the recipe.
Brown Sugar Sweetener – You can swap in a light brown sugar sweetener if you prefer.
Regular Sugar – I think that regular granular sugar would work in this recipe but I have not tested it.
Ice Cream Sandwiches – Sandwich two of these with some Keto Butter Pecan Ice Cream for an amazing treat.
Common Questions
How do I make Crisp Keto Cookies?
Using gelatin in place of eggs in recipes is the trick I’ve found to crisp up keto diet cookies made with alternative flours like almond flour and coconut flour.
I use gelatin in place of eggs in my other eggless cookies too.
How do I store Butter Pecan Cookies?
This recipe makes 16 medium-sized cookies perfect for dunking into a glass of reduced carb milk to serving alongside a cup of steaming coffee. I always add them to my cookie trays at Christmas and have frequently gifted them to family and friends. I store all my low carb baked goods in the fridge so they last longer but these are fine on the counter for a few days. And they freeze really well!
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Butter Pecan Cookies
Ingredients
- 4 oz cold salted butter cut into pieces
- 1 cup almond flour
- 1/3 cup coconut flour
- 2/3 cup Joy Filled Eats Sweetener (or see alternatives in recipe notes) divided
- 2 tsp gelatin
- 1 tsp vanilla
- 1 cup pecans
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350. Line a large cookie sheet with parchment paper.
- Combine the butter, almond flour, coconut flour, 1/3 cup of the sweetener, gelatin, and vanilla in a food processor. Pulse until wet crumbs form. Add the pecans. Pulse until they are chopped. The dough will come together into a ball as the pecans are chopped.
- Divide the dough into 16 pieces. Put the remaining 1/3 cup sweetener in a shallow bowl. Roll each piece of dough into a ball. Put in the sweetener and press it into a disc. Flip it over and press again so both sides are dusted with sweetener. Put on the prepared baking sheet. Repeat.
- Bake for 15-17 minutes or until the edges are golden. (Begin checking these around the 8-10 minute mark, they seem to bake fast in some ovens).
Video
Notes
Nutrition
All of these low carb keto cookie recipes are eggless!
Jam Thumbprint Low Carb Cookies
English Toffee Cappuccino Cookies
Healthy Fruit Pizza Cookies with Keto Cream Cheese Frosting
Almond Crunch Chocolate Thumbprint Cookies
Please let me know which low carb cookie recipes you try in the comments.
Originally Published December 18, 2016. Revised and Republished July 20, 2023.
I can only have Stevia as a sweetener. Would just stevia work in this recipe instead of the blend?
I don’t think so, sorry. I think this needs the bulk of the sugar alcohols.
Just tried these yesterday and loved them! I also gave some to the skeptics in family and they all said they were really good. I don’t usually leave comments but this one deserved one. I’m always impressed with all of your recipes, there is not one I have not liked, you are great at what you do, keep going!
Would THM Baking Blend work in this recipe?
I don’t think they would get the same crispness with baking blend.
Made these today, they were AWESOME! My husband and I both really like pecan sandies, however I gave up refined sugars and flours a couple years ago so we have missed the… till now! Couldn’t have been easier to make and we both agree that they taste better than the pecan sandies ever did. Thank you so much for sharing this great recipe..
can you use xanthan instead of gelatin?
I’m not sure that would work in this recipe. The gelatin is the binder since these cookies do not have eggs.
Where can you buy Gentle Sweet?
You can buy it on the Trim Healthy Mama website, on Amazon, or buy xylitol, erythritol, and stevia at almost any health store or nutrition website and mix a similar sweetener. http://www.joyfilledeats.com/sweetener
What gelatin do you use? They look so yummy!
I just use knox gelatin. The kind they sell in the grocery store.
These look so wonderful. I can’t wait to try them. Since we have doggies, we don’t use Gentle Sweet in our home. We do have Sweet Blend. Do you happen to know how much Sweet Blend I could use in this recipe instead? Thank you!
I just made these and have two comments, one I made have had my oven a bit too hot and therefore they turned pretty dark but do not taste burnt at all. Two, I tried to take them off the pan too quickly and they broke. You need to let them cool some on the pan to allow them to set more.
These are very good. I love the walnut cookies too. Best keto cookies I have tried. Thank you
They turned out just fine without the Geletin only the cookie is not crunchy as you’d expect. Do you think adding the deletion would have helped it to be a crunchy cookie?
Yes, the gelatin helps them crisp.
Making the cookies at this time and I don’t have the Geletin. How important is it to include ? Not sure what part Geletin plays for a cookie.
The gelatin is the binder since they don’t have eggs. It also helps them crisp.
Hi. I really appreciate your blog and all the hard work you put into your recipes. I was wondering, if we didn’t have gelatin and wanted to put eggs for binding, how many would we put? Thank you!
I’m not sure. Maybe one. But the cookies will not be crisp. They will be cakey.
Here is a cyber thank you hug {{{ }}} for this recipe! I LOVE pecan sandies and cannot WAIT to try this recipe! THANK YOU so much!! 🙂
Can you use the THM Baking Blend instead of the almond and coconut flour?
Maybe. Sorry that’s not more helpful. I prefer almond/coconut in shortbread type cookies like these. It yields a crisper texture. If you try them with baking blend use a little bit less.
Hi there I am just beginning THM and I am curious about substitute for almond flour. I don’t tolerate it well and am hoing for a substitute in general for all of the recipes.
Thanks for your guidance as I begin journey!
It would really vary by recipe. You could try another nut flour if you do ok with one.
Taryn … these are soooo good! Loved them! I think this would be perfect as a snicker doodle (minus Pecans of course). I’m not a baker so I’m hoping to get some guidance from you. Could I just mix some cinnamon in with the gentle that is on the outside or would it be better added to the batter? Also .. how much do you think would be needed? So excited about this recipe!
I love cinnamon so I’d probably do both. I think traditional snickerdoodles just have it on the outside though. Either way would work. Maybe 1 tsp of cinnamon.
Where can I find a good gelatin?
I just use Knox. It is available in most grocery stores.
Do I have to order those sugars online or is there a store I can get them from? I’d like to make these but don’t have the sugar.
You may be able to find them in a local healthy food store. I normally do order online.
Can I use xanthum gum in place of gelatin?
Maybe. I haven’t tried it. Let me know how they turn out if you do 🙂
Do these crisp up after they are cooled? I baked mine and they were more like soft cookies. I’m trying to figure out if they will crisp up more after they cool. They were soft coming out of the oven.
Yes. You can refrigerate them for them to crisp further.